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Smarty Moonhak Returns To Training

Almost a year after being diagnosed with tendinitis, Smarty Moonhak, the phenom who took Korean racing by storm as a 2-year old in 2011, has quietly been returned to Seoul Race Park to resume training after his treatment was deemed a success.

Back: Smarty Moonhak (Pic: KRA)

Back: Smarty Moonhak (Pic: KRA)

Smarty Moonhak [Smarty Jones – Madeira M’Dear (Black Tie Affair)], a bargain $14,000 purchase at the 2010 Keeneland September Yearling sale, was beaten on his debut but went on to record 4 straight crushing victories against older opposition culminating in a 10-length win in the Turkey Jockey Club Trophy in November 2011.

This earned him an unexpected nomination to the season ending 2300 metre Grand Prix Stakes – the first 2-year old ever to receive one – in which he ran 3rd behind Tough Win and Mister Park.

He started his 3-year old season in imperious form winning four class 1 races with his by now customary ease before travelling to Busan for the “Summer Grand Prix”, the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Stakes.

On a sweltering night on the south coast and sent off the odds-on favourite, Smarty Moonhak found himself beaten by Dangdae Bulpae, a horse who by that time was already winner of more Stakes races than any other in Korea.

Recovery: Smarty Moonhak with owner Ha Jun Hwan (Pic: KRA)

Recovery: Smarty Moonhak with owner Ha Jun Hwan (Pic: Sports Hankook)

While a slight disappointment, it was no disgrace. However, a week after the race it was confirmed that tendinitis had been detected. Coming just weeks after the tragic death of his Grand Prix rival Mister Park, it was a heavy blow for racing.

Between spells of treatment, Smarty Moonhak recuperated at Taepyeong Farm, the same place he had stayed when first imported to Korea. He returned to Seoul Race Park on July 4 and is now in the care of trainer Park Hui Cheol, his previous handler Ko Ok Bong having retired during his absence.

Reaction to his return has been mixed. There is happiness that the treatment has been successful but also a certain amount of acknowledgement that past experience tells us that Smarty Moonhak may not be the same horse he was before.

There have been instances of horses returning after long lay-offs. Baekgwang (The Groom Is Red) had 2 year-long absences, receiving a similar kind of stem-cell treatment during the second one. He returned – and won a class 1 race – but was retired shortly after.

Then there have been those who have returned to the track but never made it to racing. J.S Hold (Ft. Stockton) was injured as he won the final leg of the 2007 Korean Triple Crown. He returned to training nearly a year later but never made it onto the course.

While he has been seen on the track in the mornings, Smarty Moonhak is yet to put in a timed-work. His next step is to be entered for a race-trial so he can re-qualify to race. Then and only then can he be entered for real.

Connections have assured racing fans that they wouldn’t have brought him back if it wasn’t safe to do so and he will be returned to Taepyeong to begin his Stud career if anything changes. He won’t race unless they are convinced he will do himself justice.

Welcome back, Smarty Moonhak. Be safe.

Watch: Smarty Moonhak as a 2-year old destroying a field of older horses in the TJK Trophy in 2011:

Japan’s Kurakane Riding High Again At Seoul

They say you should never go back, but Ikuyasu Kurakane’s second stint at Seoul Racecourse is shaping up to be just as good – and maybe even better – than his first.

Ikuyasu Kurakane is into his second successful stint at Seoul Race Park

Ikuyasu Kurakane is into his second successful stint at Seoul Race Park

Japanese jockey Kurakane first rode at Seoul in 2007 and spent nearly 18 months in Korea, riding both in the capital and at Busan, scoring 106 winners in all.

He returned at the beginning of April this year and has quickly become the hardest working man at the track, riding in 188 races since – no mean feat when there are only 2 race meetings a week.

The horses he’s been riding haven’t necessarily been the best and it is rare for Kurakane to get on a favourite, however, this past weekend the 38-year-old partnered 5 different horses to victory. It takes him up to 22 since his return and puts him in 8th place in the 2013 jockeys’ championship.

Shortly before returning to Korea, Kurakane rode his 1500th winner in Japan. Prize-money and lifestyle in Korea is such though that there is plenty of competition among Japanese jockeys to ride here and many apply to return after they leave.

It does take a certain kind of jockey to succeed in what is a harsh weighing room environment for foreign jockeys and the workaholic Kurakane, who rides a full lot of trackwork every morning and never turns down a mount, fits it exactly.

In the winner's circle: Ikuyasu has been in it more times than any other foreign rider at Seoul

In the winner’s circle: Ikuyasu has been in it more times than any other foreign rider at Seoul

While Japanese jockeys find things much easier than western riders, there have still been as many who haven’t been a success than have. At semi-foreigner friendly Busan, Toshio Uchida and Joe Fujii have, a couple of years apart, both become the track’s top rider. At Seoul, Ikuyasu has been the only one to break through to the top-tier of jockeys.

