News

Forest Camp Colt Tops Jeju Sale

A colt by Forest Camp and out of the With Approval mare Fully Approved, fetched the highest bid at last week’s Jeju May Two-Year old Sale. The colt – called Myeongun Jewang – was bought for 130 Million Korean Won, a price which broke the sale record set last year by Exploit colt Champion Belt who was fourth in this year’s Korean Derby.

This Forest Camp colt topped the Jeju May 2yo Sale (Pic: Korea Racing Journal)

Forest Camp arrived in Korea in late 2007 and this year will see his first crop of two-year olds reach the racecourse. Fetching the second highest amount was a colt out of the mare Byenne (Jambalaya Jazz) who was in foal to Jump Start when she was imported to Korea in December 2008.

There were no fillies among the top ten lots and only two in the twenty. Menifee was the only sire represented more than once in the top ten which was as follows:

Sex – Pedigree – Sale Price – Seller – Buyer (Racecourse)
1 U.S. dollar = 1 082 South Korean won (June 7, 2011)

1. Colt [Forest Camp – Fully Approved (With Approval)] – 130,000,000 – Korea Horse Land – Kim Pyeong Kap (Busan)
2. Colt [Jump Start – Byenne (Jambalaya Jazz)] – 90,000,000 – Horse & Agriculture Co-op – Kim Taek Soo Busan/Seoul)
3. Colt [Menifee – Star Billing (Quest For Fame)] – 61,000,000 – Kim Soon Gon – Park Jae Beom (Seoul)
4. Colt [Menifee – Island Maiden (General Silver)] – 55,000,000 – Korea Horse Land – Jangsu County (Seoul)
5. Colt [Vicar – Prada (El Prado)] – 50,000,000 – KRA – Lee Joon Geol (Busan)
6. Colt [The Daddy – Nikki’s Nightmare (Dixieland Band)] – 50,000,000 – Choi Jong Bok – Woobin Leisure (Seoul
7. Colt [Pico Central – Shagoof (Diesis)] – 49,500,000 – Kim Chae Hyoung – Jangsu County (Seoul)
8. Colt [Exploit – Dixie Humor (Distorted Humor) – 40,500,000 – KRA – Jo Young Ja (Busan)
9. Colt [Archer City Slew – Bar Room Hit (Singh America)] – 40,000,000 – KRA – Lee Sun Ho (Seoul)
10. Colt [Biwa Shinseiki – Catcom (Catrail)] – 39,500,000 – KRA – Choi Byoung Kwan (Seoul

Source: Korea Racing Journal

As ever, full details on all horses in Korea for both racing and breeding can be found online in the Korean Studbook. meanwhile, Fallight has a number of official appearance videos by Korean based stallions on his Youtube channel.

Delago Brom, Air Shady Join K-Stallion Ranks

May is traditionally a busy season for Korean buyers at overseas racehorse sales. This year, however, the nation’s equine shoppers have also returned home with additions to the peninsula’s breeding stock in the shape of established Australian sire Delago Brom and recently retired superstar Japanese racehorse Air Shady.

Delago Brom on Aussie Guineas Day 2003 (Pic: Ross Holburt)

Delago Brom [Encosta De Lago – Brompton Cross (El Qahira)] only raced ten times but among his four wins was the 2003 Australian 2000 Guineas. An A$80,000 purchase at the Inglis Great Southern Bloodstock Sale in Melbourne, he’ll be standing on Jeju Island for the 2012 breeding season. Among the small number of Delago Brom’s progeny who are racing in Korea, the most successful is four-year old Dudeurim who has four wins from fourteen starts. Delago Brom is a very welcome Australian addition to the US dominated sire-ranks in Korea.

Aussie based owner and drinking buddy friend of the blog Ross Holburt, who owns Delago Brom three-year old Delago’s Lad who is being pointed towards the Australian Spring Classics later this year thinks Delago Brom is an ideal sire for Korea “they tend to be one paced but tough…I think the sand will suit them down to the ground.”

Joining Delago Brom in Korea will be Japanese born Air Shady. Son of the legendary Sunday Silence, Air Shady [Sunday Silence – Air Deja Vu (Northern Taste)] was officially retired from racing in Japan only two weeks ago.

