Joe Fujii won the Grand Prix Stakes, Korea’s most prestigious race on Gamdonguibada at Seoul on December 9th, becoming the first foreign rider to do so. However, it had been a quiet start to 2013 for the Japanese jockey.
Winning Again – Joe Fujii
After the Grand Prix, he had to sit out the remainder of the season and the start of this after picking up an 8-meeting ban after his mount was slow into stride in a race at Busan (Fujii believed his horse to be injured).
Things changed this past Sunday though as Fujii landed a treble, guiding Raon Bally, Raon Boss and Myeongun Jewang to victory. Fujii’s compatriot Narazaki Kosuke was also among the winners, keeping him in 2nd place in the Busan Jockey Championship.
Fujii now has 34 wins from 236 rides at Busan while Kosuke has 62 from 462. A new foreign jockey arrives in Korea this week – a big name from Europe.
All three of Fujii’s winners were for Busan’s leading trainer Kim Young Kwan. Kim also trains Gamdonguibada and the champion filly is tentatively scheduled to make her 2013 debut at Busan next Sunday. Also coming up on Sunday, on Busan’s first really big race day of the year, is the Busan Ilbo Cup. While Dangdae Bulpae is set to be the overwhelming favourite, trainer Kim has two runners likely to start and Fujii could be in the frame to ride one of them.
If every horse in Korea was campaigned in the same way that Yeonseung Daero has been, the standard of the nation’s thoroughbred may just be a little bit higher.
Yeonseung Daero – (Pic: KRA)
The six-year old has won over US$ 1.5Million in prize money but it would surely have been higher were he not to almost always be put in against imported horses. You don’t have to be very good to win a race restricted to Korean bred entrants, however, the prize money is higher so there is little point going up against the (rather average but better trained) imports.
Of course, Yeonseung Daero’s owner can afford the luxury of being a sportsman – he has owned a string of top Korean horses including this year’s KRA Cup Mile winner Gyeongbudaero – and he doesn’t do it with all of them. Nevertheless, Yeonseung Daero’s career has been a joy to watch. Since completing his three-year old season, Yeonseung Daero has very rarely run in domestic company and he has more than held his own.
He had been without a win – without evene finishing in the money – since triumphing in the Listed Busan Ilbo Cup way back in February. However, today, Yeonseung Daero (Creek Cat) was right back in form, swooping late to deny three-year old US colt Grand Distinction (With Distinction) in the final few strides of the first of Busan’s co-feature race with Haengbok Dream (Lammtarra) also in close-attendance in third.
Yeonseung Daero has now won 17 of his 46 career starts. No doubt he’ll continue to compete in 2013.
Closing day for 2012 at Busan saw what was for the track, an unrecedented 14 race card. It was also the last day training in Korea for American Joe Murphy. His horse Atanarjuat was scratched out of the finale, so his last runner was filly Uddukseon, who finished 7th of 14 in race 10.
A 50/1 outsider finishing in the middle of the field perhaps describes Murphy’s time at Busan perfectly although to be fair to the trainer, he has had very little ammunition in his barn during his two years here nor has he had the original amount of time he understood he would have – and felt was required – to turn things around.
There was also more depressing news off the track as it emerged that Busan’s newly crowned Champion Jockey Kim Young Geun has been stood down pending investigation into possible breaches of racing’s integrity rules. More on this, and on Murphy’s last day, later this week.
A mixed ending to the year then. We don’t have to wait long to get going again though. Racing returns next weekend, with the feature being the New Year’s Commemorative Stakes at Seoul.
Sad news out of Japan this evening with local sports media reporting that jockey Yoshiyuki Aoki, who had two stints riding in South Korea, was found dead at his home in Yokohama earlier today.
According to the Japanese Daily Sports Online, Police believe Aoki took his own life. He was 35.
Yoshi Aoki 1977-2012
A JRA licensed jockey, Aoki rode 106 winners in Japan since his 1995 debut. He first came to Korea in 2009, spending three months riding at Seoul Race Park.
