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Touch Flying Soars In Ilgan Sports

Touch Flying landed her biggest win to date, taking the Listed Ilgan Sports Cup at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday afternoon. The filly won by three lengths under apprentice jockey Jo Jae Ro to claim her sixth victory on her tenth career start.

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Touch Flying and Jo Jae Ro get some assistance in the Ilgan Sports winner’s circle

Winner’s Glory, 4th in this year’s Korean Derby, was sent off as a strong favourite for the 1800M race but it was Touch Flying, under apprentice jockey Jo Jae Ro, who made all to take the win. Cheonji Storm, 6th in the Derby, was 2nd and Chanma 3rd, with Winner’s GLory having to settle for 4th.

Apprentice Jo did find himself having to explain why Touch Flying seemed to impede Cheonji Storm half a furlong out and while he was given a three-day ban (and Touch Flying herself ordered to barrier trial before her next start), stewards decided the result should stand.

Ilgan Sports Cup – Seoul Racecourse – 1800M – July 31, 2016

1. Touch Flying (KOR) [Colors Flying – Jeongtongseong (Lassigny)] – Jo Jae Ro – 6.7, 2.0
2. Cheonji Storm (KOR) [Admire Don – Great Thought (Empire Maker)] – Lee Sang Hyeok – 1.8
3. Chanma (KOR) [Menifee – Candleglow (Carson City)] – Kim Dong Soo – 2.3

Distances: 3 lengths / 2 lengths
Also Ran: 4. Winner’s Glory 5. Cosmos King 6. Haetbinna 7. Super Tank 8. Royal Victory 9. Simsin Jiryeo 10. Special Star 11. Gangja 12. Special Win DNF: Oneuri

Dallao Does It Again

Two weeks ago we were able to report that Joe Dallao seen a horse of his win for the first time in Korea. Now, the American owner, one of the first batch of foreign owners to be licensed in the country – and the only one to be resident in Korea – has had another as Majestic Beauty ran out the winner of race 3 at Busan in the Dallao colours on Friday afternoon.

Majestic Beauty (Whywhywhy) took a long time to get to the track but had shown wnough promise in a 4th and 2nd in two starts this year to be sent off as favourite for the 1300M event. And under jockey Kim Yong Geun, fresh from completing the Triple Crown on Power Blade last week, she pretty much made all to win by a length on the line.

Dallao’s first winner was Noble Warrior and the Biwa Shinseiki gelding runs again at Busan on Sunday. Both he and Majestic Beauty are trained by Bart Rice, who’s reamarkable run of form continued with a further winner later in the day. The South African trainer is currently in Singapore to oversee Triple Five’s challenge in the KRA Trophy at Kranji on Sunday.

Korea Festival & KRA Trophy Set For Singapore Kranji This Sunday

Three Korea-trained horses are in Singapore where they will race this coming Sunday in the KRA Trophy at Kranji Racecourse, the highlight of a “Korean Festival” day at the Singapore Turf Club.

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KRA promoting its free Exacta event for the KRA Trophy

The three horses, Always Winner, Parang Juuibo and Triple Five arrived in Singapore last Friday. Michael Lee has written a comprehensive account with pictures for STC here. The three do look up against it in the 1200M race with Bart Rice’s up and coming Triple Five perhaps the most intriguing. For any of them, however, a top-five finish would be viewed as a success.

On Sunday at Kranji, in addition to the race, the Korea festival will include Korean food and a performance by “rookie” K-Pop girl group “HADY” (most likely doing covers of more well-known songs). The day’s races from Seoul & Busan will also be simulcast live.

Just like last year, the KRA Trophy itself will be beamed back live to Seoul, Busan and Korean OTB’s. Betting on inbound simulcast remains illegal in Korea, however, a free contest will be available for the race on the mobile betting platform. Punters will be asked to pick the top five horses to finish with a prize of 5 Million Won to be split between those who get them correct.

