Jockey Profiles

Lee Yong Ho Winning At Busan While Takahashi Debuts At Seoul

Several new apprentice jockeys have debuted over the past couple of weeks at both Seoul and Busan with a couple of them catching the eye so far. Meanwhile there are comings and goings among the foreign jockey ranks.

Winning already: Apprentice jockey Lee Yong Ho

Winning already: Apprentice jockey Lee Yong Ho

Among the apprentices, the stand-out so far has been 18-year-old Lee Yong Ho who has already ridden 5 winners from his first 29 mounts at Busan. Lee, the youngest jockey to gain a license in Korea for many years, is the younger brother of Seoul rider Lee Chan Ho, who made a similarly impressive start to his career two years ago. The younger Lee had already built quite a reputation for himself before his debut and he has received support from trainers right from his first day.

At Seoul, the best so far has been another Lee; Lee Hyeon Jong. After several near misses the 21-year-old rode his first winner last Saturday and quickly followed up with another. He has only had 13 rides so far but 7 of them have finished in the placings.

Among the other new apprentices, Park Jae I and Jin Kyum, both at Busan, have managed to get 2nd places while Kim Do Jung at Seoul has a 3rd to his name.

Debuting at Seoul last Saturday was Japanese jockey Yuri Takahashi. The 28-year-old, who is affiliated with the Iwate Racing Association, endured a challenging opening weekend with seven rides, none of which had a chance. Hopefully things will get better for him in future weeks in the way they’ve certainly got better for Djordje Perovic. The “Serbian Frankie” rode his 14th Korean winner on Saturday and if he continues riding the way he has been, he looks set to be the first non-Japanese visiting jockey to make a real impact at the notoriously difficult Seoul.

The other foreign rider at Seoul, Jarred Samuel, who has been a popular and positive presence for the past four months, has opted not to renew his contract and will return to South Africa at the end of July. Samuel will be replaced and another foreign rider is expected to arrive at the end of August.

Down at Busan meanwhile, Ikuyasu Kurakane is set for his third Korean stint, having been granted a license once more. Kurakane won the “MVP Award” at Seoul Racecourse last year – an achievemnet that led to the Japanese NAR presenting him with a special prize at their annual “Grand Prix” awards ceremony in February.

Elsewhere, former Busan jockey Joe Fujii is now riding in Hokkaido and landed his first Japanese winner at Mombetsu Racecourse last week.

Jarred Samuel Makes The Breakthrough At Last

It has been a long time coming but finally the hard work paid off for Jarred Samuel at Seoul Racecourse this afternoon as he rode his first Korean winner. It was his 102nd ride.

The 27-year-old South African has certainly been keeping busy since arriving in Seoul in April getting on plenty of horses. However, none of them have ever looked to be potential winners.

The same could have been said about Raon Rusa (Pico Central). The filly won three of her first four starts and was second in another but came into race 7 this afternoon a 15/1 chance following a disappointing performance last month.

Samuel would not be denied this time though. Always handy, he brought Raon Rusa through in the home straight to overtake tiring leader Super Plucky and held off the Djordje Perovic ridden Ssen Sky by a length on the line for a foreign jockey one-two.

Hopefully it’s the first of many for the ever-positive jockey.

Trainer Thomas Gillespie Licensed At Busan / Eight New Apprentice Jockeys Set To Debut

There is a new trainer from overseas at Busan Racecourse. Thomas Gillespie was granted a license effective from the beginning of June and is gradually building his stable up.

The stables at Busan. Home to new overseas trainer

The stables at Busan. Home to new overseas trainer

A native of Ireland, Gillespie has been training in his own right since 2010 in Malaysia after a spell as an assistant in Singapore. He arrives with a solid reputation. His father Declan, who was his assistant in Malaysia, will be familiar to Irish and British racing fans as he was a successful jockey.

Gillespie has received early support from owner Lee Won Tae, who has already sent three to his barn while Pegasus Stables have also supplied one.

Thomas Gillespie has been allocated stable number 8 and joins Peter Wolsley and Bart Rice, both also at Busan, as the only foreign trainers in Korean racing. The 33-year-old Gillespie will have the distinction of being the youngest trainer in Korea.

In other licensing news, several young jockeys have been newly apprenticed at both Seoul and Busan. There are five at Seoul and three at Busan and interestingly, the new jockeys for Busan are younger than than they are in the capital and closer in age to what one would expect of a newly apprenticed rider elsewhere in the world.

The quality of young apprentices coming through has been getting higher year on year so it will be interesting to see how they go.

