Author: allymid1

Australian jockey talks about time in Korea

Gary Baker completed two years at Busan Race Park at the end of 2007 and has now returned to Australia to resume his career riding on the Gold Coast Baker spoke to the local press on his return about his time in Korea. Although Baker had a successful time in Busan, becoming one of the track’s top jockeys, especially in his first year, it seems he didn’t enjoy it as much as he hoped. His comments about the weather are to be expected but the one that should make the KRA take note is “But you did get the feeling they didn’t particularly want you there and I was happy to come home after two years.” The article from goldcoast.com.au can be read here. They lose marks for that overused headline.

Baker originally came with two other Australians, Mark Newnham and Nathan Day, both of whom only lasted a few weeks before deciding to end their contracts as the winter kicked in. The one remaining Australian jockey in Korea is Danny Craven at Seoul who has 3 winners, 1 second place and 3 thirds from 46 rides since his debut in November 2007.

Jockey Profile – Park Tae Jong

The jockey with the most rides and most wins in his career is Park Tae Jong. Now 42, Park debuted in 1987 at the old Seoul Race Park. As of the start of 2008, Park has had 8800 rides with 1358 winners – a career strike rate 15.4% and is currently the hardest working jockey in Korea with 526 rides in the past year yielding 96 winners. His place strike rate in 2007 was a remarkable 30.6% with only Moon Se Young recording a better one.

Despite his excellent strike rate, 2007 was the first year since 1998 that Park failed to win any of the year’s big races. Throughout his career he’s won every major race including back-to-back Korean Derbys in 1999 and 2000. Here he is leading from start to finish in a race from October 2007.

Jockey Profile – Moon Se Young

There are currently 63 jockeys retained at Seoul Racecourse. Over the next few weeks, Horseracing in Korea will profile some of the leading ones. We may as well start with the man of the moment, Moon, Se Young.

Born in 1980, Moon made his debut shortly before his 21st birthday in 2001. His 7 year career has seen him pick up two Group 3 races, a Group 2 (The Minster of Agriculture Cup in 2004), the JRA Trophy and most recently, the Group 1 Grand Prix race in December 2007. However, it’s his strike rate rather than his big race wins that set him apart at the moment. As of Janaury 2008, he has 1485 career rides with 230 winners – a strike rate of 15.5%. He’s getting better too. In the last year alone the figures are 381 rides and 74 winners – a strike rate of 19.4% with 33% of all his rides placing. Moon is potentially the dominant jockey of the next decade in Korea. He’s also the jockey first out of the stalls riding number 8 in our banner at the top of this page! Here he is winning the 2007 Grand Prix on Bally Brae.

Racing Review – Sunday January 13

Well…it was bitterly cold, but the absence of any wind made it a tolerable day at Seoul Race Park. Racing at Busan made for more breaks in the day’s card than is comfortable for a good day’s racing – but more on that later. On the track, the big race was race 10, a 1900 metre handicap, won in a close finish by Jungtongsung a 17.2 outsider ridden by Cho, Kyoung Ho a length ahead of Hongji (Jung, Ki Young) and Totoro (Ikuyasu). The strong favourite, Sebyokdongja (Moon, Se Young) was unplaced. Another odds-on favourites was overturned – Free Woody in race 6 getting beaten at 1.9 by Hammer Punch (3.6) but others came up, Headline News won Race 4 for Cho, Kyoung Ho and Erectus had his first outing of the year comfortably winning race 7.

There was another full card at Busan this afternoon. While it is an excellent idea to run races at Busan on Sunday to try to get people in the south of the country to go the track on the weekend (really there is no point in spending billions of won on a racetrack if you’re only going to run races on a Friday!) it is a shame that this means less races at Seoul. Ideally they should maintain full programs at both. For development of racing in Korea it is important that Busan runs weekend racing but it also important the Seoul Race Park offers an attractive day out if, as the KRA claims, it wants to move beyond being just a company that caters to the misery of gambling debts. Interestingly, the Busan races were valuable with prize money in the races that were simulcasted to Gwacheon matching that of Seoul. Korea Racing Blog will report on a card from Busan soon to see what’s happening down there.

