Reigning Grand Prix Stakes champion Tough Win makes his 2012 debut in the pick of the action on a busy weekend of racing in Korea.
Tough Win takes the Grand Prix ahead of Mister Park (r) and Smarty Moonhak (l) Pic: Newsis
Now five-years old, Tough Win (Yonaguska) is making his first appearance since ending the record-breaking win-streak of Mister Park and downing the young upstart Smarty Moonhak in the finale to last season at Seoul Racecourse.
With 14 wins from his 18 career starts, Tough Win is one of the biggest stars of recent years and he will, as ever, be partnered by jockey Cho Kyoung Ho who is himself returning from a six-week injury lay-off.
Up against Tough Win will be Jumong (Johar) and the pair of them will be carrying significantly more weight then the rest of the field; Tough Win the maximum 63Kg and Jumong 60.5Kg.
Both have proved more than capable of dealing with these imposts in the past although should they have problems, Sing Sing Cat (D’Wildcat) and Mass Media’s Tea (Mass Media) could be outside picks to take advantage in the 1900 metre Handicap.
There’s plenty of other action to keep us occupied too on what is set to be the warmest weekend of the year so far (although that is not saying a whole lot), including Japanese jockey Narazaki Kosuke debuting at Busan as well as the first Stakes race of the year for the ponies on Jeju Island.
Here’s what’s happening when and where:
Friday March 16
Busan Race Park: 10 races from 12:00 to 18:00
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 13:30 to 17:30
Saturday March 17
Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 17:20
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:20 to 17:20
Sunday March 18
Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 11:00 to 17:40
Busan Race Park: 7 races from 12:15 to 16:40
Horse Racing in Korea 