Here is a list of the new riders along with ages and the trainer they have been apprenticed to:

Seoul
Kim Do Jung – 23 (Woo Chang Ku)
Cho Jae Ro – 21 (Bae Hou Jun)
Jung Hyun – 28 (Park Dae Heung)
Lee Hyun Jong – 21 (Park Jae Woo)
Ha Jung Hoon – 24 (Shin Sam Young

Busan
Park Jae Lee – 19 (Mun Je Bok)
Lee Yong Ho – 18 (Kang Byeong Eun)
Jin Gyeom – 20 (Youn Joo Hyuk)

Mauritius Jockeys Join Seoul And Busan

Two jockeys from Mauritius have arrived in Korea and are set to begin riding as soon as this coming weekend. Niven Marday will be based at Busan while Rakesh Baugheerothee will be in Seoul.

Niven Marday and Rakesh Bhaugeerothee (Pics: lemauricien.com)

Niven Marday and Rakesh Bhaugeerothee (Pics: lemauricien.com)

Niven Marday gets arguably the easier assignment at Busan where foreign jockeys have tended to enjoy more success. The 25-year-old trained at the South African Jockey Academy and in 2014 rode six winners at Champ De Mars in Mauritius, finishing 19th in the Jockey Championship. He lies in 11th place this year with 3 wins so far.

A couple of months ago, there were no foreign riders at Seoul. South African Jarred Samuel then joined in April and was quickly followed by Italian licensed Serbian jockey Djordje Perovic at the start of this month. Bringing the number to three is Rakesh Bhaugeerothee.

Like Marday, the 38-year-old Baugheerothee also rode six winners in Mauritius last season and has added another one this term.

At Busan, Marday joins the Japanese quartet of Joe Fujii, Nozi Tomzawa, Masa Tanaka and Nobuyuki Oyama.

All Smiles For 500-up Kim Ok Sung As Sing Sing Cat Rolls Back The Years

It’s taken him 28 years but Kim Ok Sung grinned his way to his 500th career winner at Seoul Racecourse on Saturday and fittingly he did it aboard one of the grand old campaigners of the track, as Sing Sing Cat returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2013.

Kim Ok Sung...500-up

Kim Ok Sung…500-up

It doesn’t sound hugely impressive but in actual fact it is. For many of those 28 years, Kim Ok Sung was, like every other jockey, restricted to five rides per week. He is one of very few jockeys of his generation who have managed to last more than ten years in the saddle in a fast changing racing environment where the young jockeys are far better trained than those who went before. He is 6th on the all-time winner’s list.

If you had to choose a jockey to spend an evening on the soju with, it would probably be Kim Ok Sung. If you had to choose a jockey to bet your mortgage on in a race, it probably wouldn’t be Kim Ok Sung. Popular with punters with his man of the people routine and his ability to always be quick with a quip in retort to a heckle in the parade ring he has, to put it diplomatically, sailed close to the wind with the Stewards on a number of occasions.

Yet somehow, he always manages to come out the other side and Saturday’s 500th win was typical. Riding 50/1 shot Sing Sing Cat, Ok Sung unexpectedly gunned him out of the gate into the lead and essentially pulled down the pants of the rest of the field who never got back on terms, the jockey punching the air as he and his mount crossed the line still a full 5 lengths clear of the rest. Champion jockey Moon Se Young was the first to congratulate him.

Kim Ok Sung is nicknamed the “Smile Jockey” due to his ever-present Cheshire Cat grin. His biggest win was all the way back in 1996 when he won the Grand Prix Stakes on Hula Mingo. The grin was widened on Sunday when he rode winner number 501.

A mention is due of Sing Sing Cat (D’Wildcat) too. He was a 50/1 winner on Saturday but back in 2012 he stunned Tough Win to claim victory in the KRA Cup Classic. A regular money winner since, the 7-year-old was recording his 12th win on his 41st start.

Down at Busan, top-rated horse in the land Beolmaui Kkum slumped to his second consecutive defeat. This time it was Cowboy Son (Cowboy Cal) who won Busan’s Sunday feature race with Oreuse (Smoke Glacken) returning from a year out running 2nd and beating Beolmaui Kkum into 3rd.

Now attention shifts to the Korean Derby. We are just five days away!

Djordje Perovic Ready For Seoul Test

Another new foreign jockey has arrived in Korea. Djordje Perovic has been granted a license to ride at Seoul Racecourse from May 1 and looks set to get his first rides next weekend.

image

Djordje Perovic, seen here in the JRA, joins Seoul this month (Pic: supplied by jockey)

A native of Serbia, the experienced Perovic is licensed in Italy and has won races in nine countries since debuting as a 17-year-old in 1997. He is a 7-time “Jockey of the Year” in Serbia and holds the distinction of “Best Sportsman of the City of Kragujevac” which isn’t something we can all put on our resume.

