Breeding

Vicar Colt Tops Jeju Yearling Sale

Jeju Stud Farm hosted its November Yearling sale last week. Of the 90 lots offered, just 35 sold at an average price of 45 Million won ($39,000).

Topping the sale was was a colt by Vicar out of the Australian bred mare Hurricane Havoc [Jade Robbery – Hurricane Bay (Palace Music)] who fetched 100 Million won. Second highest was a colt by Revere out of Mina De Oro (USA) [Afleet – Alas De Oro (Ack Ack)] at 85 Million won. The Vicar colt was bought by Kim Chul, who currently has nine horses in training at Seoul while Busan owner Kwak Jung Su took the Revere colt.

The highest drawing filly was by Creek Cat and out of the Korean bred Tamna Jeilbong [Lost Mountain – Scotty’s Love (First Draft Choice)], fetching 56 Million won from Seung Myoung Ho. Prominent Seoul owner Ku Ja Sun (Dongbanui Gangja) was also in action, taking home colts by Creek Cat and Exploit for a combined total of just shy of 100 Million won.

Top five lots (Sex/Pedigree/Seller/Buyer/Price in units of 10,000 won):

1. Colt [Vicar – Hurricane Havoc (Jade Robbery)] Lim Sang Yun / Kim Chul – 10,000
2. Colt [Revere – Mina De Oro (Afleet)] Lim Sang Yun / Kwak Jung Su – 8,500
3. Colt [Menifee – Angel Be Great (Notebook)] Oh Gong Hak / Choi Cheol Yi – 8,000
4. Colt [Volponi – Regal Meg (Regal Classic)] Kang Seok Ho / Lee Jong Hun – 7,500
5. Colt* [Wando – Luv Meadow (Meadowlake)] Oh Gong Hak / Daemyoung Co. – 7,400

* Luv Meadow was in foal to Wando when imported to Korea in January 2008.

Chulgigi has a full list from the sale (in Korean) and as ever, full details on all horses in Korea can be found at the KRA Studbook.

New Jockey for Seoul, New Stallion for Jeju

The Japanese jockey contingent in Korea has risen to four again. Thirty-two year old Yoshiyuki Aoki has arrived in Seoul and looks set to make his debut at the track this coming weekend. He’ll join Toshiyuki Katoh at Seoul while Eiki Nishimura and Hitomi Miyashita are at Busan.

Meanwhile the KRA has been stallion shopping and it appears that they are close to bringing over the nine year old Peace Rules [Jules – Hold To Fashion (Hold Your Peace)], a prolific winner in his racing career taking the Haskell Invitational and Blue Grass Stakes amongst a number of Grade Ones. He’s found only moderate success as a sire and the Bloodhorse reports he will stand at the KRA’s Jeju Stud Farm where he will be alongside the likes of Volponi and fellow newcomer, Ecton Park.

Peace Rules will take the number of registered stallions in Korea to 96. Over the past year, two colts and a fiilly by Peace Rules have been imported. The best known of these is three year old Gangho [Honor Delilah (Honor Grades)], who won his first four races this Spring. Two year old filly Gwacheon Geojang [Copelan’s Lily (Copelan)]has also made a positive start withe a win and a second place in her two outings to date.

Here’s Peace Rules winning the 2004 Suburban Handicap from Funny Cide at Belmont Park:

Bloodhorse Article

A video of Peace Rules at current home Vinery Farm.

(ht – FP)

Leading Sire Race Neck And Neck

With the Classics out of the way it seems a good time to check on the leading sires race. And with Sangseung Ilro taking two legs of the Triple Crown and finishing third in the final one, Concept Win’s offspring are locked in a tight battle with those of Didyme to reclaim the title he last won in 2006.

Concept Win [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] has been in Korea since 1997 and was leading sire in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Didyme has ruled since then, with sheer numbers of winners rather than big race stars, giving him a slight advantage as we head into the tail end of the season. With just over two months to go, Didyme leads by just 40 Million won ($35,000) with Revere a further 100 Million Won behind.

What remains remarkable about Didyme, however, is his win rate – with 63 wins from 438 starts he has a win percentage of nearly 15% compared to 8% for Concept Win (43 wins from 500 starts). While Sangseung Ilro has accounted for over 600 Million Won of Concept Win’s earnings, Didyme’s top earner, Areumdaun Jilju, has made just 150 Million won. With the talent spread around, it looks as though it’s going to be three years running for Didyme.

Leading Sires in Korea 2009 (As of October 19)
Name/Pedigree/Earnings (Korean Won)/Chief Earner/Win Rate

1. Didyme (USA) [Dixieland Band – Soundings (Mr. Prospector)] – 2,379,790,000 – Areumdaun Jilju – 14.4%
2. Concept Win (USA) [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] – 2,331,894,000 – Sangseung Ilro – 8.6%
3. Revere (IRE) [Dancing Brave – Bint Pasha (Affirmed)] – 2,243, 940,000 – Pangpang – 8.4%
4. Ft. Stockton (USA) [Cure The Blues – Tai The Devil (Tai)] – 1,897,778,000 – Namdo Jeap – 9.5%
5. Social Charter (USA) [Nureyev – Aunt Pearl (Seattle Slew)] – 1,739,596,000 – Natural Guy – 8.1%

Volponi has been the best performer so far out of eleven first crop sires (albeit with just two wins) and is sixth overall in the list of sires of two year olds.

Full details can be found at the Korean Studbook.