April Racing: Two late Start Saturdays, Triple Crown Opener, International Interest in YTN, Roads to Korea Cup/Sprint Continue

The racing season hits its stride in April with top races in all divisions.

Fair to note just 2 days out from the festival, there are no blossoms out as yet

Kicking things off is the first leg of the 2025 Triple Crown with the KRA Cup Mile (1600M KOR-G2) at Busan on Sunday April 6th. With a week to go twenty colts remained entered with that number to be whittled down to a maximum of sixteen.

The following week, the domestic Road to the Korea Sprint continues at Seoul with the second leg of the Sprint Series, the SBS Sports Sprint (1200M KOR-G3) on April 14th. The first leg in Busan last month was won by Vincero Cavallo and he and the rest of the usual sprinting suspects are set to reassemble in Seoul.

Also on the second weekend of the month, six valuable international trophy exchange races – three at Seoul and three at Busan – will be run.

The highlight of the month may well be the YTN Cup (2000M KOR-G3). The second leg of the Stayer Series on the domestic Road to the Korea Cup should see Global Hit making his return to local racing action following his 3rd place in the Al Maktoum Classic at Meydan.

This year the race is given an added level of intrigue by the entry of Japan-trained Yumeno Honoo. A superstar at his home track of Kochi, Yumeno Honoo is a winner of eighteen races but is yet to travel, even to another NAR track in Japan.

The YTN Cup is one of several Korean races that are Listed in the International Blue Book and open to overseas runners but as open races (rather than invitational like the Korea Cup and Sprint), connections are responsible for their own travel costs which can be prohibitively high. The last overseas horse to take part in such a race was Esmeraldina, who won the Ttukseom Cup in 2015.

It’s the Ttukseom Cup (1400M KOR-G2) that rounds out the April action on Sunday 27th at Seoul, the second leg of the Queens’ Tour Spring/Summer.

The first two Saturdays (5th and 13th) of the month will have an amended schedule with the first race at Seoul being 1.25pm and the last at 8pm, due to the annual cherry blossom festival. Race times on Friday and Sunday will remain normal.  See https://kra-festival.com/ for more info.