It seems inevitable that the current Covid-19 restrictions in South Korea will be extended again on Friday which will leave racing’s predicament unchanged with betting outlets in the south of the country permitted to open while those in the Greater Seoul area must remain shut (despite such indoor event as the Volleyball play-offs being allowed to admit 10% of arena capacity from this week). Racing will be at Jeju on Friday, Busan on Saturday and Seoul on Sunday.

Cases continue to hover at around 400-450 per day and there is a tacit acceptance that this isn’t likely to reduce any time soon. Coupled with the glacial pace of the vaccine rollout and the non-existent pace of the legalization of online betting, and racing remains stuck up the proverbial with no means of propulsion. It is a situation set to be exacerbated further when the Daejeon betting branch closes permanently at the end of the month as organised crime takes over the monopoly on gambling in that city Daejeon becomes a gambling-free city.

From April, both Seoul and Busan will race on both Saturdays and Sundays – good news for overseas bettors as races will no longer routinely clash with Singapore and Hong Kong, but for this weekend it’s as you were with Jeju kicking things off for this weekend with an 11-race Friday afternoon card from 13:30 to 18:00. Betting outlets south of and including Cheonan are open at 20% of indoor seating capacity. Attendance must be pre-booked using the MyCard app one day in advance. Here are the Jeju selections.

Jeju Friday Selections

Race 1: 5, 4, 3, 1

Race 2: 7, 9, 10, 2

Race 3: 4, 10, 9, 7

Race 4: 4, 6, 1, 3

Race 5: 5, 9, 6, 7

Race 6: 7, 1, 5, 3

Race 7: 10, 2, 6, 9

Race 8: 2, 8, 11, 9

Race 9: 4, 6, 5, 10

Race 10: 8, 4, 5, 6

Race 11: 8, 10, 1, 5