Foreigners in Korea

“Don’t I Know You From Somewhere?” Kozzi Asano Realized he Once Breezed his Seoul Winner in a Different Hemisphere

That the racing world is small isn’t new, but on Sunday it was smaller than ever. The hitherto somewhat ordinary New Zealand bred four-year-old Super Thunder, who entered race 9 at Seoul on Sunday with a record of one win from fifteen prior starts, bolted in by a full eleven-lengths, downing an odds-on favourite in the process. It wasn’t until after the race that his jockey, Kozzi Asano, realized that he had already sat on him long ago.

Pic: Kozzi Asano’s instagram (1st picture Sirius Photos, 2nd picture Karaka Sales Screencap)

While a native of Japan, Asano learned his craft as a jockey in New Zealand, riding almost 350 winners across eight seasons before taking up a license in Korea in the summer of 2024. Like compatriot Masa Tanaka, “Kiwi Kozzi” speaks with a New Zealand accent and is very much a product of that nation’s racing industry.

“Super Thunder is an ok horse, not a star, but it wasn’t a strong race and he ran well. I was familiar with the dam (Glasgow) but I didn’t make the connection right away” Asano said on Wednesday. “Then on Sunday evening I talked on the phone to my wife, and she said ‘you know, you have ridden Super Thunder before’, I said ‘yeah, I rode him last start too’ and she said ‘no, even before that!'”

“Even before that” was at the Karaka Sales Centre, thirty minutes outside of Auckland, New Zealand in November 2023. The Karaka “Ready to Run” sale involves breeze-ups (where the horses about to be auctioned put in a timed work under racing tack for the cameras). Like many jockeys Asano participated as a rider for the breeze-ups and one youngster he was assigned was Lot 49, a “brown or grey gelding” by Reliable Man and out of the Testa Rossa mare Glasgow.

The juvenile who would become Super Thunder clocked 11.08 seconds for 200M under Asano and that was sufficient for the Seoul Racehorse Owners’ Association (SROA) to purchase him for NZ$25,000. HIs breeze-up, with Asano aboard, can be found here: https://www.nzb.co.nz/sales/23rtr/49.

What makes the coincidence even more remarkable is that while thirty years ago, most imported racehorses in Korea originated from Australia or New Zealand, these days, more than 90% of imports are from the United States, with their dirt pedigrees so beloved of Korean owners. Super Thunder touched down in Korea in January of 2024, one of just nine race horses imported from the country the entire year.

Super Thunder is owned by Yang Dong-hui and is trained at Seoul by Choi Yong-geon. It took him eleven tries to get his maiden win, which he did in March of this year having been dropped back to class 5 from the initial class 4 that all imported racehorses start at in Korea. That took him straight back to class 4 and he had been very much figuring things out with a 3rd and a pair of 5ths followed by a 2nd when Asano rode him for the first time on July 27th. When winning on Sunday, he was the 5.0 second-favourite.

“Amazing, really” said Asano. “I’d love to think he remembered me, both of us so far away from home. Like all the horses I ride, I told him before the race to trust me and let’s take a chance, and we claimed it.”

Asano (full name Asano Kazuya) has 38 winners from 324 rides in Korea, operating at an 11.7% win rate and 34.9% show rate. He is provisionally booked to ride Black Musk in the international G3 Korea Sprint at Seoul on Sunday September 7.

“Special Breux” – David Bids Au Revoir

David Breux’s time in Korea came to an end on the last day of June, the French jockey returning home to Chantilly after a successful six and a half years based in Seoul.

David Breux (Pic: Ross Holburt)

Across that time which included the Covid-ravaged 2020 and 2021 seasons, Breux, now 35-years-old, amassed 167 winners from 2227 rides. He registered a further 378 finishes in the top-three.

“For a European jockey, riding in Korea is good because there is no travelling and you are racing just twice a week. In France you need to travel every day and sometimes you will be riding at two racecourses in the same day!” Breux said after his final Korean ride on June 30th.

Popular on the back stretch and widely regarded as one of the nicest people in racing, Breux had only good things to say about his experience. “In Korea I have been very happy, with some very good moments across my 6 years, meeting many people from many different countries.”
An early off track highlight was winning the ANZA Korea Melbourne Cup “Fashions on the Field” event in 2018 (Pic: A beaten competitor who didn’t make the final).

