Dongbanui Gangja vs Tough Win Part 2

It could be. This Sunday sees the re-match between double Grand Prix champion Dongbanui Gangja and the young pretender to his crown as best horse in Korea, Tough Win as they both line up for the Group 3 KRA Cup Classic at Seoul Race Park. The pair met for the first time down at Busan in July and on that day it was the three-year old Tough Win who came out on top breaking Dongbanui Gangja’s run of twelve straight victories.

However, the pair never really faced off. The notoriously hard to control Dongbanui Gangja veered wildly off course on the final turn squandering any chance of victory. Tough Win took the victory, but it was a close-run thing with Vicar Love and Yeonseung Daero both getting very very close to him. Nevertheless, he won and good horses don’t need to win by much, they just need to win and Tough Win has a perfect eight for eight.

Choi Bum Hyun will return to partner Dongbanui Gangja. Choi missed the Busan Metropolitan due to injuryand it was Moon Se Young in the saddle when the five-year old went wide. However, in his previous run with Choi on board at Seoul in April, Dongbanui Gangja had done exactly the same thing. That day, he got away with it.

Even if Dongbanui Gangja does stay straight, he will still have to contend with a back-breaking 63 kilos to carry. The younger Tough Win carries more than 4 kilos less. They both have eleven other contenders to deal with too. Larrycat and Hwanggeumjandi are young up-and-comers while Angus Empire and Baekjeonmupae have been competing at the top level for nearly three years now. Owners’ Cup winner Serendipper is the only filly or mare in the race.

The KRA Cup Classic is race 9 of an 11 race card at Seoul Race Park on Sunday. Racing gets underway at 11:20am with the big one at 5pm. Here’s a full list of the runners, weights, race records and rider:

KRA Cup Classic (KOR.G.III) – Seoul Race Park – 2000M – October 3, 2010, 5pm

1. Hwanggeumjandi (USA) – 56kg – (11/5/0/2) – Kim Young Jin
2. Baekjeonmupae (NZ) – 57.5kg – (34/10/7/2) – Yoo Sang Wan
3. Emperor Cugat (AUS) – 53kg – (17/4/4/2) – Han Sung Youl
4. Kahnui Jeonseol (NZ) – 51kg – (24/2/5/5) – Jo In Kwen
5. Free Hugs (AUS) – 58kg – (34/5/9/4) – Shin Hyoung Chul
6. Indian Secret (USA) – 53kg – (21/4/1/2) – Won Jung Il
7. Park’s Pride (NZ) – 51kg – (12/3/4/1) – Lee Gi Hweoi
8. Dongbanui Gangja (USA) – 63kg – (25/17/4/2) – Choi Bum Hyun
9. Tough Win (USA) – 58.5kg – (8/8/0/0) – Cho Kyoung Ho
10. Angus Empire (USA) – 59kg – (38/11/8/4) – Moon Se Young
11. Larrycat (USA) – 55kg – 12/5/3/2 – Park Tae Jong
12. Serendipper (AUS) – 54kg – (30/4/7/3) – Lee Sang Hyeok
13. Cheonjidolpung (USA) – 52kg – (24/5/0/4) – Boo Min Ho