….What about that “Internationalization”?
The KRA’s new homepage was unveiled at midnight last night at www.kra.co.kr. And it is as impressive as you would expect complete with pretty graphical representations of the tracks and plenty of laptop crashing animations.
KRA's new homepage
The race card layout has been much improved and overall it gets a thumbs-up. There’s just one issue at the moment: As far as can be made out, there’s no link at all to the English section of the website!
Arriving early at Seoul Race Park on Saturday morning, Gyongmaman was surprised to be accosted by KRA officials outside the Foreigner Lounge on the fourth floor of the Luckyville grandstand. Nursing a hangover and fearing that last Monday’s article about the Karaoke expense claims had hit a little too close to the mark, Gyongmaman broke into a sweat and started looking for the exit.
It transpired that they wanted him to try out a new English language betting terminal. The fourth floor of both grandstands at Seoul (and most of Busan) is entirely automated with machines instead of tellers at all the betting windows. Gyongmaman doesn’t like this – if he’s watching from the fourth floor, he always goes down to the third to bet with one of the armada of women (they are all women) staffing the regular betting windows whom the KRA is hoping to replace with the soulless – and non wage demanding – machines.
Naturally, in the face of officaldom, Gyongmaman was suitably gushing about the brilliance of the proposed new machines. And in fariness, they look very promising. Currently the machines only have Korean instructions and though easy to use, they can deter first-timers. Not only will the new machines accept bets, they will also provide searchable information on the racecard and give results from all three tracks.
End of writing in the third-person. The “Foreigner Lounge” at Seoul Race Park is located on the fourth floor of the Luckyville grandstand and looks out over the furlong marker. With a capacity of approximately 120, it provides an English Language Race Program and “how to” leaflets and once you sign in on arrival, you have a reserved seat for the rest of the day (first come, first served). English and Japanese speaking staff are also on hand to assist. While quiet on Saturdays, it tends to get very busy on summer Sundays and no visitor to the track should spend all their time in there – there’s so much else to see, but it is an extremely useful facility.
One final question the officials had was how could the betting process be made easier for overseas visitors. In truth, betting at the track in Korea is as simple and logical as it could possibly be. The only imprevements that could be made are ones that the regulator won’t allow the KRA to do. But that is another story.
For the third time in the past year, a jockey has been referred to the police for allegedly trading “insider information”. This time its a Seoul jockey who has supposedly been passing on information, including illicit training videos, to illegal betting rings.
As the case has now been handed over to the police, the jockey in question can only be identified by his initial “L”. Before this development, the suspension of said jockey – and the reason why – was news on the KRA’s website last week but it has now been removed.
Nevertheless, simply scanning the list of current suspensions at Seoul will satisfy those of a curious mind. Two jockeys with the initial “L” were suspended this weekend. It’s not Lee Ae Li, she’ll be back next week. The other one won’t be.
“L” is the third jockey this year to become embroiled in such an affair. Seoul rider Park Soo Hong was warned off for life while a Busan based jockey is currently suspended pending further investigation.
The Japanese jockey contingent in Korea has risen to four again. Thirty-two year old Yoshiyuki Aoki has arrived in Seoul and looks set to make his debut at the track this coming weekend. He’ll join Toshiyuki Katoh at Seoul while Eiki Nishimura and Hitomi Miyashita are at Busan.
Meanwhile the KRA has been stallion shopping and it appears that they are close to bringing over the nine year old Peace Rules [Jules – Hold To Fashion (Hold Your Peace)], a prolific winner in his racing career taking the Haskell Invitational and Blue Grass Stakes amongst a number of Grade Ones. He’s found only moderate success as a sire and the Bloodhorse reports he will stand at the KRA’s Jeju Stud Farm where he will be alongside the likes of Volponi and fellow newcomer, Ecton Park.
Peace Rules will take the number of registered stallions in Korea to 96. Over the past year, two colts and a fiilly by Peace Rules have been imported. The best known of these is three year old Gangho [Honor Delilah (Honor Grades)], who won his first four races this Spring. Two year old filly Gwacheon Geojang [Copelan’s Lily (Copelan)]has also made a positive start withe a win and a second place in her two outings to date.
Here’s Peace Rules winning the 2004 Suburban Handicap from Funny Cide at Belmont Park:
A video of Peace Rules at current home Vinery Farm.
(ht – FP)
Golf, Karaoke and Illegal Race-calls all feature in Racing’s Day at the Auditors
Monday saw top KRA officials make the journey to the National Assembly building in Yeouido, Seoul where, as part of the Ministry of Farming, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (FAFF), it was their turn to appear in front of lawmakers as part of the annual National Assembly audit.