He returned to the peninsula in autumn 2010, this time to Busan where he was much more successful, landing 21 winners from 165 rides in six months on the south coast, many of them partnering with trainer Peter Wolsley.
Shortly before he was due to return to Japan in order to renew his JRA license in April 2011, Aoki suffered a bad fall at Busan which brought his time in Korea to an early end.
With his distinctive Godolphin-esque blue silks, Aoki was well liked by racing fans during his time here.
Gamdonguibada became the first filly for twelve years and Joe Fujii the first ever foreign jockey to win the nation’s most prestigious race, the Grand Prix Stakes at Seoul Race Park this afternoon.
Joe Fujii and Gamdonguibada win the Grand Prix Stakes (KRA)
In weak sunshine on a bitterly cold day in the Korean capital, the three-year old US-bred Ganmdonguibada, already champion filly & mare of 2012 after her win in the Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup, became overall champion racehorse of the year as, under a brilliantly timed ride from Japanese jockey Fujii, she edged out outsider Useung Touch and three-time President’s Cup winner Dangdae Bulpae by a neck on the line.
Gamdonguibada gets the better of Useung Touch and Dangdae Bulpae
Tough Win had been sent off as slight favourite but while the defending champion looked to be well placed coming into the final straight, his challenge faded around the furlong pole as he eventually finished in fifth. Other reasonably well-fancied horses Nolbu Manse and Smoking Gun were never able to get properly involved while Oh Kyoung Hoan left his challenge on the fast-finishing Jumong slightly too late.
It was left therefore to second favourite Dangdae Bulpae to battle it out with Useung Touch and Gamdonguibada for the victory. Dangdae Bulpae was the first to go, beaten with 100 metres to run but 2011 Korean Oaks winner Useung Touch was stubborn until the very end as Fujii coaxed one last effort from Gamdonguibada to take the prize.
Gamdonguibada and Joe Fujii in the Grand Prix Winner’s Circle
Gamdonguibada [Werblin – Radyla (Country Pine)] was a $31,000 purchase from the Ocala Spring sale of Two-year olds in training last year has won 6 of her 10 career start. Three of them have come in Stakes races; the Gukje Sinmun in April, the Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup in early November, which saw her take overall victory in the “Queens’ Tour” to become champion filly & mare for the year and now, the biggest of the lot today. She’s earned just shy of $1 Million in prize money.
As for her jockey, Kanichiro “Joe” Fujii debuted in May this year and has ridden 30 winners from 207 rides. He partnered Gamdonguibada to her Governor’s Cup win last month to claim his first Korean Stakes triumph and was in top form to get her home today.
Unusually for visiting riders who win races, Fujii seems popular with the other jockeys – Jo Sung Gon was among the first to congratulate him after the race – and, while he will now have to sit out the rest of the season due to an eight-day ban, it is to be hoped he’ll have his license extended in the New Year.
So Gamdonguibada becomes only the fourth filly – and the first since Cheolgeoun Party – to win the Grand Prix Stakes. With Useung Touch in second, it made for an exacta paying out at 1400/1. Only three-years old, we have plenty more to look forward to from our Champion Racehorse of 2012.
Grand Prix Stakes (KOR G1) – Seoul Race Park – 2300M – Sunday December 9, 2012
There’s a very good write-up on Brisnet about Feel So Good’s victory at Calder Racecourse in Florida last week when he became the first Korean bred horse to win a race outside of Korea. The article quotes Ko Byung Un of the Korea Racing Authority as saying:
“…even though Feel So Good is a Korean horse, we had him in the U.S. since he was young, and the horse learned to race here and was taught by American trainers…I think maybe we found out that the problem is not the horse.”
That’s not exactly news to anyone who’s been watching Korean racing over the last few years although for a KRA official to come out and say it in such explicit terms is unusual.
