Author: allymid1

Admiral and Areumdaun triumph at Busan

Busan Racing Review – February 22 2008
This afternoon’s card at Busan had joint feature races – a domestic and a foreign race. First up was the domestic race over 2000 metres and Areumdaun Jilju (3.6) made the most of 3.5kg weight advatage over favourite Sinjin Gangja (2.3) to win by three quarters of a length. The Ahn Sun Ho ridden 6 year old led throughout the race and withstood Sinjin Gangja’s late challenge. Thirty minutes later, Admiral Reigart (4.6) recorded its second win of the year so far with a half length win over odds on favourite Keep It Quick (1.9). Keep it Quick had led for most of the race but Admiral Reigart came from the back of the field in the final two furlongs of the 1800 metre race to take it on the line.

There were plenty of surprises throughout the rest of the nine race card as only one odds-on favourite came home in front all day – Cheongnyenuiguisang at 1.8 in race 4. The longest priced winner was I’m a Firecracker (46.4) in race 1 which came home a length and a half ahead of a field including strong favourite My Mind’s Made Up (1.4) which finished back in fourth place.

It was a mild afternoon in Busan today and, although the worst of winter appears to be over, it is expected to drop back towards zero for the tomorrow’s racing at Seoul.

Seoul Racing Preview – February 23 & 24

Sunday sees the most valuable race of 2008 so far at Seoul Race Park. The 1400 meter Segye Ilbo Cup is race 9 and is off at 17:00. It’s for foreign bred three-year olds is worth 53Million won to the winner. Just 8 runners will line up (the minimum required number for place bets to be paid on the third placed horse) and include Air Kat and Serendipper. There are 11 races on Sunday and 12 on Saturday. On both days, the first race is under orders at 11:20.

Busan Preview – February 22

Two handicaps headline Busan Race Park’s nine-race card this Friday, both worth 42.5Million. The first (race 8), over 2000 metres for domestic horses and the second (race 9) over 1800 metres for foreign horses. The domestic race sees prolific winners Sinjin Gangja (14 runs/7 wins) up against Areumdaun Jilju (10/6) with the latter favoured by the handicapper. The foreign race features Keep It Quick (14/6) and also Admiral Reigart, which won a 32 Million won handicap three weeks ago. There are a total of nine races with the first off at 13:00 and the last at 17:10.

There will be racing at Busan again on Sunday while Seoul Race Park and Jeju Race Park will host racing on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jockey’s Championship – Moon goes two clear

Four wins over the weekend took Moon Se Young onto 19 winners for 2008 so far. Cho Kyoung Ho scored one win each day. Yoon Dae Keun remains in third place while Oh Kyung Hoan’s four wins – including victory on Subsidy – on Sunday bring him up into fourth alongside Park Tae Jong. The weekend saw first wins of 2008 for Lee Jun Cheol and Won Jung Il.

1. Moon Se Young 19

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 17

3. Yoon Dae Keun 8

4=. Park Tae Jong, Oh Kyoung Hoan 7

KRA signs agreement with Cambodia

During the weekend’s racing, the screens at the tracks showed footage of a meeting the Korea Racing Authority held with its Cambodian counterparts last week.  Apparently, the two signed signed a Memorandum of Understanding for future co-operation.  Cambodia is not currently a member of the Asian Racing Organization.

Subsidy hits form again as Oh KH rides four winners

Seoul Racing Review – Sunday February 17
After some indifferent recent form and questionable fitness, Subsidy was back in the winner’s enclosure at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. The Oh Kyoung Hoan ridden 1.5 favouite hit the front as they entered the back straight of the 2000 metre handicap and pushed on to win by 9 lengths ahead of second-favourite Obaek Yechan (4.4) and Eunpa Manse (27.3). It was a 16th career win from 25 starts.

Subsidy was the last of four winners for Oh Kyung Hoan, having earlier won race 2 on Suseongsinhwa (3.3), race 5 on the highly rated S-Line (1.9) and race 8 on Chamgippeum (6.8). Moon Se Young almost matched Oh’s feats with three wins including race 6 on Devilish Speed – a horse so obviously a class apart from the others in the race that it went off at 1.1, the shortest possible price – and also on Seoulchukje (12.7) in race 7 which formed a 254.2 exacta payout with second placed Super Tiger.

