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2009 – The Horses

Dongbanui Gangja ran seven times in 2009 and won seven times. Among those wins were an Owners’ Cup and his second Grand Prix. Currently untouchable at Seoul, he comfortably saw off those from Busan who dared to challenge him. By some distance, Dongbanui Gangja is our horse of the year.

Three year olds have had another mixed year. On the domestic front, Nice Choice eventually came good after a disappointing start to the year, his President’s Cup win over older horses the highlight. For the second year running, however, it was Busan horses who dominated the generation.

Namdo Jeap was second in the KRA Cup Mile and Korean Derby before going one better in the final leg of the Triple Crown. Like Nice Choice, Yeonseung Daero started the year with big expectations but only started living up to them late on in the campaign. In 2010, he more than others, will be the one to watch.

And then there was Sangseung Ilro. Overlooked by most before the Classics, the filly stormed to victory in the KRA Cup Mile at 16/1. Bizarrely, she remained unfancied for the Derby, which she proceeded to romp with ease.

Then it all went wrong. Sent off odds-on for the Oaks, she seemed all set for victory with a furlong to run, but tired to the extent that Pangpang managed to catch her. Diagnosed with a shin problem, she didn’t reappear until October when she made her bid for the Triple Crown in the Minister’s Cup at Seoul. Again she tired but bravely ran on for third place behind stablemate Namdo Jeap and Nice Choice.

With a disappointing reappearance last week, whether Sangseung Ilro returns in 2010 or follows 2008’s top filly Jeolho Chance, another plagued by injury, into the breeding shed, is still in doubt.

Those to have already had their careers prematurely ended by injury include Gangho and most notably, Playing Politics. The four-year old won six of his seven races and was considered a potential late season challenger to Dongbanui Gangja before he came back lame after easily winning what proved to be his final race in February.

Some old friends faded in 2009. Subsidy, Gayansanseong and Daiwa Arazi were retired while Golding, a stalwart of Busan since the track’s opening four years ago is in the way out. Meanwhile Subsidy’s great sparring partner Bally Brae was victorious early in the year but by the end of 2009, it was clear that his best days were behind him.

Feelgood story of the year is Baekgwang. Now six years old, the grey was champion three-year old in 2006 before suffering an injury that decimated his four-year old season and then flared up again in his only appearance in 2008. Following stem-cell treatment and a long period of recuperation, he came back in the SBS Cup in August. He ran fourth but went on to win two handicaps and finished second in the President’s Cup. In the unsentimental world of Korean racing, the sight of Baekgwang launching his home straight charge from the back of the field, just as he did three years ago.

Then there is the future. Seonbongbulpae, Northern Ace, Money Car and Night Moves caught the eye in the two-year old ranks this year. Will they push on in 2010? Who are those that we don’t know about yet but will have forced themselves into the Classic reckoning come May?

The road to the Derby is just days away. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at the four Classics of 2009:

1: The KRA Cup Mile – Busan, April 5: Sangseung Ilro stuns the colts by winning the first Classic:

2: The Korean Derby – Seoul, May 17: Sangseung Ilro again takes the honours to set up a possible Triple Crown:

3: The Korean Oaks – Busan, August 9: It’s Sangseung Ilro’s turn to be upset as Pangpang reels her in over the final furlong on a hot night in Busan:

4: The Minster of FAFF Cup – Seoul, October 12 – Namdo Jeap finally makes it to the Winners’ Circle, ending Sangseung Ilro’s hopes of emulating J.S.Hold in winning the Korean Triple Crown:

All these equine athletes become a year older on January 1. We will no doubt say goodbye to some in 2010 and meet a whole host of others for the first time. Wherever a horse is running next year, may it come home safely.

Didyme is Top Sire for 3rd Straight Year

Didyme is Leading Sire in Korea for the third year running. The nineteen year old was responsible for earnings approaching 3 Billion Won over the year, 200 Million Won more than nearest rival Concept Win whose filly, Sangseung Ilro claimed two legs of the Triple Crown. Revere was in third place.

Leading Sires in Korea 2009
Name/Pedigree/Earnings (Korean Won)/Win Rate/Chief Earner

1. Didyme (USA) [Dixieland Band – Soundings (Mr. Prospector)] – 2,961,105,000 – 13.1% – Areumdaun Jilju
2. Concept Win (USA) [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] – 2,799,694,000 – 8.2% – Sangseung Ilro
3. Revere (IRE) [Dancing Brave – Bint Pasha (Affirmed)] – 2,489,169,000 – 7.9% – Pangpang
4. Creek Cat (USA) [Storm Cat – Vivano (Island Whirl)] – 2,328,035,000 – 14.4% – Yeonseung Daero
5. Duality (USA) [Seeking The Gold – Jody.G (Roberto)] – 2,208,030,000 – 15.4% – Gaeseon Janggun

All of the top five’s chief money earners run at Busan, a further demonstration of the stranglehold the southern track has in terms of quality. In races where Seoul and Busan horses faced each other this year, Busan won four and Seoul won two. Crucially though, Busan won all the races which were restricted to Korean bred runners.

