Month: July 2009

Holy Dreamer Makes It Five

Unbeaten streak continues / Foreign jocks finally have their day
It wasn’t quite as easy as it could have been, but while Hanbatanguseum and Isfahan Teukgeup fought tooth and nail for second place, ahead of them Holy Dreamer took the line to make it five wins from five starts at Seoul Race Park this afternoon.

The three year old Holy Dreamer [Duality – Nice Weather (Future Storm)] debuted in March and today stepped up to category 3 level for the first time. Moon Se Young kept the gelding towards the front throughout most of the 1700 metre race before heading into the lead as they entered the home straight.

The small winning margin of a length and a half owed a lot to the battle behind them as the stewards took nearly ten minutes to decide that Hanbatanguseum had dipped his head at the right time to claim second. Holy Dreamer meanwhile will have tougher challenges to face in the future.

Earlier on a day of low-key racing, Japanese rider Toshiyuki Katoh scored his first victory in Korea with just his fourth ride. Katoh guided filly Dolpunguihaek to victory in race 1. It was a good day for the small Japanese contingent at Seoul with Nozomu Tomizawa also amongst the winners, landing race 5 on Melody Again.

Indeed it has been a good weekend all round so far for the international contingent in Korea. At Busan Race Park on Friday, Stephan Swanepoel claimed what was not only his first win since moving to the southern track, but his first win in fifty mounts since arriving in Korea. That he has only been offered fifty rides since March speaks volumes about why the South African asked to be transferred to Busan, which has a reputation of being slightly more foreigner friendly than Seoul – there’s no jockeys’ union for a start. Swanepoel was a four length winner on Powerful Spark in race 6.

Holy Dreamer isn’t alone in going five for five this weekend. With Eiki Nishimura and Martin Wepner also winning at Busan yesterday, all five overseas riders have been in the Winner’s Circle over the past two days – most likely the first time this has happened. Both Nishimura and Wepner will shortly be at the end of their contracts but hopefully for Katoh and Swanepoel, these first winners will be the first of many.

Back at Seoul today there were co-feature races, one for local bred horses and one for overseas. Torpedo Mast took the overseas event while Gayawangbi was successful in the local race.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL

Weekend Preview

Myeongmun Gamun Returns
Myeongmun Gamun doesn’t run very often, but he is still considered the best Korean bred horse at Seoul. One of the reasons the eight year old appears so infrequently is that he spends most of his time banned. Notoriously badly behaved at the gate, the gelding more often than not delays the start of his race and picks up a two month suspension in the process.

Myeongmun Gamun winning the President's Cup (Sports Munhwa)

Myeongmun Gamun winning the President's Cup (Sports Munhwa)

Nevertheless, Myeongmun Gamun has still managed to gain seventeen wins in his four year career and coming back off his latest ban, will be the one to beat in Sunday’s feature race. That ban was picked up in the Ttukseom Cup in April when he finished a disappointing fifth.

Going up against him will be Mighty Runner, who was victorious that day, as well as Free Woody and Hwangnyongsaji. Mighty Runner was also beaten last time out, and at 2000 metres, Myeongmun Gamun must be fancied to record his first win of 2009.

At Busan, the major races on Friday and Namdo Jeap, second in both the Cup Mile and the Derby this year will, intriguingly, line up against foreign bred horses over 1400 metres. It is unusual for a Korean horse to take on the imports and, carrying a low weight, Namdo Jeap will be well worth watching among a field where Sinjin Gangja is his best known opponent.

Busan Race Park

Friday July 3: 11 races, first post 12:30
Sunday July 5, 6 races, first post 12:40

Seoul Race Park

Saturday July 4: 12 races, first post 11:20
Sunday July 5: 11 races, first post 11:20

On Jeju Island, there are 10 races of both Saturday and Sunday, first post 12:10. Alternate spells of thunder, Sunshine and monsoon downpours have been a feature of the weather across the peninsula this week and there is no reason why that shouldn’t continue over the weekend.

Rare Racing Mention in the KT

Just as in most countries these days, racing in Korea doesn’t get a lot of mentions in the traditional media. While YTN News carried a twenty five second report of Park Tae Jong reaching 1500 career winners last week, generally it is only the slightly trashier “Sports” editions of the newspapers that cover goings-on at the track, in between photographs of the local schoolgirls getting wet.

Coverage is even less common in the English langauge media, so it was surprising to see yesterday’s racing on Haeundae beach at Busan featured in the Photo-News section of the Korea Times today.

Korea Times, July 2, 2009

Korea Times, July 2, 2009

The racing was held as part of Haeundae Beach’s “Opening Ceremony”. Korea has an official beach going season and that began on July 1. That means that while the last month may have seen better beach weather, now it is the official thing to do, this coming weekend is sure to see everybody heading there and it will probably look something like this.

It won’t be pleasant, so come racing instead!