Month: November 2008

Uys Debuts Saturday

South African veteran joins Seoul Race Park
The latest overseas jockey to come to Korea will make his debut this Saturday at Seoul Race Park. South African Willie Uys has signed a one year contract and will line up on the three year old Absolute Power in race 4. The forty six year old Uys comes to Korea off the back of a career that has so far yielded just over one thousand winners from just under ten thousand rides. Uys will be the third South African jockey to debut this year. Chris Taylor’s stint at Seoul was short-lived but Deryl Daniels is into his third month at Busan and looks set to be joined by another, Petrus Botha, later this month.

Uys has just the one ride on Saturday and then one more on Sunday when he will partner Eastern Hotshot in race 3.

Golding Heads Metropolitan Field

There’s just a week and a half to go until the President’s Cup, one of the year’s biggest races for older horses at Seoul Race Park where Myeongmun Gamun and Baekpa are expected to renew hostilities. This coming weekend, however, most of the top action will be at Busan Race Park.

On Friday, Korean Derby winner Ebony Storm will face off against the formidable Areumdaun Jilju in a handicap and then on Sunday, thirteen will line up for the Busan Metropolitan City Cup, one of the biggest races of the year open to foreign bred horses. Golding heads the field for the 2000 metre handicap which has a first prize of KRW 142Million. The race is off at 15:20 and will be simulcast to Seoul Race Park. Full list of runners, records, weights and riders:

Busan Metro City Cup (G.III) – Busan Race Park – 2000M – Nov 9, 2008 – 15:20

1. Bugyeong Choegang (AUS) (17/7/4/2) – 55.5kg – Gu Young Jun
2. Gamun Bobae (USA) (19/5/3/4) – 58kg – Chae Gyu Jun
3. Angle Slam (USA) (35/7/6/8) – 54.5kg – Eiki Nishimura
4. Alchan Sonyeo (USA) (52/1/4/8) – 50kg – Kim Myoung Shin
5. Winter Invitation (AUS) (30/3/6/5) – 52.5kg – Jo Chan Hoon
6. Hard Ride (USA) (14/4/2/1) – 52.5kg – Lim Sung Sil
7. Wonder Love (USA) (36/5/9/6) – 57kg – Han Sang Gyu
8. Florida Native (USA) (21/7/3/3) – 54.5kg – Yoo Hyun Myoung
9. King Kephalos (JPN) (9/5/1/1) – 53kg – Jo Chang Wook
10. Golding (USA) (32/15/7/4) – 60kg – Toshio Uchida
11. Oreumak (AUS) (45/5/5/8) – 50kg – Choi Si Dae
12. Dongbang Geona (JPN) (22/9/3/1) – 55.5kg – Kim Eu Su
13. Seonbaljein (JPN) (39/5/7/5) – 53.5kg – Ahn Sun Ho

Moon Passes 100 Wins

Moon Se Young has gone past the 100 winner mark for the season and remains a long way clear at the Jockey’s Championship for 2008 as he bears down on Park Tae Jong’s previous calender year best of 120:

1. Moon Se Young 106
2. Cho Kyoung Ho 80
3. Park Tae Jong 78
4. Choi Beom Hyun 55
5. Ikuyasu Kurakane 42

Park Byoung Yun was the latest of the newly qualified apprentice jockeys to pick up his first winner on Saturday. Of the seven newcomers this year, Lee Sang Hyuk, Park Si Cheon and Kim Cheol Ho have all landed four winners with only Kim Dong Min and Yoo Mi Na, now recovered from injury, yet to score.

1. Lee Sang Hyuk 4/5/2
2. Park Si Cheon 4/3/10
3. Kim Cheol Ho 4/1/2
4. Park Byoung Yun 1/1/9
5. Jo In Kwon 1/1/1
6. Kim Dong Min 0/0/2
7. Yoo Mi Na 0/0/0

Happy Queen Crowned Gyeonggi Champion

Blanket finish to Governor’s Cup / Secret Weapon holds off Machine Gun
Happy Queen won the KRW 106Million first prize by the narrowest of margins in the Gyeonggi-do Governor’s Cup at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. Under Cho Kyoung Ho, the second favourite got up by a nose on the line to take the honours from Night Fever. It was Night Fever who led out of the gate and the Oh Kyoung Hoan ridden outsider maintained her lead in the backstretch ahead of Hera and Gate Way while Happy Queen sat in the middle of the field. As they opened up the sprint, Hera faded as Happy Queen moved up to third a furlong out. Still Night Fever was hanging on, but the line couldn’t come soon enough as Happy Queen came through.

