Author: gyongmaman

Lucky Mountain Peaks in NACF

Favourite Lucky Mountain took a comfortable three length win in the NACF Trophy at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. Under Cho Kyoung Ho, the four year old ran a controlled race, tucked in behind the early leaders on the rails before making her move in the home straight.

The big challenge was expected to come from three year old Love Cat, however, the Sports Seoul winner and second favourite failed tp spark into life when asked by Choi Beom Hyun and she finished a disappointing fifth. Instead, the late challenge came from the oldest horse in the race, seven year old mare Seungni Yongsa who came through strongly to grab an unlikely second, just ahead of another long-shot, Baram Queen.

None could match Lucky Mountain, who was third in this race last year although the win is just her second of 2009.

NACF Chairman’s Trophy – Seoul Race Park – 1800M – Nov 22, 2009

1. Lucky Mountain (KOR) [Silent Warrior – Myeonggahe (Revere)] – Cho Kyoung Ho – 1.9, 1.1
2. Seungni Yongsa (KOR) [Our Poetic Prince – Jane Lauren (Snow Chief)] – Won Jung Il – 4.0
3. Baram Queen (KOR) [Didyme – Geo Bong (Regal Biscay)] – Ham Wan Sik – 4.8
Distances: 3 lengths/0.5 lengths
Also ran: 4. Badajebi; 5. Love Cat; 6. Daehyo; 7. Challanhanbit; 8. Mild Go; 9. Gamdonguijumal; 10 Happy Queen; 11. Wig; 12. Ambition

Victory on Lucky Mountain was the culmination of another great weekend for jockey Cho Kyoung Ho. Following on from last week’s win on Nice Choice in the President’s Cup, on Saturday Cho became only the third jockey in Korean history to ride one hundred winners in a season.

It was a day to be lucky and some punters at Busan certainly were. 50-1 outsider Lucky Guy was the suprise winner of the feature race at the southern track.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL

FULL RESULTS FROM BUSAN

Weekend Preview

It’s Nonghyup Cup day on Sunday and, while there’s disappointment that Baekpa, back in Korea after her dispiriting summer in the US, doesn’t go, Sunday’s big race should still be an entertaining climax to a busy weekend of racing on the peninsula.

We’ll have a full preview of the race over the next couple of days:

Busan Race Park

Friday November 20: 10 races, first post 13:00, last 17:30
Sunday November 22: 6 races, first post 12:30, last 16:15

Seoul Race Park

Saturday November 21: 12 races, first post 11:10, last 17:45
Sunday November 22: 11 races, first post 11:10, last 17:55

Jeju Race Park (Pony racing)

Saturday November 21: 10 races, first post 12:30, last 17:25
Sunday November 22: 10 races, first post 12:30, last 17:25

KRA Levels-Up its English

Visitors to the “Foreigner lounge” on the fourth floor of the Luckyville grandstand at Seoul Race Park are provided with an English language race card. Though very basic in the information it provides, it is invaluable for first-time racegoers or for those who cannot read Korean and therefore find it difficult to navigate the regular racecards.

For many years, on a Saturday, when two or three races are simulcasted from Jeju Island, the cards for these races have been included in the English race card. On a Sunday, however, that has not been the case for the races simulcasted from Busan. This has led to Gyongmaman watching (with some amusement, he is ashamed to admit) scores of first time visitors betting on what they think is the next race at Seoul but is in fact the next race from Busan. All this changed this past weekend though as the entire Busan card was attached to the usual Seoul listings.

We touched a couple of weeks ago on the prospect of an English language betting machine being introduced. Gyongmaman – always a terrible groveller when faced with officialdom, especially if they’re wearing a KRA badge – gave it his blessing and accordingly the English-speaking machine, made its debut on November 7, taking pride of place in the middle of the lounge. It lasted a full four races before malfunctioning and being taken away on a trolley. It hasn’t been seen since.

