AT SEOUL ON SUNDAY A HYBRID CLASS 1 WAS THE MAIN EVENT WITH HERO FIGHTER landing the prize for Kozzi Asano and Tony Castanheira (writes Luke Humphreys).

Hero Fighter (American Freedom) scored by a narrow margin over One Punch Dragon who was returning to form after a couple of average runs following five consecutive wins last season. Vet Captain, who was dropping back in trip after racing over further in better races at his previous two starts, was a never nearer 4th whilst the 1.4 favourite G B Vault disappointed at his first Class 1 run only running 5th and never really looking like a winning chance.

SPARK THUNDER (Hansen) was a two-and-a-half length winner for Andre da Silva in Race 7 (1600M Class 3) proving too quick for the Oaks and Gyeonggi Governor’s 3rd placegetter Tiger Roar who was a two-and-a-half length 2nd as the 1.6 favourite. Tiger Roar after not the cleanest of starts was ridden through to lead from the inside gate by Jo Jae-ro, who was riding for the first time, but was eventually caught for speed over a distance short of her best. To her credit she did kick back in the final 200M after looking unlikely to get anywhere near Spark Thunder.

The victory of Spark Thunder completed a double for trainer Lee Shin-woo after the in form YONGBIGYO (Nitrous) earlier won Race 4 (1300M Class 5) from the front as the 2.0 favourite and that was the first of two wins on the day for owner Jung Sung-jin who later had YONGBI HERO (Goldencents) score in Race 8 (1400M Class 4). Yongbi Hero had gotten close to Sling Star, to be mentioned later, and Comeback Holymoely at his previous two starts and continues to race in good form. Kim Yong-geun was the winning rider on Yongbi Hero and he completed a double when SMILING PRINCE (Smiling Tiger) was a soft three-length winner of Race 10 (1400M Class 3). Lala K could not follow up his previous 1200M victory as he finished 9th of the ten runners.

Owner Lee Kang-woon had a race-to-race double on the card in Race 2 and Race 3 with his charges winning both divisions of the 1300M Class 6 maiden with BROWN JACKPOT (Shackleford) landing the first of them by five-lengths under Kim Hyo-jung, who has bounced back from injury in good form, before WHITE JACKPOT (Hansen) was a four-length winner for Johan Victoire and Luigi Riccardi.

An exciting juvenile prospect was unleashed in Race 1 (1200M Class 6) with this year’s Derby winning jockey Lee Dong-ha riding CLUTCH DERBY (Cairo Prince) to a brilliant nine-length front-running victory in impressive time. Clutch Derby only pulled further clear from his rivals and followed up his trial victory on July 2 where he led and won by seven-lengths. The Choi Yong-geon prepared colt looks one to keep a close eye on. 

Lee Dong-ha followed up in Race 6 (1400M Class 4) on RAON NIZHINSKII (Shackleford) which drew clear late to score by five-lengths over 3.3 favourite Flutter who attempted to lead throughout and was looking to bounce back to winning ways after defeats in his previous two starts, including the KRA Cup Mile (Korean 2000 Guineas), with Kim Hyo-jung returning as his rider but was grabbed in the last 200M and finished 2nd.

AT BUSAN ON SUNDAY WHAT WILL EFFECTIVELY BE THE BUSAN TRIAL RACE FOR THE KOREA SPRINT TOOK PLACE AS RACE 7 AND THE PROGRESSIVE BIWOL scored by two-and-a-half lengths as the 5.6 second favourite.