Perovic has won Group races in Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia and Austria as well as Jockey Premierships at the San Rossore and Visarno tracks in Italy. Most recently he held a short term JRA license in Japan where he rode three winners.

In total, Perovic arrives in Korea with 827 career wins. He joins Jarred Samuel as the only two foreign jockeys riding at Seoul and it is a tough environment in which to be.

Samuel has been working very hard but is yet to make a breakthrough in the three weekends he’s been riding – he’s ridden in 40 races so far but he’s not been given a single one with any kind of chance.

Perovic knows it’s not going to be easy and is well aware that while several foreign jockeys have had success at Busan, only Ikuyasu Kurakane has truly been able to crack Seoul. He arrived in the Korean capital on Wednesday and has stated he is excited about the challenge. We wish him well.

Here he is in action in Japan:

And here in Italy:

More Acclaim For Ikuyasu Kurakane With NAR Special Prize

The exploits of Ikuyasu Kurakane, who was recently named Seoul Racecourse Jockey of the Year, have now earned him recognition in his home country with the Japanese rider set to receive a “Special Award” at the upcoming NAR Grand Prix in Tokyo on February 5.

Ikuyasu is becoming accustomed to receiving prizes (Pic: Hiromi Kobayashi)

Ikuyasu is becoming accustomed to receiving prizes (Pic: Hiromi Kobayashi)

Although he didn’t win the Seoul Jockey Championship, Ikuyasu rode 102 winners in 2014 including his first Korean Group win, which came on Samjeong Jewang in the KRA Cup Classic in October. That, combined with the fact that he had achieved his total with significantly less quality rides at his disposal than his rivals, was enough for the Korean poll to go his way.

Now that news has reached Japan. The Special Award generally goes to a rider who has reached a particular milestone in his or her carrer but it is unusual for the NAR to grant such an award for a Jockey’s performance overseas. Previous winners include one-time Busan based Hitomi Miyashita, who was recognized on her retirement in 2011.

Kurakane, who’s home track is the NAR’s Kochi Racecourse, is currently in his second stint in Korea, having previously ridden at Seoul and Busan between 2007 and 2008.

Taking both times into consideration, he has 285 winners from 2293 rides in Korea. Remarkably, it is a record that puts him 11th on the all-time leading jockey list at Seoul Racecourse.

2014 Review: Jockey & Trainer Titles
Moon Se Young - seen here being greeted by the female members of the weighing room after his 1000th winner, dominated Seoul

Moon Se Young – seen here being greeted by the female members of the weighing room after his 1000th winner, dominated Seoul

Once again, Moon Se Young was unstoppable. During the year he became only the second Korean jockey to reach 1000 career winners and finished the season with 61 more winners than his closest rival. That was Ikuyasu Kurakane and it was the Japanese jockey’s hard work on far less glamorous rides that saw him, despite Moon’s numbers, being awarded “Jockey of the Year” honours.

Seoul Jockey Championship 2014
1. Moon Se Young – 162 (27.1% win ratio)
2. Ikuyasu Kurakane – 101 (14.9%)
3. Seo Seung Un – 93 (15.1%)
4. Ham Wan Sik – 72 (20.6%)
5. Choi Bum Hyun – 56 (14.4%)
6. Yoo Seung Wan – 47 (9.1%)
7. Lee Chan Ho – 47 (13.5%)
8. Park Tae Jong – 40 (10.1%
9. Jang Chu Youl – 35 (8.0%)
10. Park Eul Woon – 35 (12.4%

At Busan, You Hyun Myung just missed out on 100 winners for the season but comfortably took the title. He did have some fortune with former champion Jo Sung Gon spending the first three months of the year in Macau and Joe Fujii missing five months through injury.

Busan Jockey Championship 2014
1. You Hyun Myung – 99 (20.2% win ratio)
2. Kim Yong Geun – 91 (20.1%)
3. Choi Si Dae – 78 (17.8%)
4. Jo Sung Gon – 75 (20.3%)
5. Kim Dong Young – 55 (12.4%)
6. Song Keong Yun – 34 (7.7%)
7. Kanichiro Fujii – 33 (12.2%)
8. Masakazu Tanaka – 29 (8.8%)
9. Lee Hee Cheon – 27 (14.6%)
10. Kim Hyun Joong – 25 (7.9%)

The Seoul Trainers’ title is nothing to get especially excited about but someone has to win it and that someone was Kim Ho. Special mention goes to Lee Shin Young who continues to make strides, finishing in 8th this year with 35 winners.

