Irish Point winner Personal Coach made his Czech debut at Karlovy Vary on Saturday when finishing fifth in a Chase.
An older maiden winner at Turtulla last November for Pa King and Sam Curling on what was his third and final outing between the flags for the Skehannagh Stables operator, the Motivator gelding was bought a month later for €9,000 at the Ascot Sales by Witold Miedzianowski and trainer Greg Wroblewski.
Saturday’s run at the course which is located in the west of the country close to the German border, was his first competitive outing since his Turtulla point success and his first run for Grzegorz Wroblewski.
Under 46-year-old rider Marek Stromský, a veteran of racing in the Czech Republic, the pair returned just under ten lengths in arrears of the vastly more experienced winner Engele from the Petra Jirátová stable.
The seven-year-old is not the first Irish pointing export that Wroblewski’s has had under his care, with Colin Bowe’s four-year-old winner, Western Perk, among his other horses.
She had won her four-year-old mares’ maiden by a distance at Ballingarry back in June 2017 for the champion handler before being bought by Stefan Uppstorm for £21,000 at that year’s Doncaster August Sale.
The Westerner mare has been well travelled in her time with the Czech trainer, having run at Wroclaw in Poland, Grosseto and Pisa in Italy, and Fontainebleau in France.
