Sometimes it’s great to be wrong. Just two short weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that the great and venerable Bally Brae was spending his weekends carrying on obscene amount of weight and getting beaten by lesser horses. Yes, he’s healthy and loves to run but he deserves his retirement.

Bally Brae, with Oh Kyoung Hoan up, returns a winner for the first time for a year

Today, still carrying top weight and against a field containing Jumong, one of Korea’s top imports and younger brother of Subsidy, the horse with whom Bally Brae shared many memorable battles some years ago, the nine-year old proved the doubters wrong by pulling off a remarkable victory.

Moon Se Young, jockey of Bally Brae in his biggest races, had opted for Jumong so it was left to Oh Kyoung Hoan to have the former Horse of the Year at the front of a pack chasing early leaders Sadae Gwangja and Summa Cum Laude. The field came together as they entered the straight and, just as his big brother did all those years ago, Jumong hooked up with Bally Brae. They weren’t alone though as they battled each other down the stretch as the whole field came together for a blanket finish in which Bally Brae just got the better of Emperor Cugat with Jumong back in third.

Bally Brae, Horse of the Year in 2006 and Grand Prix winner in 2007 scored his nineteenth victory on his forty-fourth career start. He’s been there for much of Korean racing’s recent history. His first jockey, Hong Dae You, has now been his trainer for the past three years while the late Lim Dae Gyu rode him to his first Stakes victory. Two years ago I wrote a similar article when he returned to the winners’ circle after a long drought. Few thought we’d have the privilege to see him repeat the feat in 2011.

Moon Se Young guides NZ bred Daenggimeori to victory at Seoul

It was a beautiful day in the Korean capital and aside from Bally Brae, there was much to get excited about. New Zealand bred gelding Daenggimeori (Handsome Ransom) finally broke his maiden at the seventh attempt as he scored a narrow victory in race 4, while there was defeat for highly rated Ruby Queen in race 8.

Kim Hae Sun scores with Saeroungangja in race 8

Ruby Queen (Badge Of Silver) came in with a record of three wins from her five starts to date and was sent off as the odds-on favourite, but she and jockey Jo In Kwen ran into an inspired ride by Kim Hae Sun of 10/1 shot Saeroungangja, who led from gate-to-wire for the victory. One horse who did live up to his billing though was Achimsarang. Suffering the same problem as fellow Broken Vow offspring Dongbanui Gangja, for the second race running, Achimsarang drifted wildly in the home straight but had enough in the tank to still win race 9 with ease.

It was an eventful afternoon and there were presentations to watch too. Last weekend, Tough Win gave trainer Shin Woo Chul his 1000th career winner. During the week he had a tree planted in his honour and today, Shin was presented with a trophy (actually several trophies) to mark his achievement – the first time a trainer has reached such a milestone in Korean racing history.

KRA organizes impromptu head lice inspection: Or not - Shin Woo Chul (wearing the garland) is honoured for 1000 career training wins

In addition to Seoul, Busan also held an eventful card and just like Seoul it was an old-timer who took the feature race. Crafty Louis (Louis Quatorze) made the first appearance of his eight-year old season and put the young pretenders firmly in their place with a convincing win in the seven furlong feature. Just like Bally Brae, it was his forty-fourth race and he is now just one win behind on eighteen.

The sunshine was hazy but a huge crowd packed into Seoul Racecourse today

* For obvious reasons thoughts at the track today were with the tragedy that has befallen our neighbours across the sea in Japan. Despite – and in many ways because of – the difficulties the two nations have had in their history, the links run deep. There are few in Korea who do not know someone who has been affected by this.

Racing in Japan has of course been suspended indefinitely. See this post for a report on the whereabouts and well-being of horses in Japan.

From a seemingly impossible position, Triple Seven flew home to claim a last gasp victory in the feature event at Seoul Race Park this afternoon.

Triple Seven: Winner today

Stuck behind a pack of horses as they entered the home straight, last year’s Ttukseom Cup winner, sent off at 8/1 and top weight for the 1700 metre handicap, Triple Seven (The Groom Is Red) looked set to play no part in a a finish that was et to be contested by favourite Holy Dreamer, filly Cheonun and former prolific winner Big Easy.

Forced to go down the outside, jockey Bang Choon Sik – replacing regular rider Choi Bum Hyun – managed to get six-year old Triple Seven into top gear and they came through to hit the front as the pack swept over the line to win by a head from Cheonun with Khanui Huye and Holy Dreamer just a further neck behind in third and fourth.

It made it two wins from two starts this year and twelve career wins in total for Triple Seven who, alongside the great Baekgwang, is the most successful horse by late sire The Groom Is Red.

In other races, there was a third straight win for three-year old Mupaeseungni (Ingrandire). Crucially this time it was over 1700 metres and the manner in which he coatsed to an eight length victory in race 8, suggests the colt could play some part in the Classics this year. If he does, he’ll be the first progeny of relatively new Japanese sire Ingrandire (White Muzzle) to do so. Meanwhile, for the second Saturday in a row, Japanese jockey Hiro Hamada took victory in the last race of the day. This time he partnered filly She Strong to a narrow win.

Racing returns to the peninsula on Sunday with eleven races at Seoul from 11:10 to 18:00 and six at Busan from 12:30 to 16:30.

