Just a brief one today as it was a day of generally unspectacular racing. On the plus side, Seoul Racecourse Park was bathed in thoroughly spectacular sunshine providing a wonderful day for the above average sized crowd. Betting was competitive all day long with punters undecided on many races. Moon Se Young returned riding three favourites but each time was beaten as sure things were hard to come by. Particularly disappointing was Easy Company in race 6 which had one 2 out of its 3 previous races but failed to stay the extra 200 metres trip. Most notable performance of the day came in race 10 as the highly fancied Jeokdaejeok added to his impressive record with a comfortable win under Yoon Dae Keun.

A beautiful day at Gwacheon saw bright sunshine and a welcome return to reasonable temperatures after last week’s cold. The torrential rain on Friday afternoon resulted in heavy going and a track that looked more like mud than the usual sand. This had a predictably unpredictable effect on the form and it was a day of long-shots coming in and odds-on chances getting beaten. The most surprising result of the day came perhaps in race 10 where Wontagi Gisa – a horse with W130Million of prize money from just 9 races behind it failed to feature at all in a race won by the unfancied Jeoldae Banji under Shim Seung Tae – the tote paying 60.0 on the win. Australian Danny Craven had two rides but didn’t trouble the placings.

Sunday will see another 12 races plus the return of Moon Se Young after 2 racing days off.

Eventful day for Iku and it’s cold…very cold…
Winter arrived in a big way in Seoul this weekend. The early forecast of a high of 6C proved hopelessly optimistic as the temperature struggled to rise over freezing. This, coupled with a biting easterly wind, made it a bracing day at the races. On the track, the weekend’s big race was the “NACF Chairman’s Trophy Race” over 1800 metres and worth 67,000,000won to the winner. The 5 year old Pilseung Giwon, running in her fortieth race took the trophy under Ikuyasu Kurakane, a length and a half ahead of the odds-on favourite Morning Dance under Cho Kyoung Ho.

Ikuyasu had an eventful day, placing and winning in early races before falling on the final bend in Race 9 while riding the highly fancied Biroesonata. Placed fifth at the time, Biroesonata pulled out into the back of Magic Sarang (ridden by Oh Kyung Ho) and went over. Remarkably, from what looked like a bad tumble, both horse and jockey were straight up. Magic Sarang went on to cross the line first, however, a steward’s inquiry found Oh to have been responsible for Iku’s fall and the horse was disqualified. Hyo Bin, under Lee Sung Hwan, was promoted to first place. Iku went straight from the ambulance to the paddock for the big race clearly with a point to prove.

Overall a good day’s sport but the cold is here – and it’s going to be at least four months until the end is in sight!

The International Jockeys Challenge was won by one of the international entrants and it was another great day for Moon Se Young

International Jockeys Challenge
Despite not winning any of the four designated races in the challenge, South African Gerrit Schlechter was the overall winner in terms of prize-money and took the $20,000 award. Cho Kyoung Ho finished second in the standings following his win on Bandoueui Byeol in the 15:20 “Macau Jockey Club Goodwill Trophy” beating Schlecter by a nose on High Boy. Park Tae Jong finished third overall. Schlecter also took time out to win Race 9 – not part of the Challenge – on joint-favourite Eoullimnyeongung overhauling long time leader Balgeunhae (Yoon Dae Keun) in the final furlong. An interesting event and it was certainly a novelty to see so many official looking foreigners around Gwacheon. They even laid on a US military band for the presentation ceremony. The only pity was that Irish representative Wayne Lordan seemed to get lumbered with the weakest horse in each race – four times he got himself into a good position on the final turn – four times the horse then went backwards.

Moon does the business again
The weekend has further cemented Moon Se Young’s reputation as the man you most trust your money with at the moment. Following on from his success in yesterday’s feature race, Moon repeated the trick in today’s feature taking the 80,000,000won 1400 metre Handicap Special on Saerounbisul. Taking an early lead, Moon was overtaken on the final turn and seemingly boxed-in until he found a gap with a furlong to go and won pulling away from Park Tae Jong on Ilbo Gyeongcheon and Gerrit Schlecter on Eunpa Manse. A superb ride that earned rare applause from racegoers and it was Moon’s second win of the day having earlier guided old-stager Turn Turtle to success in the horse’s first outing over 1800 metres in race 7.

Round-up
Japanese jockey Nozomu Tomizawa is worthy of a mention having had a good day, notching up his sixth winner in Korea on the unfancied Smart Angel in race 5 and following it up with a 3rd place finish on Seonbi in race 6. Of the two Japanese Jocks riding regularly at Gwacheon Ikayasu Kurakane has been the most successful so far but Nozomu showed what he can do today. Elsewhere there was a rare British bred horse in race 7. Be My Day went off favourite but didn’t stay the 1800 metre trip and finished last.

A chilly, cloudy day in Gwacheon for 12 races of varying quality. Feature race was the 90,000,000won Japan Racing Authority Trophy but the card was also notable for the first two races in the “International Jockey Challenge”.

JRA Trophy
Eight two year olds lined up for the JRA trophy at 16:20. The 1200 metre race was led from start to finish by favourite Clever Star (2.2) ridden by Moon Se Young for a five length victory from Seoul Taekgup (4.2) in second and Big Sox (6.3) in third. The result means Clever Star has now won 2 of his 3 starts.

International Jockey Challenge
A curious event which is now in its third year, the International Jockey Challenge consists of 4 races involving five Korean and five international jockeys. This year the international line-up consists of Gerrit Schlechter from South Africa – a man with a truly incredible head of hair, Kevin Radke of the USA, Lam Hoi of Macau, Kunihiko Watanabe of Japan – a man also well endowed in the hair department and Wayne Lordan, the promising young Irish jockey. For Korea, Park Tae Jong, Chun Chang Ki, Kim Hyo Seob, Cho Kyoung Ho and Park Soo Hong line up. Over the weekend there are four races and the jockey with the best record wins $20,000. After an awkward photocall at lunchtime, they got down to business in the 6th race of the day and Park Tae Jong did the business on Widaehan Khan with an exaggerated celebration as he crossed the line. Lam Hoi managed third place but the other internationals were well down, Lordan and Radke in particular not looking impressed with their mounts. The balance was redressed in race 9, however, in a race of much higher quality, Radke on Arrow Guard edged out Schlecter on Vere Strong in a cracking final furlong. The event will conclude with two more races tomorrow.

Round-up
Saturday’s remaining big race saw Good Day comfortably add to his impressive record in a 1900 metre 66,000,000 won Handicap. The only three year old in the race he led for most of the way under Cho Kyoung Ho to rack up victory number 8 in 10 outings.