This is the second year that Korea-based horses have trvelled to Kranji for the race. Singapore-trained horses have run in Seoul the past two editions of the Asia Challenge Cup with El Padrino winning the race in 2014. They are expected back for this year’s edition, which will be run as the “Korea Sprint” on September 11th and also for the new Korea Cup on the same day. Former Singapore-based trainer Brian Dean is now training i

Power Blade Wins The Korean Triple Crown

As if there was ever any doubt. At Seoul Racecourse today, Power Blade looked every inch the champion the Triple Crown series has been waiting for as he utterly dominated the Minister’s Cup in the same fashion he did in both the KRA Cup Mile and the Korean Derby.

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Power Blade in the Minister’s Cup winner’s circle (Pic: Jo Kim @krapresenter )

Punters sent Power Blade off as the odds-on favourite ahead of stablemate and Korean Oaks winner Ottug Ottugi. The filly as usual set the pace early on with Kim Yong Geun happy to keep Power Blade handy. For as moment at the top of the straight there was a chance that the favourite, sitting in fourth on the rail may find himself boxed in. That moment was fleeting.

As soon as they entered the straight the gap opened up. Kim Yong Geun took it and from there the race was won. The margin on the line was seven lengths but Power Blade wasn’t stretched. So superior he is to the rest of this crop, he could win by a margin of his choosing.

Just as in the Korean Derby, Zettabyte chased him home a distance 2nd, four lengths ahead of Baedari Bobae, who ran a big race in 3rd, finishing ahead of the tiring Ottug Ottugi.

Power Blade is trained by Kim Young Kwan, who records yet another Classic win and ridden by Kim Yong Geun. His next target will now surely have to be the Korea Cup International race over 1800M on September 11th where he can be tested against overseas horses.

J.S. Hold won a Triple Crown in Korea in 2007, however, great achievement though it was, it was before the current era of Seoul and Busan. Today in its 9th running, we got a true Triple Crown winner and his name is Power Blade.

The Minister’s Cup (KOR G2) – Seoul Racecourse – 2000M – July 17, 2016

1. Power Blade (KOR) [Menifee – Cheonmacheong (Lost Mountain)] – Kim Yong Geun – 1.3, 1.0
2. Zettabyte (KOR) [Menifee – Fight Back (Sakura Seeking)] – Lim Sung Sil – 1.6
3. Baedari Bobae (KOR) [Colors Flying – Geumgang Gongwon (Pacificbounty)] – 5.2
Distances: 7 lengths / 4 lengths
Also Ran: 4. Ottug Ottugi 5. Stealth 6. Saeroun Stealth 7. Siseon Pochak 8. Kkeutpan Hero

Power Blade Bids For Triple Crown In Minister’s Cup

Power Blade will on Sunday seek to become the first horse to sweep the Korean Triple Crown in its current form. The KRA Cup Mile and Korean Derby winner heads a field of eight – all from Busan – who will line up for the final jewel of the 2016 crown, the Minister’s Cup at Seoul Racecourse. 

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Power Blade in a soaking wet Derby Winner’s circle in May (Pic: Ross Holburt)

Also in attendance will be Power Blade’s stablemate Ottug Ottugi. She was runner up in the Cup Mile but skipped the Derby in favour of last month’s Oaks, a race she won easily. Unbeaten Kkeutpan Hero, who missed the Cup Mile and Derby, also takes his chance.

The Triple Crown has been won before, by J.S Hold (Ft. Stockton) in 2007. However that year, it consisted of the Ttukseom Cup, Derby and Minister’s Cup and was only open to horses trained at Seoul. From 2008 onwards, Busan horses became eligible and the KRA Cup Mile, at the south coast track, was designated the 1st leg (and became informally known as the Korean 2000 Guineas).

Sangseung Ilro won two legs of the Crown in 2009 but so far the complete set has remained elusive. This year, however, with the Minister’s Cup being run in July instead of in September or October – which previously gave late bloomers time to appear on the scene – there was always a chance it would be a little different. The Power Blade emerged. He’ll be strong favourite to complete the Crown on Sunday.

