Day: July 16, 2011

Mister Park Out But Stage Remains Set For Epic Metropolitan

Dangdae Bulpae, Yeonseung Daero Vs Tough Win, Dongbanui Gangja

History won’t be made now that Mister Park has been withdrawn from Sunday’s Busan Metropolitan Cup but we still have a cracking race on our hands as two home-grown Busan boys take on the massed ranks of an invading force of imports from the Capital under the floodlights.

From left: Dongbanui Gangja, Tough Win, the now scratched Mister Park, Dangdae Bulpae, Yeonseung Daero

A collective groan was heard around the Korean racing community on Wednesday when the name of Mister Park (Ecton Park) was missing from the list of declared runners for the Metropolitan. The 2010 Grand Prix champion is just one race away from a record-breaking sixteenth consecutive victory. He’s not injured so did connections get scared of putting his unbeaten record on the line against the best in the country when he only needs one more win?

One will have to take them at their word when they say he took a long time to recover from carrying 60 kilos in his last outing and would not be at his best. Nevertheless, a chance has been missed to go into history in the most glorious way imaginable.

So what are we left with? An exceptional race is what. And we still have the narrative. Only two horses from the home track will take part and they are the only two Korean bred horses in the race. Yeonseung Daero (Creek Cat) second in this race last year, and the remarkable five-time Stakes winner Dangdae Bulpae (Biwa Shinseiki) will be fighting for both local and national pride come post time. Either are capable of doing it but they’ve got a mammoth task on their hands.

From Seoul we have the two Superstars. Tough Win (Yonaguska), last year’s winner and Horse Of The Year and Dongbanui Gangja (Broken Vow), the double Grand Prix winner who finally snapped out of his bad habit of running wide to soundly defeat Tough Win a month ago. These two are game for anything and while Tough Win has the speed, 2000 metres is at the very upper limit of his capability.

Most see it as a straight fight between these four. Tough Win and Dangdae Bulpae are the most talented but Dongbanui Gangja and Yeonseung Daero are arguably the gamer. We could be in for a treat come 7:45pm on Sunday evening. The race will be simulcasted back live to Seoul Race Park where the Munhwa Ilbo Cup will be the major live event at 19:10.

Here’s a full list of runners and riders with pedigree, age, sex and race records:

Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Cup – Busan Race Park – 2000M – Sunday July 17 2011, 19:45

1. Baekjeonmupae (NZ) [Traditionally – Star Sixty Seven (Phone Trick)] 7 G (41/13/7/4) – Jung Ki Yong
2. Tough Win (USA) [Yonaguska – Maggie May’s Sword (Sword Dance)] 4 G (14/11/2/0) – Cho Kyoung Ho
3. Dongbanui Gangja (USA) [Broken Vow – Maremaid (Storm Bird)] 6 H (30/18/5/2) – Choi Bum Hyun
4. Yaho TS (USA) [Roar Of The Tiger – Propeller (Lear Fan)] 5 H (28/4/1/1) – Makoto Noda
5. Dangdae Bulpae (KOR) [Biwa Shinseiki – Indeed My Dear (Alydeed)] 4 C (17/12/1/1) – Jo Sung Gon
6. Yeonseung Daero (KOR) [Creek Cat – Sensationalkris (Cryptoclearance)] 5 H (33/14/6/5) – Choi Si Dae
7. Mr. Loving Life (USA) [Full Mandate – Indeed Yes (Shadeed)] 6 H (46/5/5/5) – Ham Wan Sik
8. Gippeun Sesang (CAN) [Behrens – Bellus (Saint Ballado)] 5 H (35/3/4/3) – Hwang Soon Do
9. Necromancer (JPN) [Air Eminem – I Am The Filly (Symboli Rudolf)] 5 H (30/5/6/4) – Kim Ok Sung
10. Saseong (JPN) [White Muzzle – Rose Garden (Peintre Celebre)] 5 G (21/4/1/2) – Lee Sang Hyeok
11. Cheonjidolpung (USA) [Tactical Cat – Luminate (A.P. Indy)] 6 G (28/5/0/4) – Mai Beppu

Sunday July 17

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 2:20 to 21:00 including the Munhwa Ilbo Cup at 19:10
Busan Race Park: 6 races from 16:30 to 20:35 including the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Cup at 19:45

Japanese Jockey Joy

Beppu and Noda Score Maiden Wins at Seoul

Yesterday it was Akane Yamamoto in Busan, today it was the turn of Japanese jockeys Mai Beppu and Makoto Noda in Seoul to record their first winners in Korea.