Breux arrived young and carefree but leaves as a husband, having married long-time partner Alexia, and as a father, with a daughter about to reach school age. “I’ll be back home in Chantilly on July 19th and then I am taking a long holiday until August 15th. Then it is back to work as a jockey in France. I don’t yet have a stable confirmed but I have a manager and I will be ready to go.”

(Pic: Ross Holburt/KRA)

When asked what was his favourite horse in Korea to ride, he was unequivocal: “Definitely Choego Money” he said, referring to the Simon Foster trained runner who Breux had early successes on.

When pressed on whether there was something he wouldn’t miss, Breux characteristically demurred before finally conceding: “I won’t miss racing on the dirt.”

Breux’s departure leaves three overseas jockeys at Seoul with his childhood friend Johan Victoire still flying the tricolour for France alongside former Singapore based Jimmy Wong and Harry Kasim and Turkey’s Furkan Yuksel. At Busan Franco Da Silva, Ueda Masashi and Masa Tanaka have now been joined by the returning Alan Munro, who kicked off his latest stint in Korea with a win last Friday.

TUHONUI BANSEOK STUNS WINNER’S MAN BY CRUSHING MARGIN AS BART RICE TRAINS FIRST KOREAN GROUP WINNER

The second leg of the Stayer Series was every bit as one-sided as most expected. It just wasn’t the result most expected as Tuhonui Banseok produced a spectacular performance to beat defending Champion and Korea Cup and Grand Prix Stakes hero Winner’s Man by an astonishing eleven-lengths in the YTN Cup (2000M KOR-G3). It was a first Korean Group race win for both jockey Park Jae-I and trainer Bart Rice.

Tuhonui Banseok in the clear in the YTN Cup (Pic: KRA)

Having won the first leg of the Stayer Series, last month’s Herald Business Cup by three-lengths, Winner’s Man was sent off as a prohibitive 1.4 favourite for the YTN ahead of Tuhonui Banseok, who had been a fast-finishing 3rd in the Grand Prix and then 2nd in the Herald Business. Breaking from gate two, Park Jae-I pushed Tuhonui Banseok to the lead right from the gate. Knowing where the greatest threat was, Seo Seung-un on Winner’s Man immediately moved to track him.

Tuhonui Banseok (Pic: KRA)

Winner’s Man stayed locked to Tuhonui Banseok’s heels as the race passed through the back straight and reached its crucial stages. Passing three-furlongs and beginning to turn towards the home straight, the seeming inevitability of Winner’s Man eventually blowing past the upstart was confounded when Seo Seung-un was the first to get to work, while Park Jae-I remained stationary aboard the leader. When Park did get down to business, the gap was already up to three-lengths and rising. Between the 300M and the 200M, Winner’s Man briefly regained some ground, but Tuhonui Banseok quickly slammed the door and romped away for a devastating victory.

Winner’s Man was 2nd, eleven-lengths in arrears but still well clear of the rest, while Winner Gold, a 78/1 chance, emerged from the rear down the rail to claim an excellent 3rd.  

It perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Tuhonui Banseok was running in his fifth Graded race and the trajectory had very much been upwards. Last June he encountered the elite for the first time and ran 8th in the Busan Mayor’s Cup behind Winner’s Man. A 3rd in last October’s KRA Cup Classic behind Raon The Fighter was followed by another 3rd in the Grand Prix Stakes. That day with every stride, he was gaining on Winner’s Man and Raon The Fighter, and may have got closer were it not for his having to navigate around tired horses at the top of the straight. Then there was that 2nd in the Herald Business last month.

Park Jae-i (Pic: KRA)

This time everything went right for Tuhonui Banseok, a five-year-old American-bred entire by Verrazano and out of the Street Sense mare, Sense of Beauty. He was a $13,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

For jockey Park Jae-I, 2022 was a standout year in terms of winners when he leapt from a previous yearly best of twenty-seven, to a tally of sixty-two and 3rd place in the Premiership behind only You Hyun-myung and Sunday’s vanquished rival, Seo Seung-un. Now the twenty-seven-year-old has his first Graded race win.

It was surprising for some observers to realise it was also a first Korean Graded winner for trainer Bart Rice. The South African handler has been a fixture around the top of the Busan Trainer Premiership ever since debuting in late 2013 and sports a healthy 14%-win rate and 34% top-three rate across his time in the country.