Having invested shrewdly in the past few years, the stallion stock in Korea is very solid and improving all the time. The broodmares that they get to cover are also, while not among the world’s elite, more than adequate and certainly the equal of those who foal the cheap American imports that arrive here aged two and then regularly run faster than the homegrown talent.
Feel So Good in the winner’s circle at Calder
The idea of “Internationalization” is resisted by many in the industry in Korea for understandable reasons but it is necessary. It’s necessary not only for the sake of the sport but also because of the precarious position that racing – as one of very few legalised gambling options in the country – occupies.
Korean governments are nothing if not impulsive as recent policies attempting to “ban” public drinking (practically the national sport here), internet pornography and Sunday opening of supermarkets have shown. All of them were ill thought out and ended up being unworkable, however, it seems only a matter of time until legal gambling finds itself targeted to an even greater extent than it already is.
Some in the KRA realise this and are eager to make the racing industry, already a major employer, bankroller of Korean agriculture and charity fundraiser – not to mention tax payer – a source of national pride.
It’s difficult to get very excited about Feel So Good [Ft.Stockton – Courting Dreams (Eastover Court)] winning a midweek maiden claimer at Calder. If Dangdae Bulpae had been trained in the US, he could be winning Stakes races. However, the fact that he’s done it is important and sends a big message to those training young horses in Korea that we need to be achieving more. We have a captive audience of hundreds of thousands every weekend but we can’t stand still. And to be fair, most realise this.
Feel So Good makes the front page of the Korean Racing Journal
Feel So Good has already entered quarantine in preparation to return to Korea. On arrival he’ll be sold to a private owner to begin his domestic racing career. In pictures he looks bigger and stronger than other Korean bred horses his age. With plans to set up their own training centre in Ocala, the KRA is considering making Feel So Good only the first of many to spend the early part of their life outside of Korea.
There is one potential downside to Feel So Good’s win at Calder. As one trainer pointed out at the weekend, he was almost certainly running on Lasix. Like the vast majority of racing jurisdictions outside the US, raceday medication is banned in Korea and hopefully the KRA doesn’t get any foolish ideas.
Korea’s Moon Se Young Second and Turkey’s Ozcan Yildirim Third As KB Soo Wins the YTN Cup on Sangnyu
“I love Korea” yelled Soo Khoon Beng as he was led into the winner’s circle after winning the YTN Cup Stakes at a rain-soaked Seoul Race Park this evening. And well the Singaporean might as the win on US bred filly Sangnyu was enough to secure himself an emphatic victory in the 2012 Seoul International Jockey Challenge.
Sangnyu and Soo Khoon Beng in the YTN Cup Winner’s Circle
Soo, who had a brief spell at Busan in 2008, was the joint-overnight leader in the Challenge along with Turkey’s Ozcam Yildirim. However, after a disappointing day yesterday, it was the Korean team who dominated the day’s opening event, Moon Se Young leading home a 1,2,3 for the home team on 13/1 chance Blue Band Zet.
While Korea’s Jo In Kwen was riding the favourite for the finale, the YTN Cup Stakes, Soo was not to be denied and, in atrocious conditions, guided 6/1 shot Sangnyu to a surprisingly dominant seven length victory. South Africa’s Karis Teetan finished second on Golden Socks while Moon secured second place in the challenge by riding Blueband Mama into third.