All mockery aside, the KRA is to be commended on their efforts. The vast majority of regulars in the Foreigner lounge are ethnic Koreans who have passports from other countries and therefore can read Korean. That the KRA provides an English and Japanese service and provides reserved seating for overseas visitors – a demographic that generally bets tiny amounts – all for free, is much to its credit.

Also on English affairs, recently the KRA revamped its website. It is pretty sexy. However, one by-product of this was that it became impossible to access the English language section of the site from the homepage. While this is a sorry state of affairs, Korearacing understands that a brand new English language homepage is in the works and is scheduled to be launched in the New Year. This site will indeed supposedly have what everyone has been waiting for: English langauge racecards and results.

Finally on “Internationalization” matters, Paulick reported that the KRA was in Florida last week – looking at property by all accounts.

Nice And Easy

Nice Choice beats Baekgwang to win the President’s Cup
Baekgwang gave it his all but ultimately Nice Choice was just too strong in the President’s Cup at a frozen Seoul Race Park this afternoon. The three-year old pounced as the field entered the home straight and while Baekgwang launched his customary late challenge, roared on by a 40,000 strong crowd, the younger horse was a commanding winner.

Natural Guy and Nice Good were early pace-setters and at one point in the back-stretch had nearly six lengths on a strung out field. Nice Choice was at the front of the pursuers while Baekgwang as usual stayed towards the rear.

Once Cho Kyoung Ho had asked Nice Choice for an effort as they turned for home, none could answer. Except for Baekgwang. Park Tae Jong shifted the grey wide around the final turn and let him loose to try to run the youngster down. The chase was valiant and at the furlong pole, Baekgwang’s many fans dared to believe that he might do it.

He couldn’t quite get there and Cho Kyoung Ho on Nice Choice always looked as though he would be able to ask his horse for another effort if need be. Triple Seven was the distant third. Baekgwang was beaten but it took a quality horse to do it.

Nice Choice is exciting. He didn’t excel in the Derby but he now moves on to eight wins from twelve starts. A spot in the season ending Grand Prix race looks his should his connections choose to take it up. Either way, a big season as a four-year old awaits.

The other three-year old in the race, Khanui Jeguk, showed briefly at the front but didnt stay the 10 furlong trip, finishing well down the field. Today though was a day for the grand old survivor of Korean racing and the future. The future showed that he is now very much the present, but the six-year old grey showed he’s not finished yet.

President’s Cup (KOR-GI) – Seoul Race Park – 2000M – Nov 15, 2009

1. Nice Choice (KOR) [Lost Mountain – Betty’s Rhapsody (Don’t Hesitate)] – Cho Kyoung Ho – 1.5, 1.0
2. Baekgwang (KOR) [The Groom Is Red – Grey Crest (Gold Crest)] – Park Tae Jong – 1.4
3. Triple Seven (KOR) [The Groom Is Red – Impudence (Grand Lodge)] – Choi Beom Hyun – 1.9
Distances: 1.25 lengths/6 lengths
Also Ran: 4. Lucky Seven; 5. Wontagui Gisa; 6. New Rider; 7. Mighty Runner; 8. Saebyeok Achim; 9. Natural Nine; 10. Huimang Energy; 11 Baengnokjeong; 12. Khanui Jeguk; 13. Natural Guy; 14. Nice Good

Nice Choice Cho Kyoung Ho

Nice Choice & Cho Kyoung Ho in The President's Cup Winner's Circle

Jockey Cho Kyoung Ho has made the President’s Cup his own. He won the 2005 edition on French Dancer before taking consecutive victories on Myeongmun Gamun in 2007 and 2008. This year’s champion-elect has now won four of the six runnings of the race in its present form.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL

FULL RESULTS FROM BUSAN

Baekgwang Must Overcome The Odds Again

President’s Cup – Nice Choice strongly fancied to spoil fairytale ending to incredible comeback
As the start of 2009, although it was well-known that Baekgwang, champion three-year old of 2006, had undergone stem-cell treatment, few dared to hope that the much-loved grey would even return to the track, yet alone show something of his old form.