Creek Cat was leading sire of two year-olds, ahead of Didyme, but one to look out for though could be Newsprint (USA) [Gone West – Salty Perfume (Salt Lake)]. He finished seventh on the list of sires of two-year olds from just six runners. They included Seonbongbulpae and Money Car, two of the year’s most exciting juveniles. Newsprint was second among first crop sires behind Volponi. Sadly Newsprint died in November at the tender age of seven but his offspring may do him proud in 2010.

Full details can be found at the Korean Studbook.

Sangseung Ilro Returns

Derby winning filly takes on 2008 Derby winner at Busan
This year’s KRA Cup Mile and Korean Derby winner returns to the racecourse on Sunday as Sangseung Ilro makes her first appearance since missing out on completing the Triple Crown in October.

Sangseung Ilro was a dominant winner of the season’s first two classics against the colts but then was upset by Pangpang on a hot night in August at the Korean Oaks. Following the Oaks. it emerged that she was struggling with a shin problem and she didn’t reappear until her assault on the Triple Crown at the Minister’s Cup at Seoul in October. That day she finished third behind stablemate Namdo Jeap and Seoul’s top three-year old, Nice Choice.

With rest and recuperation now complete, Sangseung Ilro will line up with twelve others in Busan’s feature race this coming Sunday where she will run straight into the winner of the 2008 Derby, Ebony Storm. The four-year old is himself making his first start since June and what shape either of these two Classic winners are in will go a long way to determining the outcome of this race.

Aside from Sangseung Ilro and Ebony Storm, an interesting field will assemble for the 1800 metre handicap. Carrying top weight will be another three-year old, Top Grade. With six wins from ten starts, the colt will be stepping back a furlong after a disappointing run over 2000 metres earlier this month. Also going will be the always dangerous Sinheung Gangja.

Busan runs just four races on Sunday following on from an eight race card on Christmas Day.

Herald Business Set For Saturday

After being frozen out last Sunday, the Herald Business Cup, Seoul’s top Juvenile race, has been re-arranged for this coming Saturday, December 12 to create a big race double-header this weekend, what with the Grand Prix on Sunday.

Barring any late withdrawals, all eight who were scheduled to run last week will line-up on Saturday afternoon including the top pair of Seonbongbulpae and Northern Ace. Seonbongbulpae will be the likely favourite. Click here for last week’s preview.

Meanwhile, Chulgigi has a post up over at his blog showing the farcical scenes at Seoul Race Park last Sunday as seemingly the entire KRA, including Chairman Kim Gwang Won, strolled down the home straight looking for ice, nearly two hours after the first race was due to start. If only they’d done it earlier in the morning, they might have annoyed less people.

Icecapades - A Sunday stroll with the KRA (Photo: Chulgigi)

Head over to Chulgigi for lots more pictures and video.

TBA Photo Contest 2009

Horse Racing and photography go well together. Each year, Gyongmaman sets a resolution to get more pictures on this site. Next year, he will manage it. Perhaps. In the meantime, it is time to announce that the 2009 Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance Photo Contest is accepting entries.

The contest, in its second year, is open to absolutely anyone and the subject is simply “horse racing”. The only restriction is that the picture must have been taken this year.

Click here for full contest rules and submission details.

Koreans like their cameras and Gyongmaman happens to know that some of the best photographers on the peninsula are occasional visitors to the track. The closing date is Sunday December 13, so just in time for local photographers to get plenty of shots of the Grand Prix to enter into this international contest.

No Horses For Frozen Courses

So the weekend is over and both Seonbongbulpae and Northern Ace retain their unbeaten records. Sadly this is not because of a thrilling dead-heat finale to the Herald Business Cup, but rather that the Sunday’s racing at Seoul was called off long before the two-year old championship race was due to go to post.

The first two races on Saturday were run in blizzard-like conditions with heavy rain and snow reducing visilibility to dangerous low levels (Chulgigi has some pictures of a romantic looking Race Park and a video of Saturday’s terrifying race 2 on his blog). After the second race, jockeys lobbied stewards to call things off, however, the snow almost instantly cleared and, following the hour break for simulcasting from Busan, there wasn’t a trace of the earlier snow and things went on as usual.

Overnight on Saturday and into Sunday morning, temperatures dived down to -10C, causing the heavy track to freeze. At trackwork on Sunday morning, trainers and riders reported it was too dangerous to race. Nevertheless, while it was cold, no more snow was forecast, the sun was out and the wind was nothing like as strong as that on Saturday so the KRA opted for a wait-and-see approach and punters began filing in at 10am.

With jockeys not wanting to race, races 1 and 2 were cancelled, however, an inspection deemed the track safe for race 3 to go ahead at 12:10pm. Jockeys Jung Ki Young, Moon Se Young and Cho Kyoung Ho (all senior enough to be able deal with any later consequences) decided not to ride and their mounts were scratched. Following the race, feedback was taken from the jockeys who did ride. They reported clumps of ice on the track and the decision was then taken to abandon racing for the day.

While the decision was undoubtedly the correct one, the timing of the cancellation once again – with thousands of punters on site was not very popular. The Pari-Mutuel screens were switched over to the afternoon card at Busan where things were much warmer, but punters would have wanted an earlier decision.

Back in March 2008, a similar event occurred – that time because of a waterlogged track. Again despite it looking highly unlikely any racing would go ahead, no decision was taken until after punters had arrived.

If past experiences are anything to go by, entry to the track will be free next weekend. As yet there is no word on whether the Herald Business wil be rescheduled. An extra day’s racing on Sunday December 27 is already planned to make up for the one cancelled for the funeral of ex-President Kim Dae Jung.

Iced-Up Seoul Abandoned

Racing at Seoul today was abandoned due to an unsafe track brought on by icy conditions. With a track full of punters, races 1 and 2 were delayed after jockeys expressed safety concerns that the high level moisture in the track had frozen.

The track was deemed safe for race 3 to go ahead as planned at 12:10pm. However, prominent jockeys Moon Se Young, Cho Kyoung Ho and Jung Ki Young who were booked to ride in the race, did not appear and their horses were scratched.

The race went ahead and was won by Boo Min Ho on two-year old Bonsol. Immediately after the race the decision was made to abandon racing for the day. This is the third time in recent years that controversy over the safety of the track in cold weather has forced a very late abandonment.

Racing at Busan and Jeju is continuing.

Northern Ace Vs Seonbongbulpae

Two-Year Olds Get Down To Business
Last week, Night Moves landed the Champion Juvenile title at Busan. This Sunday it’s the turn of Seoul to award its prize as eight two-year olds go to post for the Herald Business Cup.

And it is a race that punters have been looking to since the summer as the two outstanding juveniles Northern Ace and Seonbongbulpae go head-to-head for the first time. So far both have been flat-track bullies, Seonbongbulpae racking up three wins from three and Northern Ace winning both of his starts by ridiculous margins whilst barely breaking into a canter.

However, Northern Ace now holds the five furlong track record, putting away Ace Galloper, who has gone on to record some impressive wins himself, by ten lengths in the process. Seonbongbulpae has been equally visually impressive. Now it’s crunch time.

Northern Ace hasn’t appeared since August. On that day, he was due to be partnered by champion jockey Moon Se Young. Moon, however, suffered a bad injury in an earlier race and Cho Kyoung Ho picked up the mount. Moon will coincidentally return to the track for the first time this weekend, but it is Cho who retains the ride. Seonbongbulpae has run and won an extra race.

Among the others, Full Step looks promising, but was found out a little when facing older horses last time out. Hushtilled, Yodongjewang and Silver Mon have, like all of the runners, won at least once, but none look likely to be able to live with the two favourites.

Nevertheless, the last time we billed a top Korean contest as being a match-race, it was Areumdaun Jilju Vs Gaeseon Janggun in the Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup at Busan. Both were left embarrassed by unfancied Yeongung Manse.

Click here for past performance information (in Korean). Here’s the full list of runners and riders (Name/pedigree/sex/records/jockey):


Herald Business Cup – Seoul Race Park – 1200M – Dec 6, 2009, 16:45

1. Slew Bubble [Field Asuka – Simple Charm (Capote)] F (6/1/1/1) – Kim Cheol Ho
2. Muhandeunggeuk [Trick Of Fate – Odelia (Canny Lad)] C (5/1/1/0) – Kim Dong Cheol
3. Full Step [Didyme – Fox Dance (Foxtrail)] C (3/2/1/0) – Oh Kyoung Hoan
4. Yodongjewang [Field Asuka – Mary Wonder (Shahrastani)] C (3/1/1/1) – Choi Beom Hyun
5. Silver Mon [Distilled – Silver Fizz (Cee’s Tizzy)] C (2/1/0/0) – Boo Min Ho
6. Seonbongbulpae [Newsprint – Jeseok (Lost Mountain)] C (3/3/0/0) – Jo In Kwen
7. Northern Ace [Didyme – Telegraph Road (Royal Academy)] C (2/2/0/0) – Cho Kyoung Ho
8. Hushtilled [Distilled – Miss Alwuhush (Alwuhush)] F (6/1/2/1) – Moon Se Young

* The 2008 edition of the race was won by Nice Choice who went on to become Seoul’s top three-year old this year. Narrowly missing out on winning a classic, he landed the prestigious Group 1 President’s Cup last month. Whoever wins this year’s race is likely to come up against him at some stage in 2010.

Yeonseung Daero Set to Shine in Cup

Yeongung Manse, Areundaum Jilju, Pangpang also up for Owner’s Cup
Areumdaun Jilju and Yeonsung Daero could have been in Seoul next week contesting the Grand Prix, arguably the peninula’s most prestigious race. Instead they have elected to stay home in Busan where their presence ensures a quality line-up in this coming Sunday’s Busan Owner’s Cup.

While it means the home-bred assault on the Grand Prix will be understrength, given that Yeonseung Daero and Areumdaun Jilju were both beaten in the Metropolitan by Bulpae Gisang – a horse who will be second favourite at best at Seoul next week – perhaps it is an understandable decision.

That’s not to say it will be a two-horse race. Yeongung Manse, though fifth in the Metropolitan, beat Areumdaun Jilju in September and can’t be ruled out. Top Grade makes his first appearance in elite company and is well handicapped. Meanwhile, Glory Champ has won his last two races, both over this distance.

Also well handicapped is the only filly in the race. Pangpang stunned Sangseung Ilro to win the Oaks on a hot evening in August. In her two outings since,she hasn’t troubled the placings but she’s proved she can perform. Galsaek Teukgeup looks outclassed while Conqueror, Sandeomi and Viva Canon, while proven winners, have struggled of late.

It all points to a golden opportunity for Yeonseung Daero, who underperformed in the classics and suffered a near miss in the Metropolitan, to start living up to his undoubted potential.

The race is off at 15:20 on Sunday afternoon and is race 5 of a six-race card. Busan also holds a card on Friday. Seoul will host racing on Saturday and Sunday with the Herald Business topping the bill on Sunday. We’ll have a full preview of that race tomorrow.

Click here for past performance information (in Korean). Here’s a full list of the runners and riders (Name/sex/age/record/weight/jockey):

Owner’s Cup – Busan Race Park – 2000M – Dec 6, 2009 – 15:20

1. Glory Champ [Whywhywhy – Tapas (Sky Classic)] C 4 (16/8/2/0) 55.5kg – Yoo Hyun Myoung
2. Top Grade [Texas Glitter – Potential Storm (Cape Town)] G 3 (9/6/2/0) 53.5kg – Jo Sung Gon
3. Viva Canon [Tahamkke – Special Craft (Crafty Prospector)] C 3 (16/3/4/2) 50kg – Kim Yong Geun
4. Yeongung Manse [Sharp Appeal – Saratogasplash (Wild Again)] G 3 (18/9/3/2) 57kg – Jo Chang Wook
5. Conqueror [Revere – Model Actress (Stage Colony)] C 3 (14/4/3/0) 50kg – Martin Wepner
6. Sandeomi [Commendable – Regal Meg (Regal Classic)] C 3 (12/5/1/1) 50kg – Kim Eu Su
7. Galsaek Teukgeup [Belong To Me – Parish Land (Deputy Minister)] C 3 (10/1/3/3) – 50kg – Seo In Seob
8. Pangpang [Revere – Awishnotalark (Rio’s Lark)] F 3 (18/4/1/1) 50kg – Han Sang Gyu
9. Yeonseung Daero [Creek Cat – Sensationalkris (Cryptoclearance)] C 3 (16/8/2/2) 56.5kg – Park Geum Man
10. Areumdaun Jilju [Didyme – Chills Of Nepal (Nepal)] H 5 (22/14/3/2) 59kg – Jo Chan Hoon

* In 2008, this race was won by one time KRA Cup Classic winner and track stalwart Luna. The eight year old mare was retired last month after a career of thirty-three outings, with thirteen wins, five seconds and two thirds. Her last race was a win over seven furlongs at class 1 on November 13.

“Nothern” Ace Gets His Name Fixed

With less than a week to go until the Herald Business Cup, the KRA has amended the English spelling of the name of one of the two favourites for the race. At last, we can now refer to the Seoul Race Park five-furlong track record holder as “Northern Ace”. It seems there was a slight mistake when it was first entered into the Studbook which rendered his name for his first two races as “Nothern Ace”.

Northern Ace [Didyme – Telegraph Road (Royal Academy)] is two-for-two but hasn’t raced since the last weekend of August. He will be up against fellow unbeaten juvenile Seonbongbulpae [Newsprint – Jeseok (Lost Mountain)] over six furlongs this coming Sunday afternoon.

Two year old filly Wonerful Sun remains un-spell-checked despite being rendered as “Wonderful” in Korean script. However, as her performance on Saturday was anything but wonerful or wonderful, there is perhaps less danger with her of the KRA seeing any of their marquee races being won by a typo.