The race has had to be moved to the early time of 2:20pm. This is because the actual Minister (of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – sadly “MAFRA” and not “FAFF” anymore) will be attending. While unavoidable bearing in mind the domestic politics involved, it is unfortunate as it jeopardizes the race’s chances of being available for betting through some of the overseas simulcast partners.

We’ll have a full runner by runner preview of the race on Saturday. In the meantime, here are the runners and riders:

The Minister’s Cup (KOR GII) – Seoul Racecourse – 2000M – July 17, 2016 (17:00)

1. Saeroun Stealth (KOR) [Colors Flying – Captive (Mutakddim)] (7/3/1/1) Sang Young Lee – Makoto Okabe
2. Kkeutpan Hero (KOR) [Colors Flying – Ya Ya Sunshine (Elusive Quality)] (3/3/0/0) Sung J-Kwon – Chae Sang Hyun
3. Stealth (KOR) [Colors Flying – Missed The Tower (Woodman)] (10/4/0/3) Sang Young Lee – Ikuyasu Kurakane
4. Ottug Ottugi (KOR) [Forest Camp – Main Objective (Lion Heart)] Filly (10/7/2/0) Young Kwan Kim – Choi Si Dae
5. Siseon Pochak (KOR) [Colors Flying – Myeongseo Gongju (Carry The Flag)] (14/3/4/3) Jang Ki Min – You Hyun Myung
6. Baedari Bobae (KOR) [Colors Flying – Geumgang Gongwon (Pacificbounty)] (11/3/5/1) Chung Yul You – Lee Sung Jae
7. Power Blade (KOR) [Menifee – Cheonmacheong (Lost Mountain)] (8/6/2/0) Young Kwan Kim – Kim Yong Geun
8. Zettabyte (KOR) [Menifee – Fight Back (Sakura Seeking)] (9/3/3/1) Keum Man Lim – Lim Sung Sil

Dallao’s Delight: Noble Warrior Is American Owner’s First Winner

“I think he could hear me screaming at the finish line” said Joe Dallao after watching – energetically – his horse Noble Warrior get the best of a tight finish to race 6 at Busan on Friday afternoon. It was the American’s first winner as an owner in Korea.

Joe Dallao is a long-time resident of Korea and took a possibly unique route into thoroughbreds by way of pigeon racing. Believe it or not, the birds have a Studbook and Dallao, from his Ilsan base, turns out to be one of the foremost pigeon racers on the peninsula. A few years ago Dallao, an executive at an American company in Seoul, decided to look beyond the loft and turned his attention to racing. He first took an interest in racehorses in his native United States with Barry Irwin’s Team Valor and at the same time started to investigate the possibility of owning in his adoptive country.

The trouble was that foreigners – even those living in the country – were unable to own racehorses. Dallao lobbied and lobbied and finally in 2014, as the KRA put its internationalization program into action, a small number of foreigners were permitted to own. Joe Dallao was in the first group to be granted a license.

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The English language Korea Racing Broadcasting Channel was launched today – and Noble Warrior was one of the first winners

Teaming up with South African trainer Bart Rice, Dallao bought two horses last year. They were a Whywhywhy filly called Majestic Beauty and a Biwa Shinseiki gelding named Noble Warrior. Both took a long time to get ready with Noble Warrior running just once as a 2-year-old and Majestic Beauty not at all.

Bart Rice – who is in sparkling form these days and will send his horse Triple Five to Singapore for the KRA Trophy later this month – got them right though and Majestic Beauty has shown promise with a 4th and a 2nd in two starts over the past couple of months. Noble Warrior meanwhile began placing and has been getting better as the distances have lengthened. Today, on his second start at class 5 and his second at a mile; benefiting from a slight weight advantage and a ground saving ride by You Hyun Myung, he got it spot on. Noble Warrior hit the front at the top of the stretch and gamely battled on to win by half a length. It was his 7th career start.