Currently there are 5 foreign jockeys licensed in Korea. Britain’s Darryll Holland – with 9 wins to his name so far – is the only non-Japanese. Another Japanese rider will start at Busan this month.

Meanwhile in foreign training terms, there really is only one Peter Wolsley. The remarkable Australian is closing in on 200 Korean winners and made it 190 on Sunday afternoon when Cheongchun Bulpae (Milwaukee Brew) took the first of Busan’s co-feature races.

Fly Top Queen Wins Easily On Debut

Fly Top Queen may have kept us waiting for over a year but the most expensive racehorse ever to be imported to Korean didn’t disappoint when she finally made her debut at Seoul Race Park today.

While the morning tip-sheets were sceptical, punters sent Fly Top Queen off as the odds-on favourite and it was the punters who were proved correct as the 3-year-old filly led from gate to wire for a 5-length win.

Fly Top Queen [Henny Hughes – Cape Discovery (Cape Town)] was a $225,000 purchase out of the Ocala Spring Sale last April, shortly after the KRA lifted the $70,000 limit that Korean buyers were previously restricted to spending on imported fillies.

Jo Chan Hoon Represents Korea In Malaysia

Busan based jockey Jo Chan Hoon is in Kuala Lumpur to represent Korea in this weekend’s Selangor Turf Club Australasian Racing Bloodstock International Jockeys Championship.

Jo Chan Hoon, who rides at the Selangor Turf Club this weekend, winning the 2008 Korean Oaks on Jeolho Chance

Jo Chan Hoon, who rides at the Selangor Turf Club this weekend, winning the 2008 Korean Oaks on Jeolho Chance

The contest, which coincides with the Selangor club hosting an International Racing Carnival, features 13 jockeys competing over 6 races.

Joao Moreira, currently far and away the top jockey in Singapore, heads the line-up of international invites while well-known Australian jockeys Stephan Baster and Noel Callow are also taking part. Greg Cheyne, who raced in the Seoul International Jockey Challenge a few years ago, will represent South Africa.

35-year old Jo qualified as a jockey in 2003 at Seoul Race Park and moved to Busan upon its opening. He has 276 career wins, the highlight of which was the 2008 Korean Oaks on Jeolho Chance, as he gamely tells Selangor Turf Club TV in English here:

More information, including racecards, at the Selangor Turf Club website.

Charming Girl Enters Record Books With 96th Consecutive Defeat

On Sunday afternoon at Seoul Race Park, Charming Girl was saddled up, led around the paddock and cantered down to the start of race 6, a 7-furlong class 4 event for Korean-bred horses. Then, just as had happened on all of the 95 previous times she had gone through this process, she entered the starting gate, ran as fast as she could and was beaten.

Charming Girl with owner Byun Young Nam after her 96th defeat. Jockey Yoo Mi Ra, who has ridden her 76 times, looks on (KRA)

Charming Girl with owner Byun Young Nam after her 96th defeat. Jockey Yoo Mi Ra, who has ridden her 76 times, looks on

In finishing 9th of 11 and taking that sequence to 96, Charming Girl broke the Korean record for longest consecutive losing streak. The previous holder of this dubious honour was a New Zealand bred gelding named Dang Naru (Ivory Hunter), who went through his whole career of 95 runs without a victory between 1995 and 2000.

Dang Naru did, however, manage to record one 2nd place finish. Charming Girl’s best finish is 3rd, a position she has achieved on eight occasions.

Charming Girl [Pacific Bounty – Tweddles (Golden Juggler)] made her racecourse debut in January 2008, finishing 10th of 12. She would perform in similar fashion for much of the year, until in October, she broke into the money for the first time, with a 3rd place finish over 6 furlongs. Two months earlier, she had been ridden for the first time by newly qualified apprentice jockey Yoo Mi Ra. Yoo has since ridden her on a further 75 occasions which works out as almost exactly 10% of her total rides to date. It is no coincidence that her win ratio is one of the lowest of all jockeys at Seoul.

Indeed, just as Yoo Mi Ra’s figures do not necessarily do her justice, so Charming Girl is not a terrible racehorse. However, under Korea’s strict class rating system, horses who are talented to a certain extent but reach their limit, have nowhere to go. Once a horse goes up on class, they can never be dropped down again. Over the course of her career, Charming Girl has managed to amass enough prize money – around US $50,000 to date – to be promoted first to class 5 and then to class 4 where she remains. Not fast enough to win, but never able to return to a lower level where she might be competitive.

