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Czech Republic – Czechoslovakia
100th Velká Pardubická Steeple Chase
1990 Silver 100 Korun 31mm (13.20 grams) 0.500 Silver (0.209 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 141 | Engraver: Jarmila
Truhlíková – Spěváková
ČESKÁ A SLOVENSKÁ FEDERATIVNÍ REPUBLIKA 100 KČS,
Czechoslovak Federative coat-of-arms.
1990 100. VELKÁ PARDUBICKÁ, Two horsemen in
jump.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 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 6.9 km (4 miles 506 yards), with 31 obstacles. It usually takes 9–10 minutes to finish the course; the record is 8:56.01 set by Ribelino in 2015.
Horses starting in the race must be at least six years old (before 2009, the minimum age was seven years); 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 current steeplechase course was established in 1856, however the course first took its present-day form in the years just after the Second World War.
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. Some obstacles have also been changed, mostly to improve safety, although the difficulty of the race is said to have suffered as a result.
Horses must negotiate a total of 31 obstacles. These are:
- 1 – Hedge (1.2m)
- 2 – Hedge with ditch (1.3m, with a 60 cm ditch on the other side)
- 3 – Small water jump (3m long)
- 4 – Taxis ditch. (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 1.5 m high hedge. It was changed before the 1994 race to be a 1 m deep and 4 m long ditch with a 1.5 m high hedge. For the 2021 race the obstacle will have a 0.75 m deep ditch and 5 m long ditch with a 1.35 m to 1.45 m high hedge. This obstacle is used only for the Velká pardubická, and horses are not permitted to use it for training.)
- 5 – Irish bank. (This unusual obstacle requires the horses to shimmy up and down a steep artificial bank.)
- 6 – Popkovic ditch. (1.3m hedge with a 2m long ditch on the other side)
- 7 – French jump. A pair of closely spaced hedges, 1.2m and 1.3m in height, which must be jumped as one.
- 8 & 9 – Small gardens. A pair of hedges, 1.25m and 1.3m in height, which are jumped in quick succession.
- 10 – English jump. (1.2m hedge with a ditch on the takeoff side)
- 10a – Extended taxis ditch. (Small hedge, about 1.1m tall, which joins with the main taxis ditch)
- 11 – Hedge with ditch. (1.3m, with a ditch on the landing side)
- 12 – Hedge. (1.2 m high and 1.3 m wide hedge with a 60 cm. The landing side is 0.5 m lower than the takeoff side)
- 13 – Hedge. (1.3 m high and wide hedge that’s 0.8 m high)
- 14 – Polper’s Jump. (0.8 m high double railing. 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.)
- 15 – Drop Bank. (In front of the stands. It is a two-meter drop.)
- 16 – Stone Wall. (Stone wall in front of the stands 0.8 m wide and 0.85 m high wall, which is approached from a plowed field.)
- 17 – Water Trough. (The largest water obstacle in the race. It is used to be 2 m deep but since the 1990s it has been changed to be 4.5 m wide and 0.7 m lower rebound compared to the original rebound.)
- 18 – Large Moat. (In the past the second most feared obstacle behind Taxis Ditch now 4 m wide and 0.45 m deep.)
- 19 – Mini Taxis drop. (The last of the three ‘Taxis’ ditch on the course. The hedge is 1.5 m high, 2 m wide and there is a 1.7 m ditch on the landing side.)
- 20 & 21 – Small gardens. (A pair of hedges, 1.25m and 1.3m in height, which are jumped in quick succession.)
- 22 – Open Brook. (A simple ditch with a white bounce beam which in the past where not there which lead to horses not seeing the brook. The brook is 3m wide and 0.9 m deep.)
- 23 – Steeplechase obstacle. (Steeplechase jumps have replaced wicker obstacles, which are no longer jumped. This fence is 1.3 m high and 0.6 m wide.)
- 24 – “At the hanger hedge” Hedge. (Named after it closeness to hangers by a nearby airport. It is a 1.3 m high and wide hedge. 0.6 m in front of it is an 0.8 m high bouncing crossbar.)
- 25 – Big English jump. (0.5 m high and 1.6 m wide hedge, 0.6 m in front of it stands an 0.8 m high bounce beam. The difficulty of the obstacle is the landing, because the landing area is 40 cm higher than the takeoff side. Often causes problems in the wet.)