Bart Rice finally gets his Group Race Presentation (Pic: KRA)

Previous Rice stable stars such as the fellow Lim Byung-ho owned Buhwarui Banseok were solid class 1 horses but had the misfortune to be around at the same time as the likes of Cheongdam Dokki, for his entire career, as well as Triple Nine and Power Blade at the start of it.  That said, Tuhonui Banseok has had the misfortune to be around at the same time as Raon The Fighter and Winner’s Man. Now that gap on the resume has been filled and with Tuhonui Banseok still seemingly getting better, there could be more to come.

Don’t write off Winner’s Man. He has had his setbacks before, most notably when 3rd in last November’s President’s Cup. It didn’t take him long to return to the summit. But there is plenty of intrigue now ahead of the Busan Mayor’s Cup on July 2nd and the biggest of them all, the Korea Cup, looming into view. In Tuhonui Banseok, a new heavyweight is on the scene.

Tiz Barows Is The Chosun One

Tiz Barows unleashed a burst of acceleration that none of his twelve rivals could match as he fully justified his odds-on status to run away with the Sports Chosun Trophy (2000M Listed) at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday afternoon.

Tiz Barows won the Sports Chosun with plenty to spare (Pic: KRA)

Having finished 4th in last year’s Korean Derby and entering off two strong wins from his last three outings, Tiz Barows was sent off at odds of 1.5 locally for the Sports Chosun, which was restricted to horses rated 80 or less, and under in-form jockey Antonio Da Silva, the four-year-old obliged in style.

Jeongmun Bolt set the early pace, but Tiz Barows was always handy and once Da Silva squeezed the accelerator in the home straight, the response was instant and devastating as the pair quickly left the field in their wake to win by a full four-lengths. Queens Tour, the only filly or mare in the race and the only runner to have won at the ten-furlong distance before, closed strongly for 2nd, half a length ahead of Choego Black in 3rd.

(Pic: KRA)

For Tiz Barows, who is by Tizway and is out of the Jambalya Jazz mare Kaylan’s Rose, it was a fifth win on his eleventh start and his third from his last four. Trained by Seo In-seok he is owned by Japanese owner Inokuma Hirotsugu, whose colours were famously sported to victory by Roger Barows in the Tokyo Yushun – Japanese Derby – in 2019. While Tiz Barows hadn’t quite reached his peak when he had his own Derby shot, he looks class 1 bound at the very least.

Antonio Da Silva speaks to in-house broadcaster KRBC after the Sports Chosun (Pic: KRA)

While all but one of Seoul’s Saturday races were lost to a flooded track, on Friday at Busan, in similarly wet conditions, a former double Classic winner did make a somewhat unexpected return to form. Hit Yegam beat Winner’s Man in both the KRA Cup Mile and the Minister’s Cup in 2021 and ran second to the future Korea Cup winner in the Korean Derby.

Since winning that Classic, which was held in December of 2021 due to pandemic restrictions earlier in that year, Hit Yegam had drawn a blank in nine consecutive outings and had finished no better than 10th in any of his latest four. With Friday’s track conditions heavily favouring front-runners though, jockey Choi Eun-gyeong took full advantage of Hit Yegam’s inside draw and early gate speed and he led from gate to wire in the class 1 1200M handicap, holding off the closing pre-race favourite Daemangui Gil by half a length to record his tenth win from twenty-one starts.

Next Sunday there is a double helping of Stakes race action at Seoul.  Raon The Fighter and Eoma Eoma renew their rivalry in the SBS Sports Sprint (1200M KOR-G3), the second leg of the Sprint series, while stablemates Raon First and Raon The Spurt headline the second leg of the Queens’ Tour, the Ttukseom Cup (1400M KOR-G2).

International Jockeys & Trainers Close Out 2022 With Milestones Aplenty

The overseas contingent in Korean racing had plenty to celebrate as 2022 reached its conclusion with records being smashed over the last couple of months of the year. Johan Victoire has passed the two-hundred winner mark at Seoul while down at Busan jockey Franco Da Silva and trainer Bart Rice, both breached three-hundred winners. Back in the capital, trainer Luigi Riccardi notched his century in the penultimate week of the season.

Franco Da Silva’s milestone came first, and it was for Rice, on the trainer’s Alec King Iji on October 28th. Da Silva debuted in 2016 and just like Rice, was successful in his first ever race in the country, ultimately riding a treble on his first day. Jockey Da Silva’s figures are remarkably similar to those of trainer Rice. He has a win rate of over 13%, a quinella rate of 27% and show rate of 38%.