Biwol (Dialed In) produced what was the American bred five-year-old’s best effort to date beating the four-year-old filly Nice Buddy who ran her usual consistent race and a fine race at that dropping right back in trip to 1200M from her 1600M G3 KNN Cup win. The story of the race was perhaps the performance of the two older mares in the returning Jeulgeounyeojeong and Born Dia. The 2023 Triple Tiara winner Jeulgeounyeojeong was returning from horrible efforts in the Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup and Breeders’ Cup Queen at the end of last year. She had pulled up lame in the latter of those two races and had been off the scene since, but her 4th place finish was a positive return showing a good turn of speed down the home straight before peaking on her run over the closing stages. Born Dia, the 2.1 favourite who won the G2 Chairman’s Sprint at her previous start, missed the start slightly and was subsequently ridden hard by Seo Gang-ju to obtain the lead having to go very fast fractions to do so and she was the first horse beaten very early in the front straight.

As is often the case if Seo Seung-un is available to ride a horse that is considered by their connections to be a good chance in a race he is often given the ride over whoever the regular rider may be. That was the case in Race 4 (1800M Class 4) where he took over on Derby runner-up Fantastic Force who unsurprisingly started favourite but the generally speaking non-winning run of his continued and the man that rode to him to 2nd in the Derby in Franco da Silva denied him on board the Bart Rice trained NINETY PLUS (Instagrand). Both Ninety Plus and Fantastic Force have proven to be non-winners of some sort, but something had to give in their battle to the line and it was Ninety Plus, who was the 4.4 second favourite, who prevailed by a half-length.

Seo Seung-un rode a treble thanks to the efforts of DOCTOR QUE SERA (Concord Point) in Race 2 (1400M Class 6), VELOCI QUEEN (Cowboy Cal) in Race 4 (1300M Class 5) and MOMENTUM in Race 6 (1200M Class 4). Doctor Que Sera and Veloci Queen were comfortable winners as favourite after racing on pace with the former paying a quote of 2.1 whilst the latter returned at 2.4 whilst Momentum scored in dashing style by one-and-a-half lengths at odds of 5.9.

Park Jae-i also had a riding double which began when the Kim Hye-sun trained GYEONGBOK PORTOS (Power Blade) led for most of the way to win Race 1 (1400M Class 6) by seven-lengths before WINNING TREE (Old Fashioned) similarly led and won Race 3 (1200M Class 5).

AT SEOUL ON SATURDAY THE EVER CONSISTENT AND VERY TALENTED RAON FLORENCE won at Class 2 level at his second attempt following a 4th at his first try at the level four weeks earlier.

Raon Florence (Musket Man) had previously won a hat-trick of races and was a comfortable one-length winner as the 2.2 favourite over 5.3 third choice Silver Rain which ran a fine race under a huge weight in 2nd. The 4.2 second favourite in the race was Eldorado Nolbu which got a long way out of his ground as usual and after being close to twenty-lengths from the lead at halfway the closest he could get was a seven-and-a-half length 5th.

The most visually impressive win of the day came from SLING STAR (To Honor And Serve) in Race 9 (1800M Class 3) making it five scores on the trot in outstanding fashion. The easiest of his previous four wins had been by one-and-three-quarter lengths but this was a six-length demolition job, and he is one to continue keeping an eye on. The other favourites were the hat-trick seeking Mighty Code, 7.5, and Gamsaui Him, 5.1, but they could only manage 7th and 8th.

CONCORD CODIE (Concord Point) unsurprisingly landed Race 8 (1700M Class 4) after fine efforts during the Korean Triple Crown series, including an outstanding 5th in the Derby, however it was perhaps surprising how hard he was made to work for the victory, but he eventually got on top in the final 100M to score under Andre da Silva.

DAEBI MAMA (Air Force Blue) was a soft winner of Race 3 (1400M Class 6) from the front under Kozzi Asano scoring by two-lengths after finishing a 100M last in the Gyeonggi Governor’s Cup (KOR-G3) at her previous start.

There were two jockeys with riding doubles on the card in Kim Yong-geun who landed Race 4 (1300M Class 5) on TIGER MANGCHI (Old Fashioned), which just like his debut win showed a good turn of foot from well back to beat Arion Queen Car by one-length and make it two starts for two wins in the process, before following up on MUCHO MACHO RAPIDO (Tacitus) in Race 7 (1200M Class 4).

