Month: June 2026

NICE BUDDY DISRUPTS THE ELITE WITH ALL THE WAY KNN CUP VICTORY

Nice Buddy made light work of the widest gate to cruise to the front and stay on to win the KNN Cup (1600M KOR-G3), the final leg of the Queens’ Tour Spring/Summer for fillies and mares at Busan Racecourse on Sunday afternoon.

Nice Buddy (Pic: KRA)

Having finished as runner-up in both prior legs of the series, Boryeonglightqueen was sent off as the favourite, with defending champion and Donga Ilbo winner Raon Forest and Ttukseom Cup winner Fantastic Value the only other two in single digits in the market. Nice Buddy wasn’t exactly missed by punters, but having drawn the widest gate, she started as the sixth choice.

Just as with Born Dia in the SROA Chairman’s Sprint two weeks ago, the wide draw proved to problem for Nice Buddy as she followed Oneuldo Smile across and into a remarkably easy lead. From then on, jockey Lee Hyo-sik was able to control the tempo and still have plenty left for the home straight, where they saw off the late challenge of Gladius, with Yeosu Super Star coming home in 3rd.

Boryeonglightqueen launched her usual late run but could only manage 4th. Fantastic Value was 6th while with no pace to run at, Raon Forest was back in 8th. In terms of the overall Queens’ Tour Spring/Summer series, Boryeonglightqueen and Fantastic Value topped the table with 600 points apiece.

“I thought Oneuldo Smile would be quick away so I wanted to go with her and then the pace was a bit slower than expected so I decided it would be ok to take over the lead” winning jockey Lee Hyo-sik told KRBC.

“Even though she’s a filly, she has the strength of the colts but while I was happy to be with her for the KNN Cup, I didn’t put our winning chnaces at higher than twenty or thirty percent as there were so many other contenders and this was (Nice Buddy’s) first time in a Graded race.”

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Korea Racing Report: May 29-31

AT SEOUL ON SUNDAY THE 2300M START WAS IN USE FOR THE FIRST OF THREE TIMES ANNUALLY AND THE PRINCIPAL RACE ON THE CARD WAS WON BY THE HORSE THAT WAS BY FAR THE BEST STAYER ON THE DAY IN SATANG SONYEO for Jeong Jeong-hee and Luigi Riccardi (writes Luke Humphreys).

Satang Sonyeo (Girvin) has always looked a long-distance type and as per usual she showed little to no early speed but under encouragement from Jeong Jeong-hee eventually took a role closer than normal just behind the pacesetters, who did too much down the straight on the first occasion. Satang Sonyeo struck the front at the top of the straight the second time around, and the 3.2 favourite held off the challenge of the 4.8 third choice Pepper X who was a game 2nd with East West eleven-lengths away in 3rd.

The victory of Satang Sonyeo completed an outstanding weekend for trainer Luigi Riccardi after multiple successes twenty-four hours earlier.

Kim Tae-hun had a riding treble on the card beginning with TRIPLE S (Revolutionary) who got up late on to win Race 3 (1400M Class 6) by a head as the 9.3 third pick, over the 5.7 second choice Jechuk Sanjiro with the 1.4 popular pick Saenae Rania only 5th. POWERFUL PRADO (Colors Flying) the got the better of her co-favourites to land Race 5 (1300M Class 5) by a neck as the 6.2 third choice with Nuni Olkkayo, 2.7 popular pick, beaten a neck into 2nd and Brown Mamma, 2.8, a head away in 3rd. DONGGANGUI STAR (Old Fashioned) was the last of the trio in Race 6 (1700M Class 5) getting up in the concluding stages to win by a half-length.

The victory of Powerful Prado was the beginning of a double for trainer Lee Joon-chel as in Race 9 (1800M Class 3) KEIDRAGON (Goldencents) was an eye-catching winner from the top by eleven-lengths under Kim Yong-geun. The four-year-old Canadian bred gelding was having his third run this time in and ran his rivals off their feet. The two favourites in Airforceone, 3.0, and Major Crown, 2.6, were disappointments in 6th and 8th places respectively with the former losing his chance after a slow start whilst the latter didn’t stay.

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