Mai Beppu returns to scale a winner at Seoul

And after what had been a long wait, they did them in style too. Beppu was up first. She debuted in March this year but only had five rides before injuring an arm in the starting gate which put her out for two months. Today she finally got that elusive winner in race 5 as she took second favourite Seungseungmanseung (Buster’s Daydream – Dewhurst House) into an early lead that he never relinquished and raced away for an eleven length triumph. It was her 48th ride in Korea.

Makoto Noda had to wait until five races later on the card and his 53rd ride since debuting at the beginning of June.

Back among the winners: Makoto Noda with trainer Lim Bong Chun and his Interpreter

It was worth the wait as Noda partnered five-year old Australian import Khaki Halls (Refuse To Bend – Karamea Star) to victory in the feature race of the afternoon.

Noda sent Khaki Halls, who was returning to the track for the first time following an eight month lay-off, into an early lead and fought off the challenge of favourite Geumbi in the final furlong to win by two lengths.

On Sunday, both Noda and Beppu will travel to Busan to ride in the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Cup. Full preview will be up imminently.

Today was the first day of evening racing – well afternoon and evening racing, the first race was 2:20pm and the last 8:50pm and it was also the first day of Lee Shin Young’s training career. In race 1, Lee became the first Korean woman to saddle a runner for a race and 35/1 outsider Red Money did her proud by finishing “in the money” in fourth place. Lee has one more runner on Sunday.

Lee’s former compatriot in the jockey ranks Lee Ae Li did not have a good day though, ending it in hospital after a nasty fall from filly Noble Harmony who sadly broke down in the back straight during race 8. Noble Harmony (Walkslikeaduck) was running for the 23rd time and was without a win. Nevertheless, she had picked up approximately $30,000 of prize money and was reasonably well-fancied today. Sadly the fracture in her leg was too severe for her to have any chance of making a recovery. May Noble Harmony rest in peace.

Seoul Nights

First Winner for Akane, First Runner For Lee Shin Young

Japanese jockey Akane Yamamoto has ridden her first winner in Korea. The 28-year-old partnered 16/1 shot Baramui Jeonsa to victory in race 4 at Busan on Friday.

Akane Yamamoto (Pic: Chulgigi)

It was Akane’s 16th ride since her debut a week earlier. In scoring the win, she’s already had more success than her compatriots Makoto Noda and Mai Beppu at Seoul.

All three have received plenty of rides since arriving – Noda has nine today and Beppu seven – but none of them have been given much quality to work with. Both Noda and Beppu will be in Busan this Sunday to ride outsiders in the Busan Metropolitan Cup, however, with nine out of the eleven entrants for the race coming from Seoul, neither Akane nor Toshio Uchida – the other Busan based Japanese rider – will be riding against them.

Life seemingly remains better for foreign riders at Busan. A video of Akane’s win and post-race interview (in Japanese) can be seen here.

Lee Shin Young

Up at Seoul, today is a big day for another of the small female contingent in Korean racing. Lee Shin Young formally hung up her boots last month to begin training and her first runner hits the track in race 1.

Red Money has no wins from ten starts and will be an outsider. Lee just has the one runner today and she’ll have one more tomorrow when she saddles Geomunduksori in race 5.

Saturday July 16

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 14:20 to 20:50
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 16:20 to 21:20 (including the KCTV Cup at 19:55)

Sunday July 17

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 14:20 tp 21:00 (including the Munhwa Ilbo Cup at 19:10)
Busan Race Park: 6 races from 16:30 to 20:35 (including the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Cup at 19:45)

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