- 26 – American post and rails. (2.4 m wide ditch with a 0.5 m high bounce beam.)
- 27 – Havel’s Jump. (1.4 m high and 1.9 m wide hedge with an 0.8 m high bounce beam at a distance of 0.5 m in front of the fence, followed by a 2.5 m wide shallow ditch. The difficulty of the jump is mainly due to its closeness to the end of the race.)
- 28 – Steeplechase obstacle. (1.3 m high and 0.6 m wide)
- 29 – Steeplechase obstacle. (1.3 m high and 0.6 m wide)
- 30 – Steeplechase obstacle. (1.3 m high and 0.6 m wide)
Historically, the most successful horse in the race was Železník. The horse won the race four times (from 1987 to 1989 and again in 1991).
Josef Váňa Sr. is the most successful jockey, having achieved eight victories, and he is also a very well known celebrity in the Czech Republic. There is a 2012 movie about him (Váňa, directed by Jakub Wagner). He has also trained 10 winners of the Velká Pardubická and six horses which have finished in second place.
The first (and only woman) to have won the race as of 2019 is Countess Lata Brandisová (1896-1981), who won in 1937 with her mare, Norma – seven lengths ahead of the professional jockey Willibald Schlagbaum in second place. Only 10 of the 15 runners finished. She was the first woman to enter the race in 1927 (falling five times and remounting to finish fifth). In later years she came in fourth, third and second on Norma.
The 1937 Grand Pardubice was the last race held for nearly a decade. The 1938 race was called off following the Munich agreement and not run during World War II.
 The Czech Republic also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
It is a developed country with an advanced, high income export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing and innovation. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development. The Czech Republic is a welfare state with a “continental” European social model, a universal health care system, tuition-free university education and is ranked 14th in the Human Capital Index. It ranks as the 6th safest or most peaceful country and is one of the most non-religious countries in the world, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance.
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Coat_of_arms_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg/85px-Coat_of_arms_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg.png" align="left" the="" czech="" republic="" includes="" historical="" territories="" of="" bohemia,="" moravia,="" and="" silesia.="" state="" was="" formed="" in="" late="" 9th="" century="" as="" duchy="" bohemia="" under="" great="" moravian="" empire.="" after="" fall="" empire="" 907,="" centre="" power="" transferred="" from="" moravia="" to="" přemyslid="" dynasty.="" 1002,="" formally="" recognized="" an="" imperial="" holy="" roman="" along="" with="" kingdom="" germany,="" burgundy,="" italy,="" numerous="" other="" territories,="" becoming="" 1198="" reaching="" its="" greatest="" territorial="" extent="" 14th="" century.="" beside="" itself,="" king="" ruled="" lands="" bohemian="" crown,="" holding="" a="" vote="" election="" emperor;="" prague="" seat="" periods="" between="" 17th="" hussite="" wars="" 15th="" driven="" by="" protestant="" reformation,="" faced="" economic="" embargoes="" defeated="" five="" consecutive="" crusades="" proclaimed="" leaders="" catholic="" church.=""
 Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Protestant Bohemian Revolt (1618-20) against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years’ War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, eradicated Protestantism and reimposed Catholicism, and also adopted a policy of gradual Germanization. This contributed to the anti-Habsburg sentiment. A long history of resentment of the Catholic Church followed and still continues. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian Kingdom became part of the German Confederation 1815-1866 as part of Austrian Empire (1804 to 1867) and the Czech language experienced a revival as a consequence of widespread romantic nationalism. In the 19th century, the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and were subsequently the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.
Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period. However, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, while the Slovak region became the Slovak Republic; Czechoslovakia was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. Most of the three millions of the German-speaking minority were expelled following the war. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections and after the 1948 coup d’état, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence. In 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed and market economy was reintroduced. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.
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Karel Čapek (9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel War with the Newts (1936) and play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots, 1920), which introduced the word robot. He also wrote many politically charged works dealing with the social turmoil of his time. Influenced by American pragmatic liberalism, he campaigned in favor of free expression and strongly opposed the rise of both fascism and communism in Europe.
1920 – The Outlaw (Loupežník)
