A big weekend for Korean racing is coming up as the first of four weeks of evening racing gets underway. There are co-main events on Sunday with the SBS Cup at Seoul and the Gyeongnam-Do Min Ilbo Cup at Busan. The Min Ilbo is for imported horses and a full field of fourteen will contest the 1800 metre race.

Continuing the theme of recent weeks of locally bred horses running against the imports at Busan, Korean bred Areumdaun Jilju is entered. Last year’s most feared horse, has only run twice this season, but has won both of those and will, as ever, be hard to beat.

Among those trying will be a host of frequent winners such as Crafty Louis, who won over this distance last month. 2008 Busan Owners’ Trophy winner Hardride will be there, as will King Kephalos, winner of two out of his last four. Angle Slam prefers shorter distances but is always likely to be around the front of the field in the home straight while the filly Miss Ecton has been in strong form this year.

The race is off at 19:05 and is race 4 of 6 on Busan’s Sunday card which gets underway at 16:20. Full past performance information can be downloaded here (Korean) and a full list of runners and riders is below:

Gyeongnamdo Min Ilbo Cup – Busan Race Park – 1800M – July 19, 2009

1. Hardride (USA) [Colony Light – Lametta] – (21/6/5/1) – Han Sang Gyu
2. Wonder Love (USA) [Wild Wonder – Love Spanish] – (43/5/9/7) – Kim Tae Kyoung
3. Jewang (USA) [Precise End – Chap Slewy] – (21/1/6/1) – Eiki Nishimura
4. Winter Invitation (USA) [Take Me Out – Winter Crown] – (38/3/7/8) – Kim Dong Young
5. Crafty Louis (USA) [Louis Quatorze – Crafty Atlantic] – (31/11/4/2) – Jo Chang Wook
6. Power Captain (AUS) [King Charlemagne – Green Band] – (25/5/4/2) – Kim Young Min
7. Haengbok Dream (JPN) [Lammtarra – Sister Slew] – (7/3/2/1) – Jo Chan Hoon
8. Miss Ecton (USA) [Ecton Park – Miss Lion King] – (15/5/2/5) – Martin Wepner
9. Phasmes (USA) [Parker’s Storm Cat – Madelaine] – (10/4/1/4) – Jo Sung Gon
10. King Kephalos (JPN) [King Glorious – Western Edge] – (15/7/2/2) – Kim Eu Su
11. Gyeoncheonsa (USA) [Slew Gin Fizz – Jika] – (23/6/2/0) – Park Geum Man
12. Angle Slam (USA) [Gold Case – Platinum Code] – (40/8/7/8) – Gu Min Sung
13. Saeroun Bulpae (USA) [Northern Afleet – Really Appealing] – (17/5/1/4) – Chae Gyu Jun
14. Areumdaun Jilju (KOR) [Didyme – Chills of Nepal] – (19/13/3/0) – Lim Sung Sil

Tomorrow we’ll have a full look at the rest of the weekend’s cards including a run down of the contenders for Seoul’s SBS Cup.