Air Shady (Pic: Kazushi Ishida)

His early racing years were blighted by injury and it was not until he was seven years old that he won his first Group race but, with his six-year career, Air Shady became one of the most popular racehorses in Japan in recent times. It will be fascinating to see what kind of mares get sent to Air Shady and whether he can repeat the success of fellow Japanese sire Meisei Opera who, despite being totally unheralded, sired this year’s KRA Cup Mile winner Soseuldaemun.

While Delago Brom and Air Shady are, along with Officer, the highest profile recent additions to the stallion ranks, a number of racehorses have been retired to stud so far this year. New Korean bred sires are Nice Choice (Lost Mountain), Money Car (Newsprint) Secret Weapon (Native Regent) and Rainmaker (Revere). Secret Weapon is potentially the first second generation Korean stallion. Foreign bred horses retired from the track to stud are Angle Slam (Gold Case), Angus Empire (Lion Cavern) and Florida Native (Kissin Kris). Additionally, Colors Flying (A.P. Indy) and Limitless Bid (Sunday Silence) have been imported from the US and Japan respectively.

* Picture of Delago Brom is by Ross Holburt of the inimitable Slickpix while that of Air Shady is by Ishida Kazushi of the HimawariKazushi racing blog.

K-League Scandal Puts Betting Under Spotlight

Just when it looked like it couldn’t get any more depressing, the K-League “Match-Fixing” saga did just that today as a second footballer linked to the fixing of professional football matches in Korea was found dead at a hotel in Seoul. Jung Jong Kwan of K3 side Seoul United, and formerly of K-Leauge outfit Jeonbuk Motors, wrote in an apparent suicide note that he was a broker involved in the fixing of matches.

Seoul United, Jung Jong Kwan's last team, play Cheonan City in this match from last year's semi-pro K3 League. The yellow advertising board is for Sports Toto

So far, five players have been arrested and the affair is also thought to have led to another player, Incheon United goalkeeper Yoon Gi Won, taking his own life earlier this month (although Yoon’s death is yet to be formally linked to match-fixing). No mater how it plays out, it is clear that for all aficionados of Korean professional Sport and especially those who enjoy the occasional (legal) punt, things are not going to be the same for a very long time.

Betting on football matches in Korea is legal through a quasi-governmental organisation called Sports Toto but it is far from clear as to whether the fixing – which has been confirmed to include a match between Daejeon Citizen and Pohang Steelers in the League Cup (equivalent to the English Carling Cup) earlier this season – involved was designed to benefit bets wagered on correct score betting on the Toto or on illegal markets. See this thread on the Rokfootball.com forum for an excellent summary of the situation and hypothesis on how the fix may have happened.

The K-League has two types of clubs. The first type are the corporate-owned ones; FC Seoul (LG/GS), Suwon Bluewings (Samsung), Jeonbuk Motors, Ulsan Tigers & Busan I’ Park (all various incarnations of Hyundai), Jeju United (SK) and Pohang Steelers (POSCO). Also included in this group is Seongnam Ilhwa, owned by the Unification Church of Reverend Moon Sun Myung (better known as “The Moonies”). The others are “Citizen” teams, without a large backer. Without the financial clout of their rivals they are unable to offer big salaries and usually make up the also-rans in the K-League championship. All players implicated so far have been members of Citizen clubs. Just as in racing in Korea, the gangs know who to target.

Worse still there are rumours that K-League clubs knew exactly what was going on but opted to quietly terminate the contracts of players they knew to be involved in accepting bribes. If true, this is potentially devastating both for the K-League and for legal betting in Korea. The National Gaming Control Commission do not miss a trick in their war on legal gambling. The K-League has asked Sports Toto to remove its matches from its products, at least for the forseeable future. This is dangerous. Once this happens, organised crime will once more hold the monopoly over football betting in Korea, just as they do over off-track horse racing betting in many parts of the country since the enforced closure of the KRA’s “K-Netz” internet and telephone betting service.

Two men are dead and others are languishing behind bars. It’s both a human and a sporting tragedy. But it is not the fault of Sports Toto. As long as competition occurs, there will be those who will find a way to bet on it. Making the legal means to do so as attractive as possible is to everyone’s benefit.

Wright Move

After six years officiating for the KRA at its Seoul and Busan Racecourses, Australian Brett Wright is returning to his homeland to take up a position with Racing Victoria. Wright was behind the binoculars for the last time in Korea at Busan’s meeting this past Sunday.

