Day: January 19, 2017

Busan Friday: Race-By-Race Preview (January 20)

Busan horses were in action at the Dubai World Cup Carnival overnight at Meydan with Main Stay a winner over 1200M and Triple Nine a valiant runner-up over 2000M. More on that to follow but back home the South Coast track hosts 11 races on Friday from 11:30 to 18:00.

English race cards are here. Notes on races to be simulcast overseas are below:

Race 4: Class 6 / 1300M / Allowance / KRW 20 Million / 13:35 

(8) CAPI RUN beat (7) GOLDEN TROPHY as the pair raced 2nd and 3rd over this distance in a very similar race two weeks ago and they should be battling it out again, this time for the win. Golden Trophy has been favourite for both his last two starts and he’s favoured to get it right this time. Those two stand out but (6) TIME CASTLE comes in after a reasonably encouraging 3rd place last time while (1) HIGH SPEC and (4) K O BARAM may improve on recent outings.

Selections: (7) Golden Trophy (8) Capi Run (6) Time Castle (1) High Spec
Next Best: 4, 11
Rating: –
Fast Starters: 1, 9, 11
Start-200M: 12, 1, 8, 11, 7
200M-Home: 4, 6, 2, 7, 5

Race 5: Class 6 / 1300M / Allowance / KRW 20 Million / 14:20

(3) YEONGGWANGUICOUNTRY ran poorly over 1000M, beaten by a couple of the others here, a month ago but had shown talent before that and gets another chance today stepped up to 1300M for the first time. (5) NAMBANG JEONSEOL beat three of these at the distance three weeks ago and must be considered while the more experienced (2) KING CODE enters following back to back 4ths and can seek a career-best finish here. (7) MACH IMPACT and (8) EGSEU BAND also should not be ignored.

Selections: (3) Yeonggwanguicountry (5) Nambang Jeonseol (2) King Code (8) Egseu Band
Next Best: 7, 11
Rating: –
Fast Starters: 3, 7, 12
Start-200M: 12, 3, 5, 7, 8
200M-Home: 11, 3, 2, 6, 5 (more…)

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Triple Nine, Seoul Bullet & Main Stay All Go At Meydan Thursday

It was Power Blade and Diferent Dimension last week, this time it’s the turn of rest of the Korean stable at the 2017 Dubai World Cup Carnival to make their Meydan debuts. Triple Nine, Seoul Bullet and Main Stay will all run at the Carnival meeting on Thursday evening (early Friday in Korea).

triple-nine-2-alex-cairns

Triple Nine is among the Korea contingent going at Meydan Thursday night (Pic: Alex Cairns/The Winning Post)

Triple Nine will take part in the 2000M race 4 while Main Stay and Seoul Bullet will try their luck at 1200M in race 6. Pat Cosgrave, who rode Power Blade to 3rd place last week, partners both Triple Nine and Main Stay while Tadhg O’Shea will ride Seoul Bullet.

Race 4 (20:15): Meydan Sobha – 2000M Handicap – USD 125,000

 

As it was for Power Blade last week, Triple Nine’s race looks very competitive. The trouble is that as joint top-rated, he will be carrying 60kg which is 1.5kg more than he has ever carried in an actual race and 3kg heavier than he has won at in Korea. Nevertheless, Triple Nine remains a best-priced 5/1 2nd-favorite with most odds-makers. Favourite with those same odds-makers is Godolphin’s Fog Of War who hasn’t raced since September 2015 but there’s little to choose between a whole host of them. Munaaser won this race last year but doesn’t enter in tremendous form. The Mikael Barzalona ridden Hunting Ground is sure to be well backed as is Doug Watson’s Etijaah.

Race 6 (21:25): District One – 1200M Handicap – USD 125,000

meydanrace6better

Race 6 is a similarly tricky puzzle. Both Korea-trained horses carry light weights in what doesn’t look a very intimidating field. Main Stay defeated Seoul Bullet over 1400M at Busan last month although the latter did stumble coming out of the gate. The Sweden-trained Giftorm is currently favourite having performed creditably at Meydan last year and winning a Swedish G3 in the Spring. The rest don’t appear to have a lot of solid recent form to go on although Shaishee, Indianapolis and Spirit Quartz have all recorded decent times, if not finishes, so at the strong risk of tempting fate, if there is a solid pace, the Korean-pair have a chance.

For those watching from Korea, it will be a late night with race 4 set for 1:15am Seoul time and race 6 coming under orders at 2.25am.