YTN Cup Stakes (International Jockey Challenge Race 4) – Seoul Race Park – 1900M – August 12, 2012
1. Sangnyu (USA) [Broken Vow-Midtown Miss (Yes It’s True)] – Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) – 5.6, 2.2 2. Golden Socks (USA) [Dehere-Final Flag (Northern Flagship)] – Karis Teetan (South Africa) – 4.2 3. Blueband Mama (USA) [Purge-Meadowbryte (Meadowlake)] – Moon Se Young (Korea – 2.5
Distances: 6 lengths/7 lengths Also Ran: 4. Raonjena – Kim Hae Sun (Korea) 5. Chowonuibyeol – Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) 6. Choichoro – Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea) 7. Yongsan Hwangnyong – Hayato Yoshida (Japan) 8. Menifee Magic 9. Dangdae Jeonseung – Jo In Kwen (Korea) 10. Fortunata – Park Tae Jong (Korea) 11. Dashing Platinum 12. A Wanted Affair – Ham Wan Sik (Korea) 13. Haengun Party – Ben Curtis (Ireland) DQ. New Terracan – M. D’Silva (Brazil)
International Jockey Challenge Race 3 – Seoul Race Park – 1400M – August 12, 2012
1. Blueband Zet (KOR) [Didyme] – Moon Se Young (Korea) – 13.9, 2.5 2. Reverse Captain (KOR) [Exploit] – Ham Wan Sik (Korea) – 1.3 3. Time Zone (KOR) [War Zone] – Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea) – 4.1
Distances: 0.5 lengths/2.5 lengths Also Ran: 4. See The Star – Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) 5. Seohaeachim – Park Tae Jong (Korea) 6. Mallu Homerun – M.D’Silva (Brazil) 7. Paxko – Hayato Yoshida (Japan) 8. Beongaedori – Kim Hae Sun (Korea) 9. Munhaguiyeowang – Jo In Kwen (Korea) 10. Uranus – Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) 11. Nauichukbok – Karis Teetan (South Africa) 12. Jeongsangnarae – Ben Curtis (Ireland)
1. Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) – 42 2. Moon Se Young (Korea) – 28 3. Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) – 28 4. Jo In Kwen (Korea) 22 5. Karis Teetan (South Africa) – 20 6. Ham Wan Sik (Korea) – 13 7. Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea) – 11 8. Ben Curtis (Ireland) – 9 9. Manoel Nunes D’Silva (Brazil) – 9 10. Hayato Yoshida (Japan) – 8 11. Park Tae Jong (Korea) – 8 12. Kim Hae Sun (Korea) – 7
(where points were tied, higher placed finishes and then prize money were used to decide final order)
Final Team Score: Rest Of The World 114 – 89 Korea
YTN Cup winner Sangnyu (Broken Vow) is a three-year old filly and was recording her third career win from ten starts.
Ozcam! Turkey’s Ozcan Yildirim secured third place in the Challenge
It almost always rains on YTN Cup weekend, however, in place of the usual showers, this year we got an absolute deluge. While the rain wasn’t too hard during the penultimate stage of the challenge, by the time the YTN Cup got underway, the rain had been torrential for over an hour.
Fifth place in the YTN Cup on Chowonuibyeol was enough to secure the third-place prize for Turkey’s Ozcan Yildirim, while South Africa’s Karis Teetan’s strong finish ensured that he finished in the top half.
It was a tough day for Irishman Ben Curtis and Japanese Hayato Yoshida, neither of whom could add any bonus points today, while Brazil’s Manoel D’Dilva also had a better day yesterday.
As ever, the event was entertaining and it is always good to see visiting jockeys riding and winning at Seoul. Hopefully all six visitors will go on to have successful seasons and, with 2007 Challenge winner Gerrit Schlechter having spent the past four months riding at Busan, we may even see some of them again.
Ireland’s Ben Curtis
South Africa’s Karis Teetan won’t look at the camera!
The Rest Of The World team hold a big lead over their Korean hosts at the end of the first day of the 2012 Seoul International Jockey Challenge.
Soo Khoon Beng got things rolling for the visitors under the floodlights at Seoul Race Park, coming down the outside on 25/1 outsider Ganghanyeosin to claim a narrow victory over Daejangjeong, ridden by Jo In Kwen, with New Mighty and Ireland’s Ben Curtis a further two lengths back in third.