Brett Wright (Pic: Korean Racing Journal)

After joining the Racing Office of the Australian Jockey Club in Sydney in 1979, Wright eventually became a steward and, after 21 years’ service in Australia took up a position in Macau in 2000 where he would stay for four years until coming to Korea to take up a position as stipendiary Steward and “Special Consultant on Racing Issues” with the KRA – a position that was created as part of the KRA’s “Internationalization” program.

During his time in Korea, Wright was on the panel at Seoul Race Park before transferring to Busan where he became Chief Steward in late 2008. While the rest of the internationalization program is still in its infancy, Wright – joined later on by fellow Australian, the late James Perry – has nevertheless been instrumental in a number of initiatives that have helped racing here develop.

Tangible developments such as the introduction of new equipment – pacifiers being the best example – and the production of English language stewards’ reports are the most obvious. However, behind the scenes progress in terms of welfare issues, bringing rules – including those related to use of the whip – more in line with international standards and generally assisting in raising the standard of stewarding in Korea, will perhaps be considered more important achievements of his tenure in the long-term.

With Brett Wright’s departure, it leaves James Smith at Seoul as the only foreign steward on the peninsula. However, Wright will be replaced with hiring of a new steward – most likely American this time – for Busan currently in its final stages. Busan will also recruit a foreign Handicapper.

Horse Racing in Korea wishes Brett Wright and family all the best in Australia.

Aussie Trainer Peter Wolsley Saddles 100th Korean Winner

While jockey Jo In Kwen reached 100 winners in the saddle yesterday, at Busan last Friday it was one of those doing the saddling who reached the same milestone.

Peter Wolsley (Pic: Herald Media)

Peter Wolsley became Korea’s first ever foreign trainer when he was granted a license at the end of 2007. On Friday afternoon, Wolsley’s three-year old colt King Austin grabbed a two-length win in race 7 to give the Australian his 100th Korean victory. He didn’t have to wait very long for his 101st either as his Saeroun Taeyang scored in the feature event of the afternoon two races later.

Fittingly, King Austin (Yehudi) is owned by Isidore Farm, the Jeju Island institution that has been, along with fellow foreign influenced Jeju outfit Pegasus, Wolsley’s biggest supporter. The 48-year-old has 33 horses under his care, including seven who compete at class 1, the elite level of Korean racing. It hasn’t always been this way.

On arrival in Korea from his previous posting in Dubai, Wolsley was assigned the “breakdown barn” at Busan Race Park. In common with the majority of foreign jockeys who come to ride here, he got the horses no-one else wanted. It didn’t make for a very rewarding start to his time here but the trainer stuck at it and gradually started grinding out some modest successes. Others began to take note and eventually he started to receive some better horses.

The Numbers Don't Lie: Wolsley is arguably the track's top trainer right now

Perhaps the turning point came in late 2008. Wolsley had been pushing for pacifiers (mesh eye-protectors used to prevent sand getting in the eyes of the horse) to be allowed to be fitted during races – a cause also taken up by his countryman, steward, Brett Wright – and in October of that year, they were finally approved by the KRA. The next month, his mare Gyeongcheonsa became the first racehorse in Korea to run with them and she flew home at odds of 19/1. One race later, his colt Khaosan, also decked out in pacifiers and starting at similarly attractive odds, came from last to second in the home straight.

How would the local trainers respond? To their credit, instead of trying to get them banned again, the majority realised that Wolsley knew what he was talking about and started using them with horses who hated the vicious kickback that is inevitable on the sand track. Now pacifiers, which are compulsory in some jurisdictions which race on sand, are commonplace – both Mister Park, Korea’s current best horse, and Tough Win, the second best, always wear them in their races. More and better horses started to arrive in Wolsley’s barn and winners swiftly followed.

Wolsley's Protege Park Geum Man in the Derby Winner's Circle

Wolsley has also acted as mentor, specifically to jockey Park Geum Man who was his stable jockey for two years. In that time, Park developed into one of Busan’s – and Korea’s – most tactically aware and skilful jockeys. Wolsley told the Korea Herald last year that Park’s victory on Cheonnyeon Daero in the Korean Derby in 2010 – albeit for a different trainer – is his proudest moment in Korea so far.

Wolsley and Park have now gone their separate ways and Kim Nam Sung is the latest jockey to benefit from Wolsley’s guidance.

With 100 wins in the bank there remains one more challenge for Peter Wolsley. He still needs to become the first foreign trainer to saddle a Stakes winner. He has no horse on the Triple Crown trail this year but, now he’s established as one of the track’s top trainers, it can only be a matter of time.

Peter Wolsley is an example of the KRA’s internationalization plan working. Many trainers around the world will have won more races and far more money. But few can genuinely claim to have come to a place and actually made racing better. That is what he has done.

A Tale Of Two Sisters

Plum Pretty is America’s Champion Three-Year old filly, but her older half-sister helps beginners learn how to ride at an Equestrian Club in Korea.

Korean racing fans were a little bemused to watch Plum Pretty bravely hang on in the final furlong at Churchill Downs on Friday to win the Kentucky Oaks. For Plum Pretty (Medaglia D’Oro) is the fourth foal out of a dam called Liszy. And in 2006, Liszy (A.P. Indy) gave birth to a filly by More Than Ready (Southern Halo).

In December the following year, that filly would go through the Fasig-Tipton Midatlantic December Mixed sale and, at a knock-down price, be purchased by a Korean buyer. A month later, in January 2008, she arrived for her new life in Korea.

The filly was bought by Kumak Farm and was named Taeyangui Mabeopsa – or “Magic of the Sun.” She was sent to Seoul Race Park and the barn of trainer Kim Myung Guk. Although not especially impressive in trials, by September of that year she was considered ready to race and made her debut in race 2 on the 28th of that month.

Ridden by Choi Bum Hyun, she was sent off at 35/1 and ran to expectations finishing seventh of twelve over five furlongs. That would set the standard for her next couple of outings and on her fourth start she finished so far behind the winner, she was banned from racing from two months for being uncompetitive.

Taeyangui Mabeopsa given the KRA Studbook treatment (Pic: KRA)

On her return in March 2009, things improved. Now in the ownership of Kim Gwang Young and under American jockey Santos Chavez in another five furlong race, she finished fourth, gaining her first money finish. Two races later and stepping up to six furlongs, she would finish third. This was a position she would go on to achieve three more times for a third owner, Koo Bon Soon, over the next couple of years, but Taeyangui Mabeopsa never won a race and never made it out of class 4 racing – the lowest for imported horses.

She ran at Seoul for the final time in January of this year, finishing tenth of twelve in her thirty-second outing. Owner Koo decided that she was unlikely to add to the 21 Million Korean won (about US$20K) she had won and retired her from racing. She was transferred to the Namyang Riding Club, an equestrian club in Gyeonggi Province, 75 miles south-west of Seoul, an organisation that retrains former racehorses as riding horses.

Once re-trained, the horses are used for various leisure activities while the club is also well-known for appearing in many Korean movies and TV Dramas.

Taeyangui Mabeopsa is in good company. Among many recently retired from the track, Namyang recently took possession of Seonbongbulpae, Korea’s champion juvenile of 2009 who also ran his last race earlier this year. As a Korean born colt, Seonbongbulpae had no stud value. Likewise, Taeyangui Mabeopsa hadn’t been deemed worthy of broodmare duties.

After what happened in Louisville last Friday evening, she may well find herself called back to the farm.

H/T to Fallight for this story.

Korean Derby 2011: First Look At Contenders

D-13: Sixteen Remain in The Running For The Big One

We’re less than two weeks away from one of the highlights of the season. The 2011 Korean Derby, the second leg of the Triple Crown Series, takes place at Seoul Race Park on Sunday May 15. It’s Seoul vs Busan as the best three-year olds on the peninsula face one another for the prestige of being called the best of their generation. The President’s Cup may be more valuable and the Grand Prix more prestigious. But the world over, when you think of flat thoroughbred racing, you think of the Derby. So it is in Korea too

Who will follow Cheonnyeon Daero into the Korean Derby Winner's Circle?

Sixteen horses remain in the running at this stage although at least two of these will be cut before the final line-up is declared on the Thursday before the race to leave a maximum field size of fourteen. Nine are from Seoul and seven are from Busan.

Listed is the name, pedigree and race records. I’ve also taken a guess at the likely jockey; these should be quite accurate for the entrants from Seoul but given that there’s very little logic in who rides what at Busan at the best of times, I’d be surprised to get even two out of the possible seven correct!

As per Korean Derby rules, all entrants were both bred and foaled in Korea:

Korean Derby (KOR GI) – Seoul Race Park – 1800M – Sunday May 15, 2011

Seoul

Sun Hero [Menifee – Strategic Reward (Bold Revenue)] (9/4/2/1)
Winner of the Breeders’ Cup and therefore Champion Juvenile of 2010. He’s won over the Derby distance already this year but struggled to eighth place in the KRA Cup Mile. Likely Jockey: Moon Se Young

Prime Galloper [Strodes Creek – Apple G (Carson City)] (7/3/4/0)
One of the last foals of late sire Strodes Creek to reach the track, he’s been first or second in all his starts to date. Second in both his starts around two turns he’s finished slowly both times which may be a concern. Likely Jockey: Hwang Soon Do

Gwangyajeil [Vicar – Hurricane Havoc (Jade Robbery)] (6/4/0/0)
Didn’t go to the KRA Cup Mile and is yet to run over the Derby distance but has looked impressive in back to back recent wins. Will be fancied. Likely Jockey: Oh Kyoung Hoan

Kakamega [Gold Money – Daecheonpung (Fiercely)] (9/3/1/2)
One of the few to have a Korean bred dam so a win would be good for Korean racing. In the money in all his nine starts and has won at two turns. Likely Jockey: Moon Se Young is his regular rider and may pick him over Sun Hero. Park Byoung Yun has also ridden him twice but it coud go to a third jockey.

Yeongung Icheon [Concept Win – Saratogasplash (Wild Again)] (9/3/2/1)
A half-brother to 2009 Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup winner Yeongung Manse, he first came to attention by winning a race in a blizzard just before racing was abandoned for the day back in January. He’s certainly tough but isn’t proven around two turns and was beaten by filles Legal Lady and Ruby Queen last time out. Likely Jockey: Park Tae Jong

Geuma Champ [Vicar – Stormcloudrising (Stormy Atlantic)] (7/2/3/1)
A bit of a surprise entrant, he put in a strong performance when finishing second to four-year old Super Rich over the Derby distance in April looking impressive in the process, albeit in a slowly run race. Likely Jockey: Jung Ki Yong

Double Light [Menifee – Iruda (Glorify)] (8/3/3/1)
Second in the KRA Cup Mile, will be looking to go one better on his home track. Shouldn’t have a problem with the distance and will be well-fancied. Likely Jockey: Cho Kyoung Ho

Singgereounachim [Exploit – Singgereoun (Mr. Adorable)] (9/3/1/2)
Didn’t win as a two-year old but bounded into the Classic picture by beating then Triple Crown front-runner Ophelia back in February. Recovered from a disappointing run in the KRA Cup Mile by winning by ten lengths on his return this month. Will be among the favourites: Likely Jockey: Moon Jung Kyun rode him in his first few starts but Jo In Kwen has ridden him in his last three and would be the logical choice to keep the ride for the Derby.

Absolute [Commendable – Tai Chi (Quest For Fame)] (7/3/0/2)
An outsider and although he ran a solid third behind Yeongtap and Lucky Box in April, he’d need to improve a lot to challenge here. Likely Jockey: Park Byeong Yun has ridden him in every race so far.

Busan

Dongseo Jeongbeol [Vicar – Rendezvous Bay (Wonderloaf)] (6/3/1/0)
Won at the distance on Cup Mile day in April and, given past experience, no Busan horse who does that can be discounted. That said, there are better colts joining him on the trip north. Likely Jockey: In his six starts, he’s been ridden by five jockeys. Could be anyone. Lim Sung Sil is the only one to ride him twice.

World Winner [Yankee Victor – Wakired (Red Ransom)] (11/2/3/2)
He took ten races to break his maiden but then immediately followed it up with another win to get him his shot here. However, he’s never gone further than seven furlongs and has a lot to find to be in contention. Likely Jockey: If Jo Sung Gon can’t get on one of the others, he’ll probably ride this, Unless there’s more money to be made in the feature race back home at Busan on Derby day.

Soseuldaemun [Meisei Opera – This Ole Way (Vigors)] (10/3/3/1)
By virtue of winning the Cup Mile, he’s the one to aim at here. He wasn’t favourite that day and he possibly won’t be here either. Nevertheless, he’s the front-runner right now. Likely Jockey: While Eiki Nishimura was jocked off Sangseung Ilro two years ago after winning the Cup Mile on her, that’s unlikely to happen to Toshio Uchida. If he wants the ride, he’ll be on it.

Cheonji Horyeong [Buster’s Daydream – Sorority Jazz (Dixieland Band)] (9/2/3/1)
A full brother (I hate that phrase) to 2008 Derby winner Ebony Storm, he was fourth in the KRA Cup Mile. Untried at longer distances so a little bit of an unknown quantity. No-one thought Ebony Storm had the pedigree to get the distance so he started the Derby as the longest shot on the board, but we all know what happened during that downpour three years ago. If it rains, he’s worth a punt. Likely Jockey: Chae Gyu Jun

Useung Touch [Menifee – Jenny Tudor (Gulch)] (Filly) (6/3/1/1)
One of just two fillies entered, she was a shock third in the Breeders’ Cup last year when starting at 100/1. Continuing her form as a three-year old she was fifth in the KRA Cup Mile. Likely Jockey: Choi Si Dae

Daeseung Yegam [Silent Warrior – Tolp’ung-Yegam (Land Rush)] (10/3/1/1)
Hasn’t been seen since running a disappointing twelfth in the Cup Mile and was inconsistent before that. An outsider. Likely Jockey: Many have ridden him, Jo Chang Wook rode him in the Cup Mile.

Cyclone [Concept Win – Bakuachi (Debonair Roger)] (filly) (6/2/3/0)
The second filly, Cyclone has no form to speak of having never gone further than 1300 metres. It would be a major shock if she was to feature. Likely Jockey: Jo Sung Gon has ridden her to both of her victories although it’s questionable as to whether he would come all the way to Seoul if he was to be riding her in the Derby. Unless they know something I don’t – which is highly possible…

Much more to come on the Derby over the next two weeks!

Punters Stub Out as Seoul Goes Smoke-Free

Though a non-smoker himself – drinking and gambling filling up the vice quotient quite nicely – Gyongmaman is generally of the opinion that when a gent has had a punt, he should be allowed a smoke while he waits for its outcome. A kind of courtesy to the condemned, as it were. However, get 50,000 smokers in one place and even outside, that place becomes pretty unpleasant.

Sight for sore eyes (and lungs): Signs like this one by the paddock, are popping up all over the track

Of course, the inside of the buildings at Seoul Race Park have always been no-smoking. However, set foot outside and its a different story; thick smoke in the air and a fine layer of ash over every surface doesn’t make for the most attractive of environments. Actually it’s not a fine layer – on the second floor balcony of the grandstand, the ash has to be swept away by a team of cleaners between each race. It’s not nice. As the KRA seeks to broaden racing’s appeal, the smoking and the resulting spitting is seen as something that deters first time visitors from coming back. Now, it’s doing something about it.

It started during the swine flu panic in 2009 when various fairs and festivals up and down the country were being cancelled with the threat of disease transmission being cited. Of course, the cynic may suggest that “swine flu” was a convenient excuse for organisers to not go ahead with loss-making events, but the fact remained that racing – the largest weekly gathering of people in Korea – was under threat. At the time, the KRA launched an “anti-spitting” policy. Simultaneously, they began plans to gradually ween punters off cigarettes.

The infield Family Park was the first to go smoke free, followed last year by the covered walkway leading from the subway station to the track entrance. Earlier this month, staff started instructing punters sitting by the paddock to stub out their cigarettes and last week signs went up confirming that smoking by the paddock was no longer permitted. Signs have also gone up announcing that from May, the second and third floor balconies overlooking the track, as well as down by the rail, will also become smoke-free.

Smoking zones remain both inside and outside; on every floor of both grandstands there are smoking rooms and these will stay, however, the idea is to allow people to watch the horses without having to worry about smoke, ash and spittle. Hopefully they’ll come back and, just as importantly, when asked what they thought about their visit to the track, the first thing they mention won’t be about how shocked they were at all the smoke.

* Today’s feature race at Seoul was won by filly Cheonun. The four-year old hit the line at just the right time to snatch victory away from pre-race favourite Hongji by a nose.

Tomorrow sees Tough Win (Yonaguska) headlining at Seoul. The four-year old US import with ten wins from twelve starts to his name will carry 62 kilos in the feature handicap. Meanwhile down at Busan, the unbeaten filly Bulkkot Gisang (Langfuhr) makes her class 1 debut. The three-year old will be looking for her eighth consecutive win.

Sunday April 24

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 11:10 to 18:00
Busan Race Park: 6 races from 12:30 to 17:00

Fall Ends Time at Busan for Yoshi Aoki

Japanese rider in hospital after bad fall during race

Japanese jockey Yoshi Aoki suffered a bad fall at Busan this afternoon to bring a premature end to his second spell in Korea. The 34-year-old is in hospital with a punctured lung and a number of broken ribs after being thrown from his mount shortly after the start of race 5.

Yoshi Aoki

Aoki was due to leave Korea at the end of this month as had been riding outside of his native Japan for so long that his license there was about to expire. It was for similar licensing reasons that Toshio Uchida had to cut short his first stint in Korea.

Aoki first arrived in Korea in 2009 for a short stint at Seoul Race Park. Like everyone other foreign rider before and since, he found it hard going in the capital riding just two winners before departing at the end of his three-month license. He made an impression off the track though, memorably interrupting an interview with then Jockey Union President Kim Dong Kyun while wearing a rubber horse’s head during the KRA’s annual “Punters vs Jockeys” Sports Day. He returned to the peninsula in September last year, this time to the more welcoming Busan Race Park, where he has had much better success.

Primarily riding for Australian trainer Peter Wolsley (often on horses bred and owned by Pegasus and Isidore Farms – both Jeju outfits with a heavy foreign influence) he recorded 21 winners from 165 rides. Fittingly, today he won race 4 – the race prior to his fall – on Wolsley and Isidore Farm’s Yehudi Kkot (Yehudi).

With Hitomi Miyashita also leaving Busan this week it leaves Mr Pink, Toshio Uchida as the sole foreign rider at the track. Hiro Hamada and the injured Mai Beppu are at Seoul. Tonight, thoughts are with Yoshi Aoki for as speedy as possible a recovery from what was a very nasty fall and hopes that one day, he may return to Korea.

Hitomi Heads Home

Hitomi Miyashita has given up her Korean Jockey license to return to her native Japan. The 34-year-old has spent the last 18 months riding at the Busan Race Park. She has cited personal reasons for her departure.

Going: Hitomi Miyashita

Hitomi first rode in Korea in the International Lady Jockey Invitation race on Korean Oaks day in August 2009. She ended up victorious, partnering Ima Firecracker to a narrow victory. She returned to the track full-time in October of that year and quickly became one of the track’s top jockeys.

In her time in Korea, from 660 rides, Hitomi ride 55 winners and 66 seconds for a win strike rate of 8.3% and a quinella rate of 18.3% and a place rate of 29.5% and was very popular among racing fans on the peninsula. She made one appearance at Seoul Race Park in the Grand Prix Stakes in 2009.

Here is her win on Ima Firecracker in the International Lady Jockey Invitational in 2009:

For obvious reasons it’s a touchy subject but a lot of things changed at Busan after the suicide of jockey Park Jin Hee in March 2010. Hitomi was one of the jockeys who, along with fellow visiting riders Martin Wepner and Kunihisa Hirase was put in a very difficult position between the trainers and the local jockey union. The Union, which had not exactly gone out of its way to make foreign riders welcome, now expected them to join them in their battle certain trainers along with the rest of the jockeys. On the other side the trainers union, knowing the difficulties the foreign riders had had with the union, expected them to side with them

The trainers and jockeys eventually came to an understanding with the foreign riders caught in a figurative no-man’s land. Wepner and Hirase quickly left while Hitomi stayed on and continued to try her hardest. It may have been coincidence, but never again though did she find herself on either the quality or quantity of horses she was on before and her strike rate declined accordingly. That she stuck things out and continued to ride winners is a credit to her talent and perseverance.

Hitomi’s departure leaves Busan with no female jockeys compared to five at Seoul and three with the pony racing colony on Jeju Island. Toshio Uchida and Yoshi Aoki continue to fly the flag successfully for Japan at Busan while Hiro Hamada and the currently injured Mai Beppu are at Seoul. There are currently no non-Japanese foreign jockeys in Korea.

We wish Hitomi the best for the next stage of her career.