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There’s a strong international challenge among the 16 declared runners for this year’s 134th renewal of the €200,000 Velka Pardubicka, the most valuable of the 12 Crystal Cup races, to be run at Pardubice on October 13th.

Globe-trotter Gordon Elliott has entered the Gigginstown Stud owned Coko Beach, winner of five of his 25 chase starts, and 11th and 2nd in the last two runnings of the Aintree Grand National. He hasn’t been seen since finishing a 4 1/2l third to Singing Banjo in this Spring’s version of the La Touche Chase at Punchestown, now a leg of the Crystal Cup.

Elliott has form when it comes to international competition. Although he has never previously had a runner in this race, he has successfully plundered races in the US at Far Hills for the last couple of years, and Coko Beach is one to relish the quirks of the Crystal Cup. Keith Donoghue takes the ride on this highest-rated horse in the race.

Rated 32lb lower than Coko Beach, Streets of Doyen represents John McConnell, who has never been one to shy away from tilting at windmills, with notable success. Streets of Doyen unseated his rider in the Punchestown banks race in May behind Singing Banjo, and hasn’t yet been troubling the judge in runs since, including a 25l 5th behind Hang In There in Uttoxeter’s Summer Cup in June. Ben Harvey will be in the plate.

An interesting candidate will be the US – trained Jeremy Pass, from Maryland-based Joseph Davies, for whom a plan to run in this race was hatched way back in April, after his owner won the Maryland Hunt Cup with maiden Blackhall. Similarly rated to Streets of Doyen, Jeremy Pass has taken a hunter chase route to this race, winning at Ballinadenisk and Listowel in May and June, before transferring to Charlie Marshall’s in Dorset, UK for his European campaign. Amateur rider Teddy Davies picks up a plum ride.

Josef Vana Jnr initially entered Gap Pierji, pulled up in Merano last weekend, and Santa Klara, a recent winner at Wroclaw over 5,000m in the colours of Scuderia Aichner. Gap Pierji was scratched this week.

Another of the home-based team with multiple entries is Hana Kabelková. Nine year old Del Ray has yet to win over fences, whilst a successful outcome is more probable from Talent, a 5l second in 2023, or Star, a further length back in third.

A key form line runs through one of the qualifying races here at Pardubice in June, won by Godfrey, trained by Török Dalibor. Behind the 8 year old that day were fellow entries Star, Sexy Lord, Her Him, Argano, Dulcar de Sivola, the now scratched Kaiserwalzer and Lombargini, the last two of these 5th and 4th in this race in 2023, Lombargini under British rider James Best.

Dalibor also fields 7 year old High In The Sky, whose second in a qualifier here in the third week of September had Del Ray and Player behind.

James Best may been booked for the ride on Zataro, trained by Marián Štangel, who has form to make up on several others, based on a distant 7th in a qualifier here in June.

Foreign raiders to Merano were upstaged by an Italian – trained chaser in Zubiena yesterday in the 80th running of the Grade II Premio Delle Nazione.

The nine year old, trained by Christian Ghiotti, provided his trainer with his first graded success with a comprehensive 24l beating of Josef Vana’s Almost Human, returning at nearly 11/1.

Eventual winner Zubiana leads, first circuit. ©JCB Photo

Whilst there were several runners with previous success around Merano,  Zubiena’s third place experience in this race in 2023 counted, and jockey Ondrej Velek was able to make best use of the mare’s stamina over the 6,000m trip.

The French-trained Flavius from Patrice Quinton’s yard in Dragey-Ronthon, was the best of the rest, a distant 14l third. Only 4 finished.

Despite only one of his three runners finishing, Almost Human’s distant second place puts him in the driver’s seat in the Crystal Cup, with the next leg on home turf at Pardubice on October 13th.

The 26 entries have whittled down to eight runners for the third leg of the Crystal Cup at Merano tomorrow, and already the battle lines are drawn between the leading contenders in the 12 race challenge.

David Cottin, whose Placenet won the opening race at Waregem a month ago, sends Iceo Madrik, who went down by a head in a class 2 cross country at Craon in June, one of a sequence of narrow defeats at Compiegne since returning from a British campaign for David Pipe.