Seoul Trainer Championship 2014
1. Kim Ho – 50 (12.6% win ratio)
2. Bae Dae Sun – 43 (10.5%)
3. An Byung Ki – 41 (12.3%)
4. Kim Hyo Seob – 40 (15.9%)
5. Ji Yong Cheol – 39 (12.2%)

Kim Young kwan (right) manages to maintain his figure despite having to eat a cake after every Stakes winner. He trains a lot of Stakes winners. (Pic: Ross Holburt)

Kim Young kwan (right) manages to maintain his figure despite having to eat a cake after every Stakes winner. He trains a lot of Stakes winners. (Pic: Ross Holburt)

Down at Busan the competition is stronger mainly due to the presence of two men. The Kim Young Kwan factory continues to churn out winner after winner and hoover up the cream of each year’s horses. 2014 was an exceptional year too for Peter Wolsley, who finished 2nd with a superior strike-rate to Kim and in the process scored his first Triple Crown race win with Never Seen Before in the Minister’s Cup at Seoul.

Busan Trainer Championship 2014
1. Kim Young Kwan – 96 (23.7% win ratio)
2. Peter Wolsley – 65 (25.5%)
3. Baik Kwang Yeol – 48 (10.8%)
4. Kim Jae Sub – 47 (15.4%)
5. Min Jang Gi – 45 (13.1%)

* 2014 was also notable for the retirement of one of Seoul’s most successful jockeys, Cho Kyoung Ho, at the age of 38. The winner of two President’s Cups on Myeongmun Gamun and the Grand Prix Stakes and Busan Metropolitan on Tough Win, Cho did not announce in advance of his final ride that he would be retiring.

Afterwards, he posted a message online citing the pain from a shoulder injury suffered years earlier as having become too great to continue riding. He will be missed.

Also in jockey news, there will be a change in tracks for Oh Kyoung Hoan. It is unusual for Korean jockeys to switch between racecourses and while numerous jockeys relocated to Busan upon the track’s opening in 2005, it has been almost unheard of since. Nevertheless, Oh, who has been riding at Seoul for nearly 15 years, officially relocated to Busan on January 1.

Ups And Downs For Jockey Oyama At Busan

The ups and downs of racing were starkly demonstrated by Nobuyuki Oyama on the final weekend of the season. The Japanese rider notched his first Korean winner at Busan on Friday before suffering a nasty fall in trackwork the following morning which looks set to rule him out for at least a month.

Nobuyuiki Oyama at Busan last Friday (Picture: Hiromi Kobayashi)

Nobuyuiki Oyama at Busan last Friday (Picture: Hiromi Kobayashi)

Oyama, who is married to former Busan jockey Hitomi Miyashita, joined the track at the beginning of December and despite coming close on several occasions, hadn’t made the breakthrough until Friday.

That changed in the last race of the day, the feature class 1 handicap when Oyama guided 4-year-old Heba to victory over a very competitive field that included well-known names such as Gamdonguibada and New York Blue.

It was a 7th career win for Heba (Peace Rules) and looked to be a win that could kick-start Oyama’s time at Busan. Unfortunately that is going to have to put on hold for now after the 46-year-old suffered a leg injury in trackwork the next day.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

Two-Time Grand Prix Winning Jockey Cho Kyoung Ho Retires

Cho Kyoung Ho, one of the top Korean jockeys of the past decade, has retired. The 38-year-old’s current license expired on December 7 and he opted not to apply for renewal.

Tough Win and Cho Kyoung Ho win the Grand Prix Stakes in 2011 (KRA)

Tough Win and Cho Kyoung Ho win the Grand Prix Stakes in 2011 (KRA)

Debuting in 2001 at the rather advanced age of 25, as was common for Korean jockeys at that time, Cho quickly became one of the top riders on the peninsula. His first Stakes win came in the 2003 JRA Trophy on Tempest West and he would partner the same horse to victory in the Grand Prix Stakes later in the year.

He would win the President’s Cup, Korea’s richest race, on four occasions with back-to-back wins on Myeongmun Gamun in 2007 and 2008 a highlight but it is for his partnership with Tough Win that Cho Kyoung Ho will perhaps be best remembered for. Together they won the Busan Metropolitan City Stakes twice – three years apart – as well as the KRA Cup Classic and the Grand Prix Stakes.

Although in recent times, he had dramatically cut back on his riding commitments, Cho was still in the Stakes winner’s circle as recently as June this year when he guided Geumseongi to victory in the Sports Chosun Cup.

Cho Kyoung Ho retires with career figures of 827 wins from 4964 rides including 29 Stakes race wins, six of which were in Korean Group 1 races.