International Jockey Challenge Race 1 – Seoul Race Park – 1400M – August 11, 2012
1. Ganghanyeosin (KOR) [War Zone] – Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) – 25.0, 3.4 2. Daejangjeon (KOR) [Menifee] – Jo In Kwen (Korea) – 1.4 3. New Mighty (KOR) [Exploit] – Ben Curtis (Ireland) – 3.9
Distances: 0.5 lengths/2.5 lengths Also Ran: 4. Seungcheon Jisu – M. D’Silva (Brazil) 5. Molly Way – Karis Teetan (South Africa) 6. Winette Dancer – Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea) 7. Golden Impact – Moon Se Young (Korea) 8. Prete Ingran – Hayato Yoshida (Japan) 9. Eunbitjeonsa – Park Tae Jong (Korea) 10. Huimangbuksori – Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) 11. Perfect Tiger – Kim Hae Sun (Korea)
The second race of the challenge was a tight affair but in the end it was Turkey’s Ozcan Yildirim on 6/1 shot Victory, who stretched away from the pack in the final furlong. Jo was second once again on
Haneoldo while South African Karis Teetan guided Major Girl, the longest shot on the board, to third place.
International Jockey Challenge Race 2 – Seoul Race Park – 1800M – August 11, 2012
1. Victory (KOR) [Osumi Jet] – Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) – 6.7, 2.1 2. Haneoldo (KOR) [Distilled] – Jo In Kwen (Korea) – 5.2 3. Major Girl (KOR) [Duality] – Karis Teetan (South Africa) – 16.4
Distances: 2 lengths/Neck Also Ran: 4. Bon RIsing – Hayato Yoshida (Japan) 5. Beauty Icheon – Park Tae Jong (Korea) 6. Victory Camp – M. D’Silva (Brazil) 7. High Well – Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) 8. King Field – Ben Curtis (Ireland) 9. New And Best – Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea) 10. Ft. Green – Moon Se Young (Korea) 11. Nicole Windsor – Ham Wan Sik (Korea) 12. Sharp Concept – Kim Hae Sun (Korea)
That leaves the standings after Day 1 as follows:
1= KB Soo (Singapore) – 21 1= Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) – 21 3. Jo In Kwen (Korea) – 20 4. Karis Teetan (South Africa) – 9 5. Ben Curtis (Ireland) – 7 6. Manoel Nunes D’Silva (Brazil) – 6 7. Hayato Yoshida (Japan) – 5 8. Park Tae Jong (Korea) – 4 9. Cho Kyoung Ho (Korea – 3 10= Moon Se Young (Korea) – 2 10= Kim Hae Sun (Korea) – 2 10= Ham Wan Sik (Korea) – 2
The overall team scores are:
Korea: 33 Rest Of The World: 69
There will be two more races Sunday to complete the challenge. They are race 6, a 1400 metre handicap at 16:50 and then the finale, the YTN Cup, which is race 9 at 19:35.
Sunday August 12
Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 14:20 to 21:15 Busan Race Park: 6 races from 16:35 to 20.50
The Seoul International Jockey Challenge 2012 is the highlight of the weekend’s action on the peninsula as six visiting riders take on six of the capital’s best in the annual four-race challenge.
Clockwise from top right: Ben Curtis, Karis Teetan, Ozcan Yildirim, Hayato Yoshida, Soo Khoon Beng, Manoel Nunes DaSilva
The jockeys will compete against each other in four races, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, culminating in the YTN Cup Stakes. In addition to the team prize, the leading jockey overall will take home an additional $20,000 prize.
Neither the United States nor Australia have sent riders this year so instead, the visitors hail from countries that the Korea Racing Authority has been forging close links with in recent years. Ireland and South Africa send young up and comers, while Macau, Turkey, Singapore and Japan’s entrants are all more experienced.
The Korean team is about as strong as it could possibly be with champion jockey Moon Se Young captaining. Kim Hae Sun becomes the first female rider to represent Korea in the challenge. Here is a full run down on the entrants. The draw for mounts was conducted on Thursday and appears to have thrown up a reasonably fair spread of chances:
International
Ben Curtis (Ireland) – 1840 rides / 122 wins – Former champion Irish apprentice, the 23-year-old is an American citizen and has also ridden in the USA, and UK.