Josef Vana jnr despatches 3 runners over the Alps from Czechia, including last year’s overall Crystal Cup winner Gap Pierji, a winner of a Grade III chase here in June. He was second in the corresponding race at Merano in 2023.

11 year old Almost Human has been running over hurdles in Italy since his sale into the Vana stable in 2017. Unless he produces an improvement in form over the larger obstacles, he looks overfaced in this company.

A more likely contender is French-bred Laldann, a 3l winner at Merano in August over 5,000m, with Almost Human behind, and also in June, again beating Almost Human.

French cross country supremo Patrice Quinton sends Flavius, a winner of a supporting chase on the Waregem card that featured Placenet’s win in ther Grand Steeplechase de Flandres. Quinton’s runners outside France are select, and the distance from Dragey-Ronthon in Normandy to Merano may tell its own story in terms of his chance.

The field is made up of three others: Imaginaire, from David Satalia, who hasn’t run since a campaign at Pau early in 2023, Piranaya, well-beaten for the Jana Novakova stable at Wroclaw at the start of the month, and the unknown quantity that is Zubiena, from the Ghiotti stable.

There are 26 entries for the third stage of the Crystal Cup at Merano on Saturday September 28th.

Josef Vana has made little secret of his ambition to retain the Crystal Cup for 2024-25. To that end, he supplies no less than 10 of the entries. There are lines of Czech form through several of them, but the most notable are Beau Saonois, a nine year old French-bred, and winner of 2 of his starts over fences, most recently in a cross country handicap over 3,900m at Merano in mid July.

Gap Pierji, the flagship horse that enabled Vana to secure his first Crystal Cup last season, is also among the entries. He has been campaigning largely abroad recently, but won in Merano in June over 5,000m, where he held another Vana entry, Laldann,  before finding the competition a bit hotter at Vittel a month later.

Joint leader of the challenge, David Cottin, has just one entry for his British owner, Caroline Tisdall, but he may yet emerge the winner if he takes his place. Iceo Madrik has been knocking on the door in recent months, with a half length second at Compiegne and went down by just a head at Craon in mid-June over a shorter distance.

Nor should you rule out Imaginaire from Emmanuel Clayeux’s stable, not seen since running at Pau in February.

Another cross country advocate is Patrice Quinton, whose two candidates include Flavius, a winner of a chase on the same card as the Grand Steeplechase de Flandres at Waregem, and Jalousie d’Ainay, for whom this looks to be well within his capability. A 1 1/2l winner of a conditions cross country at St Pierre-la-Cour in mid July, he improved on that at Granville a month later. Although beaten in a better class race at Ploermel a week ago, his record may yet be enough to put him in the frame if he takes his place. His GB rating would be 108.

Final declarations are on September 26th.

Roi Mage, last seen by British racegoers finishing a 25l ninth to I Am Maximus in the Grand National in April scored in splendid style at Craon today under a front-running ride from James Reveley in the 6,000m (3m6f) Listed Grand Cross de Craon.

Two time winner of this race, Bomari, made the early running before falling at the 12^th, leaving the handily ridden Roi Mage in front. In an incident-packed race where 4 of the 10 runners either tipped up or parted company with their rider, Reveley’s position in the front was the safest, and he was able to dictate the pace, and asset again when contenders made an effort to close. The winning distance of 7l belied his authority.

“There were two in the race to be afraid of,” reported trainer’s son James Griffin, who has masterminded Roi Mage’s return to France to race. “Once they were out of it, I was confident we weren’t going to be beaten. We were unlucky at Corlay 6 weeks ago.” Roi Mage will now seek to repeat his victory at Compiegne in November before being aimed at the Irish National on Easter Monday.

This second leg of the 2024-25 Crystal Cup throws down a challenge to French trainers who have tended to dominate in this unique pan-European Challenge. After years of their dominance, their grip was broken by the Czech stable of Josef Vana Jnr last season, and Vana has already displayed his intent to continue where he left off, with a third placed effort at Waregem last week. Griffin’s contribution pushes him to the top of a leaderboard that is validated only when a horse/trainer runs twice or more outside his own country. The leading owner in the challenge is awarded €25,000, the winning trainer €10,000 in addition to the generous prize money on offer in each race.

The Challenge now moves to Merano on September 29^th.