International driving event in Topoľčianky again

After a break of several years, the penultimate weekend of June 2024 saw the return of international driving competition at the Topoľčianky National Stud Farm, with the Slovak Championship taking place at the same time. Preparing such an event is one of the most demanding of all equestrian disciplines, both organizationally and financially.

During the aforementioned weekend, we welcomed almost 60 drivers from five European countries (AUT, CZE, HUN, POL, GER) to Topoľčianky. A total of 10 categories were open at the 2* and 3* levels, including single and pair for ponies. Four competitors competed for the most valuable metal in the Slovak Driving Championship for pairs.

The International Jury was led by Robert Fekár (SVK), the other members were Witold Bogacz from Poland and Jaroslav Pavel from the Czech Republic. Blažej Czajka from Poland was in charge of the preparation of the tracks, who was actively assisted by Pavol Gašpar with his many years of track knowledge. Blanka Trojancová from the Czech Republic accepted the role of head steward and Barbara Berezowska (POL) accepted the invitation as steward. The health of the horses was checked by MVDr. Zuzana Eibnerová – Staššíková in the role of FEI veterinary delegate and MVDr. Martina Vítková worked as the attending veterinarian.

The first veterinary check took place in the premises of the National Stud Farm on Thursday afternoon. Three horses were detained in the holding box, two of which were accepted after a subsequent check and one requested a re-check on the second day, which it successfully completed. All 89 horses were able to participate in the race.

As many of you probably know, the driving competition consists of three disciplines - dressage, marathon and cones. All three disciplines were held on the premises of the racecourse. During Friday's dressage, the weather was relatively hot. The competition lasted from 8:20 to 18:00. Saturday morning, when the marathon was held, there was heavy rain in the morning, which tested the organizers' preparedness, as well as the condition of the horses. Due to the soft ground and the rainy weather in the morning, the jury granted the riders' request to extend the total time of section B by two minutes in order to prevent the horses from becoming exhausted or suffering other injuries. Fortunately, sunny weather returned in the afternoon and the marathon was completed without any injuries or major problems. Sunday was dedicated to driving comes. Due to the large number of categories, the course was divided into two parts, which separated the awarding of prizes for children, juniors and 2* categories. In the afternoon, we continued with the 3* and Slovak Championships.

All detailed results can be found at www.zawody.kegle.pl , www.fei.org , www.sjf.sk and www.nztopolcianky.sk .

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Czech Equestrian Federation and the Driving Commission, which willingly lent us three mobile obstacles for the driving marathon, which significantly facilitated our preparation of the event. We greatly appreciate this cooperation. Since 2020, the driving race in Topoľčianky has also been one of the qualifying rounds of the Golden Horseshoe driving series. In this way, we are trying to jointly support the driving sport in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and create more opportunities for competitors to test horses and riders.

We would also like to thank the companies that supported the event by donating prizes for the competitions. These were Horse Services, Cavalor Slovakia, Heineken, Chateau Topoľčianky and the National Stud Farm Topoľčianky.

Slovak Championship for pairs

In the Slovak championship for pairs, Miroslav Matúška, Jozef Bučkuliak, Jozef Mašír and Pavol Kemencei competed. After three days of competition, when the order of the individual riders was very mixed, it was eagerly awaited who would become the Champion. Thanks to his excellent ride in cones, the domestic competitor Jozef Mašír won the gold medal for the first time. He harnessed Lipizzaner mares from the National Stud Farm Maestoso XV-6, Pluto XX-7 and Pluto XX-9. Silver was won by Jozef Bučkuliak from JO Martin Záturčie with his geldings of the KWPN breed Lars and Louvre. Bronze went to the experienced Miroslav Matúška with the Lipizzaners Favory XII-8 and Maestoso XV-8. The still relatively inexperienced newcomer Pavol Kemencei sealed his debut at the MSR with fourth place. He harnessed the Lipizzaner mares from the National Stud Farm Topoľčianky – Asinta and Favory XVIII-3.

We congratulate all the winners and placed ones on their excellent performances and wish them many sporting successes in the future. We firmly believe that the quality of the race left a good impression on all participants and will positively promote our small country in the world.

More info, starts and results: Topolcianky (SVK) 21-23.06.2024 (kegle.pl)