Jockey’s Championship 2008: It looked like Cho, Kyoung Ho was going to catch up with Moon, Se Young until Moon won the last to move ahead again:

1. Moon, Se Young 6

2. Cho, Kyoung Ho 5

3. Yoon, Dae Keun 4

4.=. Yoo, Sung Wan; Choi Beom Hyun 3

6=. Ikuyasu Kurukane; Park Tae Jong; Shin, Hyoung Cheol; Jung, Ki Young 2

Jockey’s Championship 2008

Over the three days of racing in 2008 so far, 21 jockeys have ridden winners. Despite being unsuccessful today, Moon, Se Young still leads after his treble last Sunday ahead of Yoon, Dae Keun and Cho, Kyoung Ho.

1 Moon, Se Young 4

2= Cho, Kyoung Ho; Yoon, Dae Keun 3

4= Shin, Hyoung Cheol; Choi, Beom Hyun; Yoo, Sung Wan; Ikuyasu Kurukane; Jung, Ki Young 2

Racing Review – Saturday January 12

Eleven races again saw 11 different jockeys in the winner’s enclosure and a reasonable turn out at Seoul Race Park for what was an average Saturday card in terms of quality. There were two joint main races – the final two and it was in the first of these that we saw the day’s best contest. A 17.7 outsider, Leaders, ridden by Ikuyasu Kurukane took the race by a nose from Eunpamense (5.5) under Park, Tae Jong with the 2.2 favourite Yuel Mountain three-quarters of a length back in third.

In other races, apprentice jockey Choi, Won Jun rode his third career winner in race 9, a race notable for the fact that the favourite went off at 4.0 – exceptionally high by Korean standards – and was unplaced. Choi’s horse was second favourite at 4.5.

Racing Preview – January 12/13

Today’s card is already underway at Seoul Race Park. A mild night has removed fears of yesterday’s snowfall freezing over and all looks set for a reasonable day. Only 11 races again today and tomorrow but the breaks look less brutal than last week so it should be a better weekend for racegoers. The most valuable race today is race 10 at 16:50. So far the short priced horses are coming in – Yoon, Dae Keun winning the first on the 2.2 favourite, Yang, Hee Jin took the second at 4.6 and Park, Tae Jong has just taken the third.

Racing Preview – Sunday January 6

Warning: Unless you get up early, you won’t see much racing
Another 11 races start at 11:ooam Sunday but a day at the races can hardly be recommended given the race schedule tomorrow. All three tracks – Seoul, Jeju and Busan –  are running cards and this means that at Seoul there is 55 minutes between races during the peak afternoon time. So unless you enjoy watching a lot of TV racing then stay home tomorrow.  For those who do have the patience to venture out, the best advice is to get there for the first at 11:00am and then leave after Race 5.  The most valuable race of the day is not until 5:10pm and is a handicap over 2000 metres.  Overall though, the card looks rather thin.

Schedules like this are a prime example of why a day at the races in Korea doesn’t have mass appeal.  From 11:50 to16:40 there is a break of an hour between every race,  no wonder it’s only hard-bitten gamblers who attend.

Racing Review – Saturday January 5

The 2008 racing year at Seoul Race Park began in bright sunshine this afternoon with a competitive main race won by 15.3 shot Hwangryongsaji (Choi, Beom Hyun). The 1800 metre handicap came down to the final few metres, Choi managing to hold off Park, Tae Jong on 1.6 favorite Namchoneuijichun by a length to claim the 52Million won prize. Every race was won by a different jockey, Moon, Se Young and Yoon, Dae Keun got their usual winners as did Ikuyasu Kurakane with a winner in the last. Danny Craven had three rides but was unplaced in each. The biggest priced winner of the day was a 70.5 shot which came home in race 7 under Choi, Jung Seob.

Racing returns at 11:00am tomorrow.