The other was Song Jae-chul who gave legendary jockey Moon Se-young his first winner as a trainer with his sixth runner when WHIZ CROWN (Shackleford) came from well back to land Race 1 (1000M Class 6) for the juvenile fillies before SAEROUN BISUL (Colors Flying) justified 2.2 favouritism in Race 2 (1200M Class 6) by a head.

AT BUSAN ON FRIDAY THE CLASS 2 RACE 7 OVER 1800M WAS THE MAIN EVENT OF THE DAY AND EOHWADUNGDUNG was a surprise winner under an aggressive front-running ride from Lee Hyo-sik which saw him eventually hold off 1.3 favourite Doctor Chris.

Eohwadungdung (Unified) had stepped up to Class 2 for the first time last start when only managing 7th over a distance short of his best in 1600M. The return to 1800M, which all his victories have come over, saw a much better performance and after copping pressure from Doctor Chris throughout Eohwadungdung eventually drew clear to score by a decisive five-lengths. Honored Khan continued his consistent run of form and ran a fine race at his first Class 2 start grabbing 2nd on the line from Doctor Chris who weakened in the final 200M to be only 3rd in the end. The race was won at the start when Seo Seung-un could not get Doctor Chris to the lead and the horse that had been so well fancied for the Derby and had run an unlucky 4th in the Minister’s Cup at his previous start was on the ropes from there.

As impressive as Eohwadungdung was SAENAE HUNTER (To Honor And Serve) was just as good fifty-five minutes later under Franco da Silva making it three wins from three starts this preparation with another brilliant front-running win in Race 8 (1200M Class 3). He scored by a soft four-lengths and the Kang Hyoung-gon prepared four-year-old colt shows no signs of slowing down at this stage.

PRIME JENNY (Musket Man) was one of a couple of impressive debutante winners at the start of the day in Race 2 (1200M Class 6) winning by four-lengths under Jin Kyum whilst the other was SUPEXNIKKE (To Honor And Serve) in Race 1 (1200M Class 6) which won by seven-lengths for jockey Jung Do-yun and trainer Moon Hyeon-cheol. Jockey Jung followed up in Race 3 (1800M Class 5) with MAGIC MIRROR (Centralcommand) who was making it back-to-back victories with an incredibly easy win in fast time from the front scoring by a lazy sixteen-lengths as the fourth market elect at 8.9. Gyeongbok Atos, 2.7 favourite, was 3rd with Regina Vincit, 4.8 second favourite, in 4th whilst Take Race, who drifted in the betting late to start at 4.9, was disappointing for the second time in a row following an impressive debut victory as he finished 10th of the eleven runners. However, as he pulled up lame in both forelegs there was an excuse. He is raced by Choi Sang-il whose luck did not change fifty minutes later when 1.8 favourite Wild Real, who was previously unbeaten from two starts, could only manage 7th in Race 4 (1400M Class 5) which was won by roughie QUEEN WIND (Thunder Moccasin). 

SUCCESS QUEEN (Musket Man) struck a winnable contest in Race 5 (1400M Class 5) and as the 2.6 popular pick led home a favourites trifecta whilst the Kim Hye-sun trained DUDUNG (Collected) landed a competitive Race 6 (1600M Class 4).

Black type action returns next week with the KRA Cup Classic (KOR-G2) over 2000M taking place, the local trial race for September’s Korea Cup. Clean One was withdrawn a couple of weeks ago as connections continue their very conservative preparations towards the big international feature. This naturally makes the race much more competitive and gives someone else a chance to claim feature success. 2024 winner Global Hit was best of the rest behind Clean One at Busan in May but was surprisingly beaten by Success Baekpa in this race last year before the latter beat him again in the YTN Cup in April. Speed Young and Gangpungma will take their chance as expected whilst four-year-old fillies Boryeonglightqueen and Satang Sonyeo, the latter one of two supplementary entries for Luigi Riccardi, will also line up.