* Today, March 12, is the one year anniversary of the death of jockey Park Jin Hee. Busan based rider Park took her own life after battling depression.

Park Jin Hee 1982-2010 (KRA)

Mister Park cruises while Dangdae Bulpae puts in a shift to defeat the imports

Well that was nice and impressive but it doesn’t tell us a whole lot. Grand Prix Champion Mister Park was sent off the long odds-on favourite in the first of two feature races at Busan this afternoon. And despite taking a wander across the track in the home straight, he led the field of his fellow Korean bred horses home by twelve lengths to record his thirteenth straight victory.

Mister Park: Flat-track bully today

One race later, another Korean bred horse Dangdae Bulpae took on the same distance but against foreign bred horses. He too won, albeit by just a head from the much faster finishing Dudeurim and now has ten wins from his fifteen starts. He recorded a faster time than Mister Park for the nine furlongs – he needed too as the competition was much stronger.

At this stage, it is hard to begrudge the connections of Mister Park (Ecton Park) taking out some relatively easy races. Having been born in Korea, but sired elsewhere, he wasn’t eligible for the big three year old races last year. Dangdae Bulpae (Biwa Shinseiki) meanwhile cleaned up in the Gyeongnam Governor’s, Minister’s and President’s Cups last autumn and already has 1 Billion won of prize money to his name. Mister Park, despite having been beaten only on his debut, has won 300 Million less.

Dangdae Bulpae - Beat the waygooks today

On the one occasion the two have met so far, Dangdae Bulpae didn’t stay the distance. Mister Park, a winner at all distances from 1000 metres to the Grand Prix’s 2300 metres, gets everything. Connections deserve their prizes, but hopefully greater challenges await this remarkable gelding later on this year. It is unusual for the top Korean bred horses to regularly run against the best imports – Yeonseung Daero is a notable and creditable exception – but it is good for the horse as they carry less weight in the handicap, and great for the sport.

It’s unusual for Busan to take the spotlight on a Sunday but with Mister Park and Dangdae Bulpae, it certainly did today. By contrast, it was a low-key day in the capital where the co-feartire races were both class 2 events. In the first of these, six year old Jeil Beonjjeok (Road Of War) scored a very rare win and in doing so, enhanced the reputation of young jockey Kim Hae Sun as she secured the biggest winner of her short career so far. One race later, favourite Hushtilled (Distilled) got the better of an all filly and mare field to record a two length win.

Racing returns next weekend!

It was so easy. Tough Win, who had been beaten for the first time in the Grand Prix at the tail-end of last year and then suffered a shock reverse at the hands of Baekjeonmupae in his season debut, today returned to the winner’s circle in emphatic style. In doing so, he handed his trainer, Shin Woo Chul, his thousandth winner of a twenty-eight year career.

Cho Kyoung Ho dismounts from Tough Win: Sand in his pacifiers, another victory in the bank

As soon as Cho Kyoung Ho asked Tough Win [Yonaguska – Maggie Mae’s Sword (Sword Dance)] to take control of proceedings 1000 metres from home in the feature handicap at Seoul Race Park, it was over as a contest.

The four year old needed no encouragement to almost instantly open up an unassailable lead. With a furlong to go, they were out of sight and jockey Cho spent the closing stages thanking his horse and acknowledging the achievement of one of the track’s longest standing trainers.

By the time they crossed the line, they were only four lengths in front but it might as well have been forty, so comprehensively outclassed were the rest. Trainer Shin met Tough Win in the winner’s circle to be photographed with the horse who is as good as any as he has trained in a career that has seen a Derby winner, Haebidongja in 2003, multiple Stakes winner Super Pala in the 1990’s and Weekend Glory, a prolific winner a few years ago.

Shin Woo Chul waits patiently for his interview after Tough Win landed him his 1000th career win as a trainer

Tough Win is the holder of both the Busan Metropolitan and KRA Cup Classic as he assumed the mantle of Seoul’s top horse from Dongbanui Gangja last year. However, the Korean Stakes schedule requires a horse to be in top form all year round. Tough Win will surely be back for another crack at the biggest one of all, the Grand Prix, in December. It’s a race that has so far eluded his trainer. Busan’s Mister Park is currently Korea’s champion. Hopefully he will have to defend against Tough Win this year.

On a bright but chilly day, there was action on the Triple Crown trail. Breeders’ Cup winner and champion juvenile of 2010, Sun Hero grabbed a second consecutive win at two turns in race 9 to put himself firmly in consideration for the Classics. It was another easy win for Cho Kyoung Ho who was standing in for suspended Moon Se Young on the Menifee colt who, if all goes to plan, we will next see on the firs Sunday in April down at Busan for the KRA Cup Mile, the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Finally, a word for Seoul’s only foreign jockey. Hiro Hamada has gradually seen his opportunities dry up over the past few months, however, the Japanese rider took his chance on 10/1 Skyfull in the last race today, to score his first win of 2011.

Sun Hero and Cho Kyoung Ho ease to victory

Racing returns to Seoul on Sunday when there are eleven races from 11:10 to 18:00. However, it is a Busan where the focus will be. Down south there are six races from 12:30 to 16:30. In race 5, Grand Prix champion Mister Park will be seeking his thirteenth consecutive win, while one race later, Minister’s and President’s Cup champion Dangdae Bulpae takes on the imports in a big handicap.