Busan Race Park hosted the richest race of the day which, like Seoul’s feature, was a 2000 meter handicap. Fifth-favourite Hwanggeumbit Taeya (10.1) ridden bu Gu Young Jun took first place, four lengths ahead of Wonder Love (8.5).

Galsaem beaten by Hongji – Seoul Racing Review

Seoul Racing Review – February 17
Galsaem (Cho Kyoung Ho), bidding for her 17th win, came up short in today’s feature race at Seoul Race Park finishing third behind Hongji (Jung Ki Young) and the 8 year old Flying Cat (Oh Kyoung Hoan). Galsaem had eased out to 2.3 at the start and 3.2 second favourite Gi Ra Seong (Choi Beom Hyun) leapt out the stalls to take an early lead which he held onto for much of the race. Hongji, at 10.1 hit the front as they entered the home straight and never looked like losing it, finishing a length ahead of Flying Cat, which just edged out Galsaem for second place by a neck.

Cho Kyoung Ho had better luck on a favourite earlier in the day as one of the biggest certainties of the year so far came home in the shape of Samsimnyeonsarang in race 8. A class above anything else in the race, the filly won by seven lengths with a starting price of just 1.2. An equally short priced winner was Donghae Winner (Jung Ki Young) in race 4. Another impressive performance came in race 9 as Seoul Taekgeup (Moon Jung Kyun) won by 5 lengths ahead of a field including the likes of Erectus and Crocap. Aside from Galsaem’s defeat, upset of the day came in race 7 where the exacta paid out 423.0 for winner Magic Victor (Lee Joon Cheol) and runner-up Baram Queen (Nozomu Tomizawa) to finish in that order in a blanket finish that saw the first 9 horses across the line within 4 lengths of each other.

In terms of jockeys, Moon Se Young and Cho Kyoung Ho had a winner each while Jung Ki Young and Woo Chang Gu each scored a double. It was a cold afternoon with the temperature hovering both sides of zero and a strong south- easterly wind blowing. More of the same is expected tomorrow, when there are 11 more races, with the first getting underway at 11:20am.

FULL RESULTS CLICK HERE

Busan Racing Review – February 15

Racing returned to Korea this afternoon with 9 races at Busan. The main race was an extremely open handicap with a surprise winner in Widaehan Bonneung (10.4) winning by 7 lengths ahead of All That Rush (7.6). Perfect Champ went off third favourite but finished well down the field in seventh – two places ahead of eventual favourite Pilseung Bonghwa. In other races, it was a mixture of odds-on favourites and outsiders. Miss Ecton won the day’s second biggest race at 1.8 and the day’s longest priced winner was Jeorin Jiyong at 27.0 in race 5. Racing returns to Busan Race Park on Sunday at 13:00.

FULL RESULTS CLICK HERE

Seoul Racing Preview – February 16 & 17

The weekend’s racing gets underway at Seoul Race Park at 11:20 on Saturday morning, the start of a 12 race card. Highlight is race 11 at 17:20 which sees Galsaem (16 wins from 27 starts) going up against Baekpa and old-stager Flying Cat in a 1900 meter handicap worth 43Million won.

While Saturday looks to be the best of the two days in terms of schedule and quality, Sunday’s card also offers some interesting prospects with 11 races also starting at 11:20 but with two 1 hour breaks in the afternoon. Subsidy runs in race 10 – the former horse of the year wasn’t fit last time out but could be back in form this time. There is also racing at Jeju both days with nine races starting at 12:20 and a six race card on Sunday at Busan starting at 12:40. Weather at all three tracks should be cold but clear and dry.

Busan Racing Preview – February 15

After taking last weekend off, racing is back this week and we start  on Friday afternoon with a valuable nine race card at Busan Race Park. As usual, the action gets underway at 1pm and culminates in a 42Million won race at 5:10pm where Perfect Champ will bid for his sixth win from eleven starts in an 1800 metre handicap. Busan will put on a further card on Sunday and Seoul and Jeju will, as usual run on both Saturday and Sunday.