Joe Dallao was active at the Jeju sales again this Spring and then plans to import a horse from the US later in the year. Whatever they achieve and no matter what Noble Warrior goes on to do from here, no doubt today will have been special.

Shin Woo Chul Retires From Training / Several Jockeys Retire Or Relocate / New Apprentices Set To Begin At Seoul & Busan

A couple of weeks after Tough Win had his retirement ceremony it was the turn of his trainer for his biggest wins, Shin Woo Chul, to have a retirement ceremony of his own at Seoul Racecourse last week. The 63-year-old trainer has reached the mandatory retirement age for trainers and will not apply to renew his license. 

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Shin Woo Chul (Pic: Sports Chosun)

Shin has trained more winners than any other trainer in Korea – although that record will almost certainly be passed shortly by Kim Young Kwan at Busan – seeing his horses return victorious on 1149 occasions from a total of 8713 starters dating back to 1983.

Tough Win was his best horse although he also trained two-time SBS Cup winner High Point and 2003 Grand Prix Stakes winner Habidongju. Shin’s stable had been winding down recently with only 6 winners from 140 starters in his final 12 months.

Current leader of the Seoul Trainer’s Championship is Seo In Seok with 24 winners although only 8 winners separates him from 10th placed Bae Dae Sun in the ever noncompetitive capital. By contrast at cut-throat Busan, Kim Young Kwan leads with 66 with Peter Wolsley in 2nd on 36.

The end of June is the time when many licenses expire or come up from renewal and there are plenty of comings and goings this year.

Seoul jockeys Seo Do Soo, Kim Seok Bong, Kim Young Jin, Kho Sung Yi and Shin Dae Jun all surrendered their licenses at the end of June after careers of varying length and indifference. Some are likely to apply for training licenses. From Busan, Seo In Sub and Park Sung Kwang have also retired from the saddle.

For reasons recently reported,  a higher than usual number of riding vacancies have recently arisen in the pony racing on Jeju Island and along with a slew of new apprentices, Busan’s Jo Hee Won and Seoul’s Yoo Mi Ra have relocated to the island to become pony jockeys. For both it looks to be a good opportunity to revive careers that had been drifting somewhat.

Five riders have successfully graduated from the academy and have become apprentice thoroughbred jockeys. Two  will begin riding at Seoul shortly. They are 21-year-old Lee Dong Ha, who will be apprenticed to trainer Ha Jae Heung and 27-year-old Lee Cheol Kyung, who will be with Seo In Seok.

At Busan there are three new apprentices. 20-year-old Lee Hyo Sik will be with Kim Nam Joong. Jung Do Yoon, also 20, is apprenticed to An Woo Sung while the first Korean female jockey to be ride full-time at Busan since 2010 is 19-year-old Choi Eun Kyung. She gets a great opportunity to learn, having been placed with South African trainer Bart Rice.

Coming Up In July: Evening Racing / Busan Mayor’s Cup / Triple Crown Finale / KRA Trophy At Kranji

Evening racing begins this weekend and will run throughout July and August on Fridays and Saturdays. A busy July also sees the Busan Mayor’s Cup – the biggest race of summer – as well as Power Blade potentially looking to complete the Triple Crown in the Minister’s Cup and three Korean horses heading to Singapore for the KRA Trophy at Kranji.

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Evening racing begins this weekend

The first “evening” meeting will be at Busan this Friday. On Fridays, the first race at Busan will be at 2.30pm and the last at 9pm. Saturdays at Seoul will get underway at 2pm with the final race at 9pm. Sundays this year will remain at their usual time with the first race at Seoul at 10:50am and the last at 6pm. While the initial evening season runs until the end of August it may well be extended this year into September and October.