During the three week audit, all government departments come under scrutiny with 500 administrative sections covering everything from the Army to the Tourist Board having to appear to answer questions. It’s an event widely criticised in Korea as being little to do with serious audit and more to do with political showboating.
Indeed it often turns out that way. In the past, politicians have arrived for the Defence Department audit wearing army fatigues and staged a target practice exhibition before the questions, while others decided to cut off the power while the Korean Electrical Power Corporation (KEPCO) was being grilled so that executives could see what it was like to work by candlelight.
The Korea Times commented last year that generally all officials need to do is either “beg, bribe or entertain the parliamentarians” to get through another year. The same paper did grant, however, that if nothing else, the audit period was good for “slapstick funnies” on the National Assembly TV channel.
Chairman and CEO Kim Kwang Won headed the KRA delegation. Sadly, Kim did not show up wearing racing silks and carrying a whip. Here’s a brief summary of some of the issues that were raised by lawmakers:
* Like any audit, the main purpose was to check what the KRA was doing with its money. Especially what it shouldn’t be doing. The KRA overtime payments to staff were criticised – around 4 Billion won ($3.6Million) was allegedly paid during the audit period. This was also noted in the last audit.
* Rep. Kang Seok Ho of the ruling (and perhaps appropriately named) Grand National Party, raised the issue of “improper Golf Club memberships” purchased by the KRA to the value of KRW 1 Billion as well as KRW 100 Million put on corporate credit cards at various Karaoke bars and “Saunas”. Rep. Kang condemned the expenditure as “violating every civilized subject of public sentiment” given the ongoing recession.
* Rep. Kang Ki-Kap of the Democratic Party is generally good value at any National Assembly event. Opting to neither fight, nor smash anything up today, he instead chose to focus on illegal gambling. Given that racing on TV has now been outlawed, Kang wanted to know what the KRA was doing to counter the supposed problem of illegal live commentaries of races from the track to private gaming houses.
* The appointment of a former close advisor to President Lee Myoung Bak during his election campaign to what some see as a grace and favour position within the racing authority, came under attack
* Regulatory issues were also covered. Breakfast TV news reports had speculated that the KRA would be strongly criticised over its progress in meeting guidleines laid down by the National Gaming Control Commission (NGCC). The matter was raised with criticism for the way the KRA has pushed ahead with its promotion of Off Track Betting locations (or KRA Plazas) with the NGCC requiring that by 2013, 50% of all money wagered is done so at the track – currently it stands at 30%.
How much fall-out there is from the audit session will become clearer later in the week but overall, there was little new on the regulatory front – and sadly even less on the comedy front.
With the Classics out of the way it seems a good time to check on the leading sires race. And with Sangseung Ilro taking two legs of the Triple Crown and finishing third in the final one, Concept Win’s offspring are locked in a tight battle with those of Didyme to reclaim the title he last won in 2006.
Concept Win [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] has been in Korea since 1997 and was leading sire in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Didyme has ruled since then, with sheer numbers of winners rather than big race stars, giving him a slight advantage as we head into the tail end of the season. With just over two months to go, Didyme leads by just 40 Million won ($35,000) with Revere a further 100 Million Won behind.
What remains remarkable about Didyme, however, is his win rate – with 63 wins from 438 starts he has a win percentage of nearly 15% compared to 8% for Concept Win (43 wins from 500 starts). While Sangseung Ilro has accounted for over 600 Million Won of Concept Win’s earnings, Didyme’s top earner, Areumdaun Jilju, has made just 150 Million won. With the talent spread around, it looks as though it’s going to be three years running for Didyme.
Leading Sires in Korea 2009 (As of October 19)
Name/Pedigree/Earnings (Korean Won)/Chief Earner/Win Rate
1. Didyme (USA) [Dixieland Band – Soundings (Mr. Prospector)] – 2,379,790,000 – Areumdaun Jilju – 14.4%
2. Concept Win (USA) [Manila – Conveniently (In Reality)] – 2,331,894,000 – Sangseung Ilro – 8.6%
3. Revere (IRE) [Dancing Brave – Bint Pasha (Affirmed)] – 2,243, 940,000 – Pangpang – 8.4%
4. Ft. Stockton (USA) [Cure The Blues – Tai The Devil (Tai)] – 1,897,778,000 – Namdo Jeap – 9.5%
5. Social Charter (USA) [Nureyev – Aunt Pearl (Seattle Slew)] – 1,739