Rainmaker’s win in yesterday’s KRA Cup Mile at Busan Race Park is now online, courtesy of Fallight. Click here.
I’ve added a page for Top Horses in Busan which includes Rainmaker. It’s currently based on the top money winners over the past year. Given the current stage of the season, the list is likely to change frequently so I’ll keep adding any new entrants to the top five. Top Horses in Seoul remains in place.
Shim Seung Tae was the weekend’s biggest winner with five victories nearly doubling his total for the season so far. Moon Se Young crossed the forty mark with three winners and Cho Kyoung Ho stayed within ten. Park Tae Jong lost on three favourites on Saturday but scored a double on Sunday to move on to 20.
1. Moon Se Young 41
2. Cho Kyoung Ho 31
3. Park Tae Jong 20
4. Choi Beom Hyun 12
Rainmaker (3.4), ridden by An Sun Ho, has won the KRW228 Million KRA Cup Mile at Busan Race Park with Gaeseon Janggun (20.5) in second and Jeolho Chance (3.7) in third. Rainmaker went off the slight favourite from Jeolho Chance and Daejanggun (4.0). Jeolho Chance, under Cho Sung Gon, made the early running and traded the lead with Hammer Punch in the back straight. Rainmaker meanwhile sat at the back of the field until they entered the final turn, hitting second place with 2 furlongs left behind Jeolho Chance who by this time had opened up a gap of six or seven lengths. Rainmaker ground his opponent down, however, and ran on to record a two and a half length victory and take the first leg of the Triple Crown. The five horses from Seoul disappointed, filling up four of the last five places. Sammuae finishing highest for Han Sang Kyu in sixth.
Up at Seoul, there was a surprise in the feature handicap as Dankee’s Pal at 23.4 took the win for Cho Kyoung Ho ahead of Moon Se Young on another outsider Saerounbisul (32.0). The 2.3 favourite, Dirt King, was two lengths back in third. Earlier there was no surprise as Dongbanui Gangja (1.3) coolly won a two and a half length victory over Hwanggeum Dwaeji in a 1900 metre handicap. Dongbanui Gangja was the last of three wins for jockey Shim Seung Tae, with two wins each for for Park Tae Jong and Cho Kyoung Ho.
Saturday April 5, 2008
Kkumi Mulgyeol won today’s biggest race at Seoul Race Park, beating strong odds-on favourite Hwangnyongsaji by 2 lengths. With Cho Kyoung Ho riding, the five year old took the lead right from the start of the 2000 metre handicap and held off the late run of his younger rival in the final furlong.
There was a large crowd today – brought in by the fine spring weather and also by the fact that the admission fee (tiny though it is) was waived today because of last week’s cancellation. They saw a competitive day’s racing which saw favourites dominate early on but surprises take over later. The biggest shock on the card saw a 905.6 exacta return in race 7 with Freedom Now at 71.9 winning from Gaeseong Gongdan at 53.1. There were also two wins each for Moon Se Young – one on the highly rated Photo Map – and for Shim Seung Tae.
Sunday will see eleven races at Seoul with the first at 11:20, six at Busan with the first at 12:40 and they’re under orders at Jeju for the first of nine races at 12:20.
Fourteen runners will line up for the KRA Cup Mile at Busan Race Park which will be under orders at 3:45pm on Sunday. It’s an open race with a number of horses likely to be well-fancied; Taeyangcheoreom, Daejanggun, Hammer Punch, Jeolho Chance and Rainmaker all getting strong support in the weekend form books. Here is the complete list of runners and riders:
Horse Name – Runs (1/2/3/4/5) – Jockey
1. Gaya Gongju 7(3/2/1/0/0) Kim Eo Su (VIDEO)
2. Samsinnyeonsarang 6(3/2/0/0/1) Danny Craven (Seoul)
3. Taeyangcheoreom 8(4/0/1/0/1) Nozomu Tomizawa (Seoul)
4. Sammuae 8(1/1/0/2/0) Han Sang Gyu (Seoul)
5. Raon King 4(2/0/1/0/0) Cho Chang Wook
6. Rainmaker 5(2/3/0/0/0) An Sun Ho
7. Bulpae Yeoksa 8(2/0/4/0/0) Soo Khoon Beng
8. Namdo Jijon 6(1/4/0/1/0) Chae Kyu Jun
9. Hammer Punch 6(3/1/0/0/1) Ikuyasu Kurakane (Seoul)
10. Super Goliath 6(2/3/0/1/0) Gu Young Jun
11. Gaeseon Janggun 5(2/0/1/1/1) Cho Sung Gon
12. Jeolho Chance 7(4/1/0/1/0) Cho Chan Hun
13. Gilsan 5(1/3/0/0/0) Lim, Sung Sil
14. Daejanggun 8(4/0/2/1/0) Woo Chang Gu (Seoul)
The card at Seoul Race Park may be overshadowed by that at Busan this weekend but still there are twelve races on Saturday and eleven on Sunday with the first beginning at 11:20 on each day. Feature race of the two days is race 10 on Sunday, a KRW 37Million handicap involving Dirt King (5 wins from 9 starts), Angus Empire (6 from 17) and Haengun Daewang (9 from 20). On Sunday, four of the six races from the KRA Cup Mile meeting at Busan will be simulcasted to Seoul.
The Bee Keeper makes it 3 out of 3 / Seoul jockeys struggle
Bugyeong Choegang won this afternoon’s feature race at Busan Race Park, the 2.8 favourite claiming a half length victory over Gangsan Jijo and D M Merch in the KRW 42Million 2000 metre handicap. D M Merch in third was ridden by Ikuyasu Kurakane, one of four Seoul based jockeys riding at Busan this weekend, Ikuyasu’s third was one of only two placed finishes for the foursome, Woo Chang Gu riding hot favourite Haneul Cheonsa to second place in race 5.
Three year old The Bee Keeper maintained his 100% record in the KRW 25Million race 6 with a two and a half length win over Bugyeong Janggun. This was The Bee Keeper’s first outing at 1400 metres and in superior company to his previous wins, he fully justified the 1.4 starting price. Performance of the day though was perhaps from the unraced Useung Party in race 1. Starting at a relatively unfancied 6.6, the filly dominated the field to win by a full seventeen lengths. Racing returns to Busan Race Park on Sunday with the KRA Cup Mile.
It’s KRA Cup Mile weekend at Busan Race Park and horses and jockeys from Seoul will be venturing South for the cards on Friday and Sunday culminating in the KRW228Million won KRA Cup Mile which is off at 3:45pm on Sunday. The three foreign riders, Danny Craven, Ikuyasu Kurakane and Nozomu Tomizawa are joined by Woo Chang Gu to make up the Seoul contingent at Busan. On Friday the first of nine races is under orders at 1pm and on Sunday the first of six begins at 12:40. We’ll take a closer look at the runners in the big race later in the week.
Back on the Gold Coast, Garry Baker has been speaking about his time in Korea again, this time in an interview with Queensland Racing Magazine. As in other interviews Baker generally looks back quite positively on his time at Busan although noting that the quality of horses was “very average” and that “racing (in Korea) is probably like it was in Japan about 30 years ago”. Read the full article here.
Also the Chosun Ilbo today reported details on the KRA’s alleged misconduct as found by the Board of Audit and Inspection. Article.
Horse Racing in Korea 