On the track, the month starts with the big one, the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Cup, generally billed as the “Summer Grand Prix”. This year’s edition is at Busan this coming Sunday, July 3rd and a high quality field look set to take part including some strong candidates from Seoul. We will have the full line-up here this afternoon and a full preview of the race on Saturday. Last year’s winner Gamdonguibada, Triple Nine, Bold Kings, Clean Up Joy, Clean Up Cheonha and Success Story are all currently entered.

On Sunday 17th, attention will turn to Seoul and the final leg of the Triple Crown in the shape of the Minister’s Cup. Power Blade was the facile winner of the KRA Cup Mile and Korean Derby and should he make the starting gate, he will be strong favourite to become the first horse to sweep all three legs of the Crown in its current form. Stablemate and Korean Oaks winner Ottug Ottugi is also among ten entrants at this stage.

The final Group race of the month will be the KNN Cup at Busan on July 24th. It’s the 2nd leg of the Queens’ Tour which decides the champion filly or mare of the year. The first leg, the Ttukseom Cup, was won by Bichui Jeongsang at Seoul at the beginning of June.

In other news, the KRA Trophy will be run at Kranji Racecourse in Singapore on July 24th and for the second year running, Korea-trained horses will be taking part in the 1200M sprint. The three horses looking likely to travel are Parang Juuibo (With Distinction) and Always Winner (Creek Cat) from Seoul and Triple Five (Girolamo) from Busan. The optimistically named Always Winner won the JRA Trophy at Seoul earlier in June while the Bart Rice trained Triple Five is an up and comer who has won three of six outings to date. Baksuchyeo and Jingyeogui Geojang are others entered.

The KRA Trophy is part of the “Korea Festival” that takes place at Kranji that weekend.

Dean Holland Wraps Up Korean Sojourn

Dean Holland’s stint riding in Korea is over for now. The Australian jockey completed his four month license at the weekend and has opted to return home.

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Dean Holland at Seoul (Pic: Ross Holburt)

During his time here, Holland rode 10 winners from 128 rides with a quinella strike-rate of 15% – a creditable figure given that he rode so few favourites. His final ride was a 2nd place on Jangsanjewang in race 11 on Sunday while his last winner was the previous day, when he guided Muhudaese to victory by a nose with a perfectly timed run in race 9.

Both those rides were for Brian Dean and in the latter half of his time here, Holland built up an effective partnership with the first foreign trainer to be licensed at Seoul. Half of all runners that Brian Dean has sent out so far have finished in the first three and Dean Holland has played a significant role in achieving that. Likewise the emergence of the trainer – who this time next year will surely be the top trainer in the capital – ensured Holland successfully completed his four months.

Holland worked hard and gained the respect of most trainers and jockeys in Seoul with a professional attitude and good results, which is exactly what is asked of foreign riders here. He was a fine ambassador for Australian racing. Off the track he developed an unexplained affinity for the Seoul LG Twins baseball team; Holland’s win-rate is probably better than theirs.

Holland’s final winner at Seoul:

Holland’s departure leaves Imran Chisty as the only active foreign jockey currently at Seoul. Djordje Perovic remains licensed.

Prosecution Charges Several In Racing Integrity Probe

Racing was featured on most of the main news outlets in Korea on Thursday morning and not for positive reasons with a number of people, including trainers and jockeys, being indicted by the prosecution in a long-running investigation into corruption and race-fixing.

Most of the charges date back to incidents alleged to have taken place in 2010-2011. The suspects cannot be named for legal reasons but according to JTBC, they include jockeys from Jeju Island as well as three retired jockeys and two trainers from Seoul. Those in question who were still license-holders had been suspended since the allegations first came to light some months ago.

Also indicted were individuals identified as “brokers” and the suspected operator of an illegal betting operation. Most media reports this morning outlined that the prosecution continues to investigate possible links with organised crime. Here is the link to JTBC TV’s report.

JTBC and KBS1 News illustrated their reports with several video examples of horses allegedly being deliberately stopped by jockeys in pony races on Jeju Island in 2010.