Angkor Wat and jockey Filip Minařík are favourites of the Czech Derby

Already this Saturday, the most prestigious race of the season for three-year-old horses, 99th CZECH DERBY, will take place at the racecourse in Prague-Velka Chuchle. Sixteen elite horses (fourteen colts and two fillies) are heading for the start. The Czech Derby is the richest classic race of the Central European region with a total prize of two million crowns, of which the winner will receive a million. The extraordinary features of the event are matched by their sporting quality as well as other races and visitors can also look forward to a rich accompanying program. Czech Derby is held under the auspices of Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman and with support of City of Prague.

The favorite of the 1m 4f Czech Derby is the chestnut colt Angkor Wat, the winner of the Carlsbad Spring Stakes and Derby Trial June Stakes at Velka Chuchle. It is coached by Josef Váňa and in the saddle will be the most successful Czech native jockey, four times German champion Filip Minařík. For a native of nearby Radotín the missing win in Derby is a great motivation. The main rivals should be the winners of the Czech and Slovak 2000 Guineas Ignacius Reilly and Arcturus.

The jockey stars of Saturday's program will be Filip Minařík and also another four-time German champion, a popular Panamese native Eduardo Pedroza, with three-times Czech champions Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, Jaromir Šafář and Jan Rája, very talented teenager, current Czech champion David Liška and Slovak champions Jaroslav Línek, Zdenko Šmida and Jiří Palík.

A total of 96 horses and 27 riders and riders will be featured in eight races. The first race of the program starts at 2 pm, the area for visitors will be open two hours earlier.