Traveller's Czech: Rathlin Rose to lead British challenge in Velka Pardubicka

Britain will be represented in Sunday's gruelling Velka Pardubicka after David Pipe confirmed veteran Rathlin Rose an intended runner for one of the sport's most unique tests.

First run in 1874, the race is famed for its litany of quirky obstacles and for its route that takes in both the turf track at Pardubice racecourse as well as surrounding ploughed fields.

Pipe said: "Rathlin Rose has been to our local cross-country schooling ground at Pontispool and he went well. James Best takes the ride and has been in the race a couple of times before so knows it. We're venturing into the unknown but he has schooled well and we'll give it a go!"

The 11-year-old has become something of a legend on the military racing circuit, having carried Captain Guy Disney to two victories in the Royal Artillery Cup (2017, 2018) and a success in the Grand Military Gold Cup (2017), and was back in the winner's enclosure as recently as March, following a veterans' chase victory at Ascot.

Run over distance of just beyond four miles, the Velka Pardubicka is worth €178,000 and forms the ninth leg of the Crystal Cup European Cross Country Challenge – an 11-race series taking in several of Europe's most famous cross-country races.

Following its Czech excursion, the series heads to Compiegne in France on November 8, before its finale on December 13 at Cheltenham's International meeting.

Pipe, who is bidding to train the first British winner of the race since the Charlie Mann-trained and ridden Its A Snip in 1995, added: "If this goes well, he could always go to the cross-country races at Cheltenham, and he's a veteran so we have that series as well. We have a few options.

"Rathlin Rose's owner Fergus Wilson fancied having a runner in the Pardubicka and the Crystal Cup is a good series that we'd like to have runners in again and continue to support."

Leighton Aspell, Tom Garner, Andrew Glassonbury will also be flying the flag for British racing in Sunday's race.

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