Manoel Nunes D’Silva (Brazil) – 7831/1269 – Representing Macau in the challenge, the Brazilian learned his trade in Sao Paolo but has been riding in Asia for almost a decade. He’s won numerous Stakes races in Macau and has also ridden in Hong Kong and Dubai.
Soo Khoon Beng (Singapore) – 4139/519 – The 2005 Singapore Champion jockey spent a short but uneventful time riding at Busan in 2008. He’s won a number of Stakes races in his homeland.
Karis Teetan (South African) – 3581/445 – Born in Mauritius, he rides mainly in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. He won the Cape Derby on Jackson earlier this year.
Ozcan Yildirim (Turkey) – 7481/744 – He has 28 Graded Stakes victories in Turkey and 72 winners in the past year.
Hayato Yoshida (Japan) – 5781/443) – Ninth in the JRA standings this year with 41 winners, Yoshida is Japan’s only representative this year.
Riding for the Koreans are: Moon Se Young, Cho Kyoung Ho, Park Tae Jong, Jo In Kwen, Ham Wan Sik and Kim Hae Sun.
The four races involved in the challenge are as follows:
Saturday August 11 Race 9: 19:20, Domestic Class 3 Handicap, 1400 metres Race 10: 19:50, Domestic Class 2 Handicap, 1900 metres
Sunday August 12 Race 6: 16:50, Domestic Class 3 Handicap, 1400 metres Race 9: 19:35, Foreign Class 2 Handicap for fillies & mares, YTN Cup Stakes Listed, 1900 metres
Japanese jockey Kanichiro Fujii debuted at Busan today and landed a winner with his very first ride – a four length victory on Areumdaun Sinhwa (Volponi) in race 7:
Fujii’s fellow countryman Narazaki Kosuke was also amongst the winners, taking race 5 on Raon Birdie (Al Naba), was was South African Gerrit Schlechter who rode the Peter Wolsley trained gelding Cheongchun Bulpae (Milwaukee Brew) to a very comfortable win in race 8.
Saturday June 30
Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 17:40 Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:20 to 17:00
Sunday July 1
Seoul Race Park: 10 races from 11:00 to 17:40 Busan Race Park: 6 races from 12:15 to 16:45
There’s another new Japanese jockey on the South Coast. Kanichiro Fujii will have his first rides at Busan Race Park this coming weekend.
Kanichiro “Joe” Fujii debuts at Busan this weekend
Fujii – who goes by Joe – was born in Nara, Japan but went to Australia at the age of 15 to train as a jockey. He debuted in 2001 and spent the next five years riding mainly in New South Wales, finishing 2nd in the State’s Apprentice Jockey race in 2006.
In 2007, Fujii spent nine months in Singapore where he won the Listed Chairman’s Trophy and rode third-placed finisher Jade in the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby.
After Singapore, Fujii went to Europe where he rode work in France for, amongst others, Criquitte Head before returning to Australia in 2008.
In 2009 he went to the USA and rode work at Belmont Park before relocating once more to Australia, this time to Queensland where he has been riding until recently. To date, he has ridden just shy of 300 winners.
Fujii is married and became a father for the first time earlier this month.
Riding on an initial four-month license and joins fellow Japanese riders Narazaki Kosuke and Yukio Abe as well as South African Gerrit Schlechter in making up the foreign jockey contingent at Busan. He will make his racing debut this Friday in race 7.
He told Korea Racing that he became interested in riding in Korea after speaking with Japanese riders Nozomu Tomizawa, Yoshi Aoki, Hiro Hamada and Akane Yamamoto – all of whom rode in Korea and have strong Australian connections, as well as Aussie jockey Garry Baker who rode at Busan from 2005 until 2007.
Horse Racing in Korea 