It is a system that does provide extra security for betting integrity and for ensuring that the majority of uncompetitive horses are retired but it is also one that leaves many racehorses facing an uncertain future once they have reached a level where it is impossible for them to win.

Charming Girl crosses the line at the end of her 96th defeat

Charming Girl crosses the line at the end of her 96th defeat

Charming Girl won’t have any problems. Her owner Byun Young Nam thinks the world of her and has announced his intention to keep running her so long as she is sound – and with no injuries or illness in five years, she perhaps is the soundest horse at the track – with a comfortable retirement to look forward too. Byun was on hand in the unsaddling enclosure after Sunday’s race to welcome his mare back and to pose for pictures.

In Korea especially where purses are high but ownership isn’t something to show off in polite society, racing is about winning. Charming Girl’s career has been about anything other than winning. In 2011, with 60 defeats already under her belt she, alongside the vastly more successful mare Luna, who nearly died aged 2 before coming back from injury to win several Stakes races, was featured in a campaign to promote ownership. The message owner Byun was passing on was that you don’t have to win to have fun.

If every horse was like Charming Girl, we wouldn’t have much of a sport, however, having been a popular fixture of the Seoul track for the past 5 years, she deserved her moment in the spotlight on Sunday. She should break the 100 by the end of summer.

K Pop Becomes 1st Korean Export Winner in Malaysia

K Pop (Vicar) came home on top in race 5 at the Penang Turf Club in Malaysia last Saturday to become the first Korean bred horse to win a race in that country and in the process record an important milestone for the Korean breeding industry.

Journey Ends in Winner's Circle - K Pop on his way to export in 2011 (KRA)

Journey Ends in Winner’s Circle – K Pop on his way to export in 2011 (KRA)

A 4-year old gelding, K Pop was one of three horses exported from Korea to Malaysia in 2011. They were followed by six more in 2012. K Pop was making his 5th start and had one previous 2nd place finish to his name before last Saturday’s win. His time was 4 seconds quicker than the Seoul Racecourse record for the same distance of 1700 metres although it was on turf.

The KRA began its breeding program in the early 1990’s, however, the three sent to Malaysia in 2011 were the first to be commercially exported. The KRA has set a target of 50 horses per year to be exported by 2020, primarily to Macau and Malaysia, however the long-term goal is to break into the potentially huge market of the gargantuan neighbour to the West of the Korean peninsula.

Last year, Feel So Good (Ft.Stockton) became the first Korean bred horse to win a race in the United States. However, like a number of Korean horses each year, he had been sent there for training purposes and was brought home shortly afterwards.

K Pop is different and many involved in the breeding industry here will have been celebrating his win. As for K Pop himself, he celebrated breaking his maiden by promptly dumping his apprentice jockey onto the track as soon as they crossed the line.

Summer K-Pop Performances Announced – Sistar at Seoul Racecourse on Derby Day

The KRA is sticking with Girl Groups for its K-Pop fix this year – they know their market well. Sistar are the biggest name and will be performing a “mini-concert” (i.e. 3 songs) at Seoul Racecourse on Korean Derby Day on May 19.

A K-Pop girl group will be at Seoul Racecourse every Sunday until November

A K-Pop girl group will be at Seoul Racecourse every Sunday until November

Here is a full list of who is appearing when. Some are well-known, others…less so (final schedule may change and will be confirmed at the beginning of each month:

May 12: Goddess
May 19: Sistar
May 26: Tiny G
June 2: Heart Rabbit Girls
June 9: Aurora
June 16: Purplay
June 23: Kim So Jung
June 30: SPICA
July 7: Peernine
July 14: Sunny Days
July 21: Fresh
July 28: T Angel
August 4: Fiesta
August 11: Brave Girls
August 18: TBC
August 25: AB
September 1: TBC
September 8: Wind Hold Venus
September 15: Gangkiz
September 29: Swincle
October 6: Stellar
October 13: Two X
October 20: Tahiti
October 27: Jewelry
November 3: T Angel
November 10: Ladies’ Code

Racehorse and Car Shown Up by University Runner in Seoul Novelty Race

Seoul Race Park’s novelty race on Owners’ Cup day between an athlete, a racehorse and an off-road Sports buggy, ended in an unexpected win for the human.

Gyeongbuk University student Lee Jae Ha on his way to beating a horse and a car at Seoul Race Park on Sunday.

Gyeongbuk University student Lee Jae Ha on his way to beating a horse and a car at Seoul Race Park on Sunday.