Da Silva won the Korean Derby in 2018 on Ecton Blade for trainer Kim Young-kwan for whom he also picked up the G3 Busan Owners’ Cup on the Triple Crown winner Power Blade in 2017. On the day he cracked 300, Da Silva added another in the final race on the card and then one more on the following Sunday before heading off for an extended overseas break with family, his 60 winners across the year putting him behind only You Hyun-myung, Seo Seung-un and Park Jae-i at the top of the Busan table.

Bart Rice’s landmark win arrived on November 11th with three-year-old gelding Fusaichi, ridden by Chae Sang-hyun in the colours of owner and breeder Isidore Farm.

“I feel good, you know. Three-hundred wins, it’s ok, I’m happy.” Rice told KRBC Busan’s social media on the day. Fusaichi, who is by Purge and out of Isidore’s mare Fusaichiswonderful (by Fusaichi Pegasus) was breaking his maiden on his fourth start.

“Well done to the owner as well as he has always supported me. But the stable has done well, the staff has done well. It’s been a long road, but all good.”

Having previously trained in South Africa, Bart Rice arrived in Korea in late 2013 as the third overseas trainer to be licensed after Peter Wolsley and Joe Murphy. He sent out his first runners in January 2014 and got a winner with his first starter, an 8/1 chance called Gyeongnam Sinhwa.

Rice’s one-hundredth winner arrived in May 2017 and his two-hundredth in July 2020, the latter, Mr. Fusion, also in the Isidore colours.  He has now sent out over 2200 runners for a win rate in excess of 13%, a quinella rate of 24% and show figures of almost 35%. Fusaichi was his 38th of 43 winners in 2022 leaving him in 6th place in the Busan Trainer Premiership.

Franco Da Silva is currently the only foreign jockey licensed at Busan following the departures during the year of Djordje Perovic and Ioannis Poullis, although new additions are expected in the first part of 2023. Before leaving, Perovic broke Ikuyasu Kurakane’s record of most winners in Korea by a foreign jockey.

In the trainer ranks, Peter Wolsley, who debuted in 2007, is still going strong on and closing in his 650th winner – only Kim Young-kwan has ever trained more at the track. Thomas Gillespie, a 2015 addition, is also going well, with 280 total wins in Korea.

At Seoul, Johan Victoire crashed through the 200-winner barrier in November, when partnering Choego Race to a two-and-a-half length victory at class 3 level. Victoire is another member of the “winner in first race in Korea” club having triumphed on his first mount at Seoul in 2017. He reached 100 in 2019 and ended 2022 with 33 winners for the year.

Among those winners were Jangsan Bada in the Listed Ilgan Sports Trophy, and even more significantly, a second SBS Sports Sprint (G3) in June. Just as he did in 2020, Victoire partnered Morfhis to victory in what is the main lead-up race for the Korea Sprint. Victoire has ridden Morfhis in ten of his eleven career wins since first being paired with him in all the way back in 2018.

Antonio Da Silva finished in 6th place in the Seoul Jockey Premiership with 44 winners. David Breux notched 34 and Alan Munro 27.

Victoire’s Ilgan Sports win on Jangsan Bada was the first feature race win in Korea for trainer Tony Castanheira, one of 18 winners he sent out over 2022. Numbers-wise it was a breakout season for Luigi Riccardi, whose 42 winners saw him tie with Seo In-seok for 2nd place in the Trainer Premiership, two behind the Raon-backed Champion Park Jong-kon. Seo had more runner-up finishes but also sent out nearly double the number of starters with 443 to Riccardi’s 227, the Italian’s 18.5% win-rate the highest among trainers at either Seoul or Busan.

The new Korean racing season gets underway at Busan on Friday January 6.

Winner Star Lands Djordje Perovic Second Derby Win

Winner Star closed late to overhaul Seungbusa and win the 25th running of the Korean Derby (1800M KOR-G1) at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday afternoon, and in doing so, gave jockey Djordje Perovic his second win in the biggest of the three-year-old Classics.

Winner Star wins the Derby (Pic: Ross Holburt/KRA)

Just as in the KRA Cup Mile, Complete Value was sent off as favourite, ahead of the first jewel’s winner Captain Yankee. As expected, Seungbusa set the pace, and the Sports Seoul Trophy winner was in it for a long way as Complete Value stalked handy and looking as though he was ready to make a move.

It never happened. In the home straight, Seungbusa pressed on, and while Complete Value’s challenge waned, Winner Star ran on down the outside of the field, striking the front in the final furlong, and went on to win by two-lengths.