Return he did, however, running fourth in the SBS Cup in August. This was followed by a battling second place to Gi Ra Seong in September and then finally, last month picking off a class 1 handicap to find himself back in the winners’ circle following a characteristic come-from-behind run. On Sunday afternoon the six-year-old will line up against the track’s top Korean bred horses in the President’s Cup -the “Dae-Tong-Lyong-Bae” where the season’s top three-year olds meet the best older horses.

With the “Po-In-Ma Troika” of Secret Weapon, Gi Ra Seong and Top Point all ineligible (having been conceived overseas), Baekgwang has a good shot at landing the biggest prize of his career. However, there are plenty of talented runners out to stop him.

Nice Choice is the track’s top three-year old. After a poor run in the Derby, he finally showed his class by wining August’s Ilgan Sports. Just edged out in the Minister’s Cup by Namdo Jeap – and finishing ahead of Sangseung Ilro – he is the one to beat here. Second in the Ilgan was another three-year old, Khanui Jeguk. He went on to win the Munhwa Ilbo and, like Nice Choice, he’ll have a big weight advantage over the older horses.

Aside from Baekgwang, Natural Nine is one of those older entrants who must be considered as must Ttukseom Cup winner Mighty Runner. Triple Seven, who will have a lot of backers, and Wontagui Gisa have also both shown this year that they know what to do in the final furlong.

At post time tomorrow, however, all eyes will be on stall number 7. If Baekgwang can somehow pull this off, even the most hard-bitten of punter will raise a smile.

Here’s a full list of runners and riders:

Name/Pedigree/Age/Record/Jockey – All are Korean bred.

President’s Cup (KOR. G.I) – Seoul Race Park – 2000M – Nov 15, 2009 – 16:45

1. Natural Guy [Social Charter – Rocky Stream (Reprimand)] 4 (16/4/6/1) – Yoo Sang Wan
2. Nice Choice [Lost Mountain – Betty’s Rhapsody (Don’t Hesitate)] 3 (11/7/3/0) – Cho Kyoung Ho
3. Nice Good [Concept Win – Whenisitmyturn (Never Tabled)] 4 (19/5/4/4) – Shim Seung Tae
4. Wontagui Gisa [Fiercely -Grove Lady (Varick)] 5 (22/6/2/4) – Jung Ki Young
5. Baengnokjeong [Slew O’Green – Lesu Run (Proper Reality)] 6 (26/7/2/3) – Hwang Soon Do
6. Khanui Jeguk [Sunday Well – Lucky Dip (Didyme)] 3 (12/5/2/1) – Shin Hyoung Cheol
7. Baekgwang [The Groom Is Red – Grey Crest (Gold Crest)] 6 (20/10/6/3) – Park Tae Jong
8. Natural Nine [Revere – C. Bop (Aly Dark)] 5 (24/7/5/5) – Moon Jung Kyun
9. Triple Seven [The Groom Is Red – Impudence (Grand Lodge)] 4 (21/5/3/5) – Choi Beom Hyun
10. Saebyeok Achim [Social Charter – Cheongpa (The Rogers Four)] 4 (26/5/6/3) – Park Byoung Yoon
11. Lucky Seven [Didyme – Agent Flirt (Double Agent)] 7 (27/5/7/1) – Lee Sang Hyeok
12. Mighty Runner [Pacificbounty – Roan All Over (Fight Over)] 5 (25/7/3/7) – Yoon Tae Hyuk
13. Huimang Energy[Ft. Stockton – Doneitmyway (Northern Flagship)] 5 (19/7/3/4) – Ham Wan Sik
14. New Rider [Road Of War – Flyin Kristen (Exclusive Gem)] 6 (43/5/5/2) – Yoshiyuki Aoki

Weekend Preview

It’s President’s Cup weekend at Seoul Race Park with the big race off at 16:45 on Sunday. It will be the culmination of an as ever busy weekend of racing on the Korean peninsula which gets under way at Busan on Friday.

We’ll have a full preview of the President’s Cup on the site tomorrow.

Busan Race Park

Friday November 13: 10 races, first post 13:00, last 17:30
Sunday November 15: 6 races, first post 12:30, last 16:15

Seoul Race Park

Saturday November 14: 12 races, first post 11:10, last 17:45
Sunday November 15: 11 races, first post 11:10, last 17:55

Jeju Race Park (Pony racing)

Saturday November 14: 10 races, first post 12:30, last 17:25
Sunday November 15: 10 races, first post 12:30, last 17:25

Baekgwang & Baekpa On For Remarkable Double

This coming Sunday at Seoul Race Park, Baekgwang will seek to complete what was thought to be an impossible comeback when he lines up alongside the track’s top Korean bred horses in the President’s Cup. During his career, the six-year-old has spent a total of two years on the sidelines. He finally returned to the winner’s circle last month in his third race since returning from successful stem-cell treatment.

Now he will take on a strong field including three-year olds Nice Choice and Khanui Jeguk as well as old foe Baengnokjeong. Natural Nine, Triple Seven, Mighty Runner and Wontagui Gisa are also among the proven winners that will contest the Group 1 race over 2000 metres.

A week later another long overdue return will take place. And this time it’s Baekgwang’s little sister Baekpa, back in town following her summer in the United States, who heads the line-up in the Nonghyup Bank Cup. Korean racing fans were pained to see Baekpa in the US, running her heart out but being left behind by fields that could hardly be considered world-beating. How she recovers from that ordeal will become clear on Sunday 22 as she makes her first start back on Korean sand.

Currently thirteen other fillies and mares are entered for the Nonghyup race. An in-form Baekpa should have the beating of them all with the one interesting contender being the three-year old Love Cat.

Is she the same horse she was when she left? Can her brother beat the three-year olds a week earlier? Either way, racing fans here are just delighted to see the grey siblings back home racing where they belong.

Here’s Baekgwang in pre-injury days in 2007:

And Baekpa taking the Korean Oaks in the same year:

“Elmo” Case a Gift to Racing’s Enemies

It’s been two weeks since it was revealed that a Seoul based jockey was under investigation for allegedly passing insider information to illegal betting operations. The case involving the jockey – who, although his identity was initially made public, can now only be identified by his initial “L” or “L-Mo” in Korean, could not have come at a worse time as the KRA battles to portray racing in a positive light in the face of an increasingly puritanical regulator.

Support – or at least indifference – from the majority of lawmakers is essential in resisting the recommendations of the National Gaming Control Commission, an organization that makes little secret of its aim to eliminate any form of gambling and has already succeeded in having the KRA close down its “KNetz” Internet betting service which ceased operations in July.

While the NGCC may not be able to grasp the concept, most lawmakers currently accept that the more restrictions there are placed upon legalized gambling, the more the many illegal ones thrive. To keep this support, however, the KRA has to be able to demonstrate that racing is clean. Bent jockeys will always pop up from time to time, but, however this case proceeds, its timing is terrible and has prompted speculation over the likely success of the next recommendations from the NGCC as outlined over the weekend by Korea Racing Journal editor Kim Mun Young.

The Electronic ID Card scheme raised its head again. Under this scheme, when trying to place a bet, a punter would be asked to produce an ID card that they have previously had to apply for and been issued. The card will have a chip that records all his gambling activity. While punters mutter darkly about essentially being put in the same category as sex-offenders by having to be on a register, it would also eliminate racing as an activity for all but those “on the register”.

On a summer’s day, the Seoul Race Park infield and track apron is packed with picnicking families and dating couples. If, in future they’re going to need to be on the government’s list of registered gamblers if they fancy a stroll to the windows to put 500 won each-way on the favourite, it’s likely they’ll spend their weekends elsewhere.

Of course, there was a very easy way of tracking punters’ expenditure. It was called KNetz and it was closed down this July. The ID card scheme, however, is a real possibility – not least because of the lucrative contracts that would need to be dished out for running it

Less likely is a reduction in the maximum bet amount although this is another NGCC proposal. Instead of the current 100,000 won per bet limit, a daily limit of the same amount be imposed. This would of course essentially close racing down and most observers agree that outside of the NGCC, there is little appetite for that due to the huge revenues it generates in both taxes and in support of agriculture.

Meanwhile, one grocery store chain is currently giving away national lottery tickets with all purchases over 10,000 won and the “Sports Toto” – where players predict the results of European football matches – can be gambled on from almost every convenience store on the peninsula. Racing feels picked upon but “Elmo” hasn’t helped its cause.

Weekend Round-Up

Full Step out of step / Foreign jocks clean up at Busan
Two year old prospect Full Step found things tough as he stepped up a level at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. The colt trailed in four lengths behind Black Man over seven furlongs. Sent off odds-on favourite, Full Step was on the pace for most of the race but couldn’t come close to matching the three-year old Black Man as he accelerated away in the final furlong.

The biggest race of the day was at Busan where in a tight three-way finish, favoruite Haengbok Dream just lost out to Namchee with Seonnyang Yongsa in third. Miss Ecton led the rest of the field home, five lengths back in fourth. For the Australian bred Namchee, it was a successful first crack at top-tier racing. The four-year old had only missed the money twice in fifteen starts prior to today although had only won three of those.

Namchee provided the second winner of the day for Eiki Nishimura. The Japanese rider had earlier taken race 2 on Angel Star and, with Hitomi Miyashita and Martin Wepner also being among the winners, it meant foreign riders accounted for four of the six races on the card. Choi Si Dae and Jo Sung Gon were the sole home riders to score.

Yesterday at Seoul on the first day of a low-key weekend of racing, Pocketful Of Money landed the feaure race, taking a half length win from Yodongseong with outsider Royal Missile a surprise third. Earlier in the day there had been another near-miss for Korearacing favourite Ungbiyeongung. The five-year old scored his sixth second place finish but remains winless in thirty-three starts.

After the sub-zero conditions of earlier in the week, temperatures were remarkably back up in the low-seventies despite overcast skies on Saturday. Those skies erupted in spectacular fashion overnight to saturate the track in time for Sunday’s races although the rain had by and large stopped in time for racing.

Next week, it’s down to the real business of the President’s Cup with Baekgwang up against a slew of the year’s top three-year olds for one of the season’s biggest prizes.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL

FULL RESULTS FROM BUSAN

Weekend Preview

There was a brief flirtation with winter across the Korean peninsula this week as temperatures dropped below freezing on Monday and Tuesday. Trackwork on Monday morning can’t have been much fun but it’s warmed up again now and we’re back in the mid twenties as Busan gets the weekend’s racing underway on Friday afternoon.

Seoul ended up racing under floodlights last weekend and brings the first race forward by ten minutes this time. Free Hugs and Pocketful of Money will be in action on what is a reasonably low-key two days of racing in the capital prior to next week’s President’s Cup. One to watch out for is two year old Full Step who goes in race 8 on Sunday.

Busan Race Park

Friday November 6: 10 races, first post 13:00, last 17:30
Sunday November 8: 6 races, first post 12:40, last 16:30

Seoul Race Park

Saturday November 7: 12 races, first post 11:10, last 17:45
Sunday November 8: 11 races, first post 11:10, last 17:45

Jeju Race Park (Pony Racing)

Saturday November 7: 10 races, first post 12:30, last 17:15
Sunday November 8: 10 races, first 12:30, last 17:15