Gyongbuk University student Lee Jae Ha, who started the handicap race at the furlong pole, could have had his feet up with a big cigar by the time the slow starting buggy crossed the line in second, trailing a sandstorm in its wake, with the horse back in third. Lee, running on a length of matting that was stretched for 200 metres over the deep sand of the home straight, finished the race in 25.43 seconds.

The buggy completed its 450 metres in 26.32 seconds while the racehorse, an 8-year-old mare called Blessed (The Groom Is Red) took 28.43 seconds to complete 400 metres having been very slow out of the gate. Jockey Lee Gi Hweoi rode the mare who was actually retired from racing in 2010 and has been retrained as a recreational horse so perhaps wasn’t in peak race condition.

Throughout the day, punters had been able to “vote” on which they thought would win with all those correctly picking the human (significantly fewer than those who went for the other two options) being entered into a prize draw.

The event was part of the KRA’s push to get more people into the track and coincided with a special “Beginners and Couples Zone” opening on the first floor of the grandstand. More on that shortly.

Owners’ Cup: Feel So Good vs Jigeum I Sungan

Feel So Good, who became the first ever Korean bred horse to win a race in the United States, steps up to Stakes level this weekend and runs smack bang into 2012 Korean Derby winner Jigeum I Sungan in the Owners’ Association Trophy at Seoul Race Park this Sunday.

Feel So Good: 3 from 3, faces Jigeum I Sungan in the Owners' Trophy

Feel So Good: 3 from 3, faces Jigeum I Sungan in the Owners’ Trophy

It is a mouth-watering clash. Jigeum I Sungan has appeared to get better and better since his Derby triumph nearly a year ago while Feel So Good hasn’t been troubled in his three Korean starts to date. Both colts are 4-years-old and while Jigeum I Sungam definitely prefers lengthier challenges, it is still set to be a great occasion.

Here is the full list of runners and riders:

Owners’ Association Trophy – Seoul Race Park – 1400M – April 21, 2013

1. Sobaengnyeong (KOR) [War Zone-Sobaeksu (Mr. Adorable)] 6 G (23/5/3/2) – Park Tae Jong
2. Feel So Good (KOR) [Ft. Stockton-Courting Dreams (Eastover Court)] 4 G (3/3/0/0) – Kim Ok Sung
3. Special Win (KOR) [Tahamkke-Wellbeing Cat (Creek Cat)] 5 H (24/9/4/1) – Kim Hae Sun
4. Jeumeundeungi (KOR) [War Zone-Taraxacum (Meadowlake)] 6 H (31/5/4/2) – Lee Joon Chel
5. Jangbi Sarang (KOR) [Distilled-Kissin Kim (Our Michael)] 7 G (41/5/6/4) – Choi Bum Hyun
6. Geuma Champ (KOR) [Vicar-Stormcloudrising (Stormy Atlantic)] 5 H (21/7/6/4) – Ham Wan Sik
7. Global Fusion (KOR) [Menifee-Morning Red Sky (Chisos)] 4 C (16/6/1/1) – Cho Kyoung Ho
8. Yeongung Icheon (KOR) [Concept Win-Saratogasplash (Wild Again)] 5 H (23/6/4/3) – Moon Jung Kyun
9. Jigeum I Sungan (KOR) [Ingrandire-Solmaru (Mujaazif)] 4 C (18/9/6/1) – Moon Se Young
10. New And Best (KOR) [Trick Of Fate-Yeongeonch-eon (Phizam)] 6 H (43/4/5/2) – Yukio Abe
11. Yajeonsaryeongbu (KOR) [Vicar-Zabella (Zabeel)] 5 H (22/7/1/0) – Ikuyasu Kurakane

Seoul Plans Car vs Horse vs Athlete Race For Owners’ Cup Day

Sunday sees the Seoul Owners’ Association Trophy take centre stage with current hottest property in Korean racing Feel So Good likely to make his Stakes racing debut.

Man Vs Horse Vs Machine at Seoul

Man Vs Horse Vs Machine at Seoul

On the same afternoon, however, the KRA has decided to host a slightly different contest in the shape of a horse vs car vs runner race.

The horse will be an 8-year old mare called Blessed (The Groom Is Red), who won 2 of her 30 starts before being retired and retrained as a riding horse in 2010. She will start at the 2 furlong pole along with a “Premium SUV”. Given a furlong’s head-start will be 22-year-old athlete Lee Jae Ha of Gyeongbuk University.

The KRA isn’t offering betting on the event but instead is inviting people to “vote” on its website for who they think will win with all successful votes being entered into a prize draw (which sounds suspiciously similar to the way legal “gambling” on Chinese horse races happens). With the stunt being given some coverage in local media and being held on a weekend where the cherry blossoms are likely to be out around the track, the KRA hopes to get more casual racegoers along.