Captain Yankee’s late charge saw him come home in 3rd while Tiz Barows was an excellent 4th. Another Triple Crown series newcomer Wow Wow was 5th ahead of Complete Value in 6th.

Winner Star sees off Seungbusa (Pic: Ross Holburt/KRA)

Winner Star was the only horse in the starting gate to have already won over the distance and after the race, winning jockey Djordje Perovic stressed the importance of that to in-house broadcaster, KRBC.

“His (Winner Star’s) previous experience at nine-furlongs was the key. The Derby was the target and so we prepared really well. We focused on the tactics for the race and where we needed to be in the final stage. It worked out perfectly.”

On a day where there were more racegoers in Seoul Racecourse than at any other time since before the pandemic, Perovic had a message for his fans: “I am so grateful for the support from racing fans here and I am very happy I can repay them by winning this race.”

Perovic went on to acknowledge the bumper Sunday crowd, who had taken advantage of the traditional free entry on Derby Day with the total attendance as big as for a Korea Cup. Perovic previously won the Derby on Save The World in 2020 at a pandemic-enforced deserted Seoul Racecourse. “I actually don’t think I have ever raced in front of so many people as were here today. It was brilliant.”

For Perovic himself, it was yet another milestone. The Serbian jockey nicknamed the “Balkan Wolf” last month overtook Ikuyasu Kurakane to become the most successful foreign jockey in terms of winners in Korean racing history. Winner Star was his 350th race win in the country. He now joins Park Tae-jong, Moon Se-young and Kim Yong-geun as the only riders to have won the Korean Derby more than once.

(Pic: KRA)

As Perovic noted in his interview, Winner Star was the (joint) most experienced runner in the race and the only one to have previously won at the distance, having already raced against older horses on plenty of occasions. That’s why the Derby was only his third win on his eleventh career start. Winner Star is by Concord Point and is out of Jangguneui Huye, who did her racing in Korea and is herself by Korean bred stallion Gaeseon Janggun (by Duality). He was bred by his owner Kang Hoon-pyo and is trained by Baik Kwang-yeol, who previously won the Derby in 2015 with Yeongcheon Ace.

Winner Star’s damsire, Gaeseon Janggun, won the Minister’s Cup in 2008. Winner Star will get a chance to emulate that as the final leg of the Triple Crown is the 2022 Minister’s Cup (2000M KOR-G2) at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday June 12th.

Pero Passes Triple Century

Djordje Perovic has reached three-hundred winners in South Korean racing. The milestone win came in race 2 at Busan last Saturday when the thirty-nine-year-old jockey partnered trainer Thomas Gillespie’s Sky More to a narrow photo-finish victory, becoming only the second foreigner to hit the triple-century.

“Sky More is still inexperienced and a little immature so he needed assistance throughout the race” said Perovic of the colt who was getting his maiden victory at start number four. “I expect Sky More to get better with more races.” Sky More is by Hansen and out of Korean Oaks winner Baekpa.

Perovic, known variously as “The Balkan Wolf” or “Serbian Frankie”, originally debuted in Korea in 2015 having previously ridden in Italy, where he is licensed, as well as his home country of Serbia and around Europe. He notched up Group winners in several countries as well as Jockey Premierships at the Italian tracks of San Rossore and Visarno, and even spent time on a short-term license on Japan’s elite JRA circuit, landing three winners from seventy-four rides in 2014.

During his first stint in the country, Perovic was based in Seoul where after enduring a testing start – it took thirty-five rides for him to break through and ride a winner – he quickly established himself among the top jockeys at the track. In 2017, he became the first foreign rider to win the Seoul Jockey Championship as he guided home 106 winners. They included Listed success on Clean Up Joy as well as his first Korean Group winner on Silver Wolf in the Ttukseom Cup.

After an extended time back in Europe, Perovic returned to Korea in late Spring of 2020, this time to be based at Busan but it was right in the middle of racing’s first COVID-induced shutdown. Racing did finally resume in June of that year but it was behind closed-doors and for Perovic, it was not the same as before. “My impression was like I am riding in trial races because races without audiences are not so exciting.”