A thrilling race saw favourite Mild Go never feature as Happy Queen scored just her third career victory. However, the three year old hasn’t been out of the money since her third race, ten outings ago, and seems destined to move onto better company. Gate Way repeated her Korean Oaks performace by coming third in a blanket finish with the entire field separated by just a few lengths.

In other races, Secret Weapon did enough to live up to his 1.2 favourite status – but only just. The five year old hit the front of the 2000 metre handicap as they entered the final furlong but Moon Se Young on Machine Gun was in hot pursuit. Machine Gun has been in the best form of his career this autumn and the gelding almost got up to snatch victory. Secret Weapon held on though for his fifth straight win with a neck the distance between them on the line.

Big Sox followed up his second place in October’s JRA Trophy Race by taking victory in a cat 2 handicap. The three year old took his fourth win, half a length ahead of Serendipper. Big Sox was Moon Se Young’s third win of the day following wins on Yeong Jae in race 5 and Baekdu Beonjjeok in race 1. Race 1 was marred by a fatal breakdown by Merry Gold 300 metres out injuring jockey Lee Jun Dong. Ikuyasu Kurakane on Conan was also brought down but both horse and rider were quickly up.

At Busan Race Park, Japanese jockey Eiki Nishimura landed his first victory in Korea with a seven length win on Hyangsan in race 4. Busan’s feature was won by Eodubong, a half length ahead of Storm Rider.

Gyeonggi-do Governor’s Cup – Seoul Race Park – 1800M – Nov. 2, 2008 – 16:40

1. Happy Queen (KOR) [Revere – C. Bop (Aly Dark)] – Cho Kyoung Ho – 2.7
2. Night Fever (KOR) [Concept Win – Sarah’s Boop (Whitesburg)] – Oh Kyoung Hoan – 39.6
3. Gate Way (KOR) [Psychobabble – Rich Emotions (Rizzi)] – Lee Gi Hwoi – 8.8
Distances: Nose/Neck – 14 ran

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL

FULL RESULTS FROM BUSAN

Vicar Love Denies Subsidy

Subsidy must wait / Baekdujeonseol wins / Cheonjikkot first winner for Park
Vicar Love produced a controlled performance to take a comfortable win and make Subsidy wait a little while longer before reaching the Billion Won prize money mark at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. Eight year old Subsidy led the small field into the home straight but Yang Hee Jin knew exactly when to ask Vicar Love for an effort and he breezed past to win with three lengths to spare. Owner’s Association Trophy winner Saerounbisul put in a strong final furlong to finish third. The KRW 15Million prize for second place takes Subsidy up to a career total of KRW 997Million. Meanwhile for the three year old Vicar Love [Vicar – Canberra (Silver Hawk)], it is four straight wins and a total of seven in ten outings.

The feature handicap also went to form as strong favourite Baekdujeonseol scored a one length win. The four year old sat in the middle of the field for much of the 1800 metres as Shocking made the pace. Park Tae Jong brought the favourite into contention as they turned for home and he hit the front at the right time to win from Borkhan and Gamunhuye.

Earlier in the day two of the more promising locally bred two year olds – one a filly and one a colt – met over 1200 metres in race 6. It was the filly who came out on top and in some style as Cheonjikkot bolted out of the gate and continued to go away from the field right until the line. The vanquished colt, hot favourite Gwacheon Jijon, trailed in five lengths back. Cheonjikkot also marked the first career victory of jockey Park Byeon Yun on his 43rd ride.

Although the track had plenty of moisture in it from Friday’s rain, the skies were clear and it was a beautiful crisp autumn day for racing. It is expected to stay dry for tomorrow when the Gyeonggi-do Governor’s Cup takes centre stage with Happy Queen and Mild Go expected to dispute favourite’s status when the race comes under orders at 16:40. Racing begins at Seoul at 11:00am and at Busan at 12:10pm.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL