THE SALIH PLAVAC’S DEBUT

The award ceremony of Dragon after a horse race of the Bandos Stakes.

Maciej Janikowski: It is certainly important, but it is not a given. What counts the most is the quality of horses that we get for training.

So, looking back, how was it in your case?

Maciej Janikowski: At the time when my friend Andrzej and I started running the stables, i.e. back in 1970, and also for a quarter of a century, they were mostly assigned to specific state studs. I would get horses from Kozienice, while Andrzej would first get those that were considered the second best horses from the Golejewko Stud, the best in the history of Polish racing. That was because top quality horses would go to the stable of Stanisław Molenda, who was the trainer king of Służewiec, especially in the years 1962-1970. Suffice it to say that at that time his horses won the Derby six times and achieved four victories at the Wielka Warszawska. The situation changed in the early 1970s after Daglezja won the Derby and the Wielka Warszawska in 1971. It was then that the breeder from Golejewko, Maciej Świdziński recognized the skills of Walicki, as a result of which Andrzej kept receiving good horses over the next decades and was usually number 1 on the track. Obviously, trainers who received horses from Widzów (Józef Paliński) and Moszna (Stanisław Dzięcina) as well as those from Jaroszówka (Stanisław Sałagaj) in the second half of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, were also successful. Funnily enough, I would be the lucky one too from time to time. First, I trained a great filliy Czeczma, but Czerkies, triple crowned in 1974, was by far my best horse. In his career he only lost once by an inch at Iwna. Prior to that he easily won the the Ruler Stakes, then the Derby and St. Leger. Due to an injury he did not appear in the Wielka Warszawska. At the age of four, he won the Widzów Stakes and the Prime Minister’s Trophy. However, it was at the latter performance that the injury recurred and his magnificent career came to an end. My stable bears his name to this day. Another victory at the Derby for me came in 1983 with Chryston, who was not an outstanding horse as he had shoulder problems and could barely walk during training. It was not easy to prepare him for the race. Fortunately I had an experienced jockey Albin Rejek working for me at that time. He played a big part in winning the Iwna Stakes and the Blue Ribbon Race.

It took you 21 years to win a Derby for thoroughbreds again, and it was not until 1997 that you won the first Wielka Warszawska. How did you endure the long period of average prosperity?

Maciej Janikowski: Well, our profession requires patience. By the way, in the late 1970s the director from Kozienice decided that horses from that Stud would be put in a draw among the trainers. I was unlucky in the draw and that’s why Skunks, the future Derby winner (1979), ended up at Dzięcina, while the runner-up Czubaryk went to Arkadiusz Goździk. Senior track attendants remember how great those horses were. In the meantime I won the Arabian Derby three times (Sarenka - 1978, Europejczyk - 1986 and Wilczur - 1987). There were also some minor successes of the fillies, especially over short distances as well as a victory of Maracana from Moszna in the Oaks in 1986. But, the truth is that my stable really came to life only at the end of the 1990s and at the beginning of the new century, that is when I trained great fillys; apart from Zagara, privately

Dekoracja Dragona po biegu o Nagrodę Bandosa.

Alsahr and Alexander Reznikov.

bred and owned by Grzegorz Kaczmarek, who won the Oaks and the Wielka Warszawska ridden by Józef Gęborys, I had Magenta, the Oaks filli from Moszna, daughter of Maracana, as well as privately bred and owned Szanta (who previously won the Wiosenna Stakes). In addition to those, there were Urania, the winner of the Iwna Stakes, as well as a very good filly from Glejewko - Nobila (Wiosenna and Solina). As far as colts are concerned, three winter Derby favorites: Delator -1996 (undefeated at the age of 2 in four performance, who was the Ruler Stakes at the age of 3), Hipokrates -1999 (undefeated in four performances at the age of 2), Ahwar - 2001, as well as Nowator (Widzów and Prime Minister’s Stakes - 2001), the great Dandolo (9 victories, including two victories in A and another two in the B category), owned by my friend Janusz Szweycer, and finally Montbard, Magenta’s son, who became a Derby winner in 2004. He lost to Snow Queen at the finish point, but she dropped to the third place for crossing by decision of the Technical Committee.

The second important thoroughbred in your career, in the years 2008-2009, after Czerkies was Merlini, of Polish breeding and owned by Stanisław Guła. The fact that you managed to lead him to victories at

Widzów and the Wielka Warszawska after a serious injury, and then to victories at Prime Minister’s Trophy and St. Leger in the following season was quite astonishing.

Maciej Janikowski: Merlini’s victories comforted me, but back then we could all feel that the wonderful time of Polish breeding was slowly coming to an end. The Derby of 2008 saw the victory of Ruten, imported from the USA. As a matter of fact, blue ribbons were also given to Polish horses in 2009 (Soros, bred and owned by Tadeusz Sobierajski), 2010 - Infamia (from Jaroszówka, owned by Totalizator Sportowy), 2011 (bred and owned by Roman Piwka) and Patronus (bred by Andrzej Zieliński, owned by Millennium the Stud) in 2013. However, since 2014 the Derby and the Wielka Warszawska have been dominated by thoroughbreds bought at foreign auctions. We had to find a place for ourselves in this new reality in order to maintain our position among the top trainers.

And this is where you proved to be very successful thanks to the financial help of the horse owners who cooperated with you. In particular, purchasing Va Banka turned out to be a major decision in your life!

Maciej Janikowski: Back in 2013 and 2014 I still trained Pillar and Predator, two very good Polish horses by Andrzej Zieliński. Both won the Iwna Stakes, but in the Derby the former finished third and the latter got only sixth. At that time I already trained some very good “imported” horses, purchased by the duo of Janusz Piotr Zienkiewicz and Katarzyna Głowicka, who cooperated with me. Their finest horse was first Lucky Peter and later Sorento, who came second in the Derby. It was for Piotr and Kazakh B. Abdrakhmanov that I bought Va Banka at a bidding in the autumn of 2013. The owner wanted to sell him because of an injury the horse had sustained as a foal, which we did not know about at the time of the bidding. I carefully examined his legs on a routine basis and did not notice anything unusual. My intuition did not fail me here though. Va Bank turned out to be an extraordinary horse. At the age of two and three he won the most important races at Służewiec. He remained undefeated throughout 12 starts! The twelfth victory was really memorable because Va Bank was the first horse trained in Poland to win a World Group III race in Europe (in Baden-Baden), beating highly ranked German horses. We could say that we were in the seventh heaven at that time.

It’s a short distance from heaven to hell. Why did VaBank suffer his first defeat in the 13th performance?

Maciej Janikowski: Having won in Baden-Baden, another victory in the Wielka Warszawska seemed very likely. That’s why I made a decision that Marek Brezina would be the one to race as I wanted to reward him for his efforts in working with Va Bank every day. After all, he had also been victorious with him before. As it turned out, unfortunately, he did not manage to make the most of this lifetime opportunity. Simply put, Tomáš Lukášek, who rode Caccinie, a very good horse that won the Derby, and who had been winning the most important races at Służewiec since 2011, outsmarted Marek and that is how the story ends. I don’t want to go back to that. We have seen the best jockeys suffer spectacular defeats. Everyone knows best after the race is over.

Walka Alsahra i Kenjiy’ego w biegu o Nagrodę Janowa.

A battle between Alsahr and Kenjiy in a race of the Janów Stakes.

Maciej Janikowski i Zbigniew Górski, hodowca oraz właściciel derbistów Dragona i Alsahra.

After Va Bank you had two more chances to win the Derby. In 2018, Cape Ducato, who was ranked lower, was in the lead 10 meters before the finish line, but ultimately Szczepan Mazur took the victory with Fabulous Vegas by a head. A year later Ophelia’s Aidan clearly finished second behind Nemezis.

Maciej Janikowski: At first I was very annoyed after those runs because we were so close to winning. But as I cooled down, I thought to myself that second places were good too, especially if you take into account that neither Cape Ducato nor Ophelia’s Aidan were considered outstanding horses.

Magnetic (grandson of Magenta), owned by Ewelina Lasota, who at the age of three won the last four group races in a row, and a year later (2018) also won four times in a row in listed races such as Widzów, TS President, Kozienice and Westminster Freundschaftspreis, turned out to be such an outstanding horse. Staight Away and Kokshe ran very well at short and medium distances alongside Va Bank. At the age of 4 (2015), the filly scored victories in the Przedświt, Moszna and Criterium Stakes one after another, and then won the Siren Stakes the following year, while the colt won the Fryderyk Jurjewicz Memorial twice and the Siren, Criterium and Haracz Stakes once each. He also won the 2019 Season Closing Race, thus ending his career. It was probably the first time in the history of this race that three horses from your stable were in the lead. Dreamline was second by an inch and Cape Ducato finished third. So there have been plenty of successes since 2015.

Maciej Janikowski and Zbigniew Górski, breeder and owner of Derby winners Dragon and Alsahr.

Maciej Janikowski: Well, what can I say? Perhaps it is the adrenaline that comes from excitement and racing success in particular that also affects my mood, health and fitness. Speaking of Magnetic, he raced earlier this year, but was not successful and has already ended his career. I hope that his younger half-brother Magic will follow in his footsteps despite suffering an unexpected defeat in his second start against a more experienced horse after a victorious debut. But I am not annoyed about that as he will start the new season from a lower level, that is in group two.

At the beginning we said that it is the quality of horses that determines whether a trainer is successful or not, but promising horses need proper care, training and a good diet. How important do you find the stable staffing and work organization?

Maciej Janikowski: I guess these are the keys. I always tried to hire the best jockeys. Czerkies was ridden by Jan Filipowski. After Rejek, I had Józef Gęborys, Piotr Piątkowski, Wiaczesław Szymczuk i Tomasz Dul working for me. As for Merlini and Va Bank, it was the Swedish champion Per-Anders Graberg who achieved the most important victories, except for the one in Baden-Baden. Alexander Reznikov has been working for me for several seasons, and Alexander Kabardov has been with me even longer. My stable staff is very important to me. I am probably the only trainer at Służewiec that employs a groom. My crew is large but I don’t regret the money I spend on them because even good horses don’t run well on their own. They must be given proper training. It needs a team whose goals are similar to mine. Then, even if you only have thirty horses, you can try to compete with stables twice as big.