Not that it seemed to affect his form as over the past year, Perovic has ridden sixty-three winners, second only in that time at Busan to You Hyun-myung with a win rate of 23.6% and finishing inside the top three on a remarkable 40.3% of his rides. Those wins included his first Korean Derby on Save The World in Seoul last August. “My favourite win is the Korean Derby, but all wins and horses are equally important and precious” he said. “Each win has its own grace. I would like to thank all the owners and trainers who believed in me and had trust in me and gave me their horses to ride.”

Japanese jockey Ikuyasu Kurakane holds the record for most wins by a foreign rider in Korea with 347 and while that figure is now within touching distance, Perovic has more fundamental ambitions. “The goal is to win many races in Korea and when I go back to my country to stay remembered by Korean people as a good person, sportsman and jockey.”

Bart Rice Reaches 200 Not-Out At Busan

A field of ten will face the starter at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday in the YTN Cup but of them only two will have made the trip up from Busan. Both of the southern raiders for the Group 3 test, Buhwarui Banseok and Rock Hard Seven, are trained by Bart Rice, who earlier this month saddled his 200th Korean winner.

Bart Rice

Bart Rice arrived in Korea in late 2013 having trained in South Africa, and sent out his first runners in January of 2014, making an immediate impact as his first Busan starter, Gyeongnam Sinhwa, came home an 8/1 winner. He quickly built up an impressive strike rate, something he has managed to maintain over the subsequent years and brought up his 100th winner in May of 2017.

The latest milestone for Rice arrived on July 3rd when first-time starter Mr. Fusion took out race 3 at Busan under jockey Seo Seung-un wearing the colours of owners Isidore Farm, leading from the gate and winning by ten-lengths on what was his very first start. It was a win that surprised his trainer as much as anyone.

“He (Mr. Fusion) hopefully is above class 6 but to be honest I didn’t expect him to win” Rice told KRBC. “He’s inexperienced and I thought he would need the race, but he managed to get to the front and then didn’t have any kickback”.

As for the double-century, Rice was understated. “For me it’s been a long time to get the 200 winners. I would have liked it to be a little bit faster than that but we’re happy we’ve done it. We try to be as professional as we can in my stable and appreciate the owners’ support”.

Rice may be yet to saddle a Group winner in Korea but he has taken out a number of valuable races and has sent horses from his stable to run in both Singapore and Dubai. He currently lies in 4th place in the Busan Trainer’s Premiership in what has been an interrupted 2020 racing season.

With horses such as the pair who race in Seoul on Sunday as well as the progressive Ssonsal, who won his first class 1 race last weekend and holds an entry to the SBS Sports Sprint later this month among his forty-three strong string, Rice is putting together a formidable looking team.

“I don’t really have a plan” Rice said when asked of his future goals. “We just try to get as many wins as we can. When we get to three hundred we will celebrate but I don’t really have a plan” he continued before paying tribute to his staff in what has been a challenging year. “We didn’t race for a long time but my staff always seem to be happy and bubbly and they’ve done a good job.”

Ryan Curatolo Rides 1st Korean Winner

It hasn’t taken Ryan Curatolo too long to settle in at Seoul. The well-traveled jockey notched his first Korean winner on Sunday, guiding Stride Up to victory in race 2.

https://twitter.com/RyanCuratolo/status/1132577565716049920

It was Curatolo’s second weekend in the saddle at Seoul and he spoke prior to racing:

https://twitter.com/KRAOfficial/status/1132094424937185280

Stride Up was Curatolo’s tenth ride in Korea and started at odds of 9/1. The only horse he has ridden so far to start at shorter was 5/1 Cheongdam Tiger a week earlier, who finished 2nd.

Johan Victoire Joins The 100-Club

Johan Victoire has become the latest foreign jockey to ride 100 winners in Korea.

Johan VictoireThe French rider reached the milestone when guiding 3/1 chance Fast Fashion to victory in race 4 on Korean Derby day at Seoul Racecourse last Sunday.

Victoire debuted in Seoul in July of 2017 scoring success with his very first mount and has maintained a steady stream of winners ever since.

The 100 came up just after he passed 920 rides in the country making for a win rate of almost 11%.

Victoire now lies in 8th place on the all-time foreign jockey list in Korea which is led by Ikuyasu Kurakane, way out in front in 347, followed by Djordje Perovic on 238.

Of the foreign jockeys currently riding in Korea, Franco Da Silva leads with 156 followed by Masa Tanaka on 133 and Antonio Da Silva on 129.

Victoire is one of three French jockeys licensed at Seoul right now with he and David Breux joined this month by Ryan Curatolo, who is beginning an intial four-month license.