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This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Velká pardubická is a famous cross-country steeplechase run in Pardubice, Czech Republic since 1874. It takes place every year on the second Sunday in October. The length of the steeplechase is 6. 01 set by Ribelino in 2015. Czech horses must qualify by finishing at least one of four qualifying races during the season.
The race was first run in 1874 in Pardubice, a town long known in the horse racing world, as some trainers and jockeys from England came there to work. The course of the race has been changed several times, most recently in 1998 when the direction of the final phase of the race was changed to accommodate the new grandstand. The surface of the racecourse is mainly grass, but one-quarter of the race is run through ploughed fields, which used to take almost half of the race in the past. Horses must negotiate a total of 31 obstacles. This is the most famous obstacle in the race, and it is jumped just once. 28 horses have died at this obstacle. In the past it consisted of a 2 m deep and 5 m long ditch hidden behind a 1.
It was changed before the 1994 race to be a 1 m deep and 4 m long ditch with a 1. For the 2021 race the obstacle will have a 0. 75 m deep ditch and 5 m long ditch with a 1. This unusual obstacle requires the horses to shimmy up and down a steep artificial bank. A pair of closely spaced hedges, 1. 3m in height, which must be jumped as one. 3m in height, which are jumped in quick succession.
3 m wide hedge with a 60 cm. 3 m high and wide hedge that’s 0. It is named after the famous interwar rider and two-time winner of the Grand Cpt. Rudolf Popler, who tragically perished on this jump in 1932. In 1991, the phenomenal Železník fell here, but jockey Josef Váni senior, remounted and Železník went on to claim his fourth victory. Stone wall in front of the stands 0.