For the second time this year, a Presidential funeral has meant the cancellation of a day’s racing. After six days of mourning, Kim Dae Jung – President from of South Korea from 1998 to 2003 and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 – will be laid to rest on Sunday at the National Cemetary in Seoul following a State funeral.
The cancellation leaves each track with just one day’s racing this weekend. Busan runs on Friday while Seoul and Jeju have cards on Saturday. With the short evening racing season complete, all three tracks are running daytime cards. To replace the lost races, Seoul and Busan will each host a make-up card in December on Christmas weekend – the season had previously been scheduled to finish a week earlier.
Procyon and Yongdu Baram head the field for Busan’s feature race. Symphony Sonata is the biggest name on show at Seoul on Saturday.
Busan Race Park
Friday August 21: 10 races, first post 13:00, last 17:30
Seoul Race Park
Saturday August 22: 12 races, first post 11:20, last 17:40
Jeju Race Park (Pony racing)
Saturday August 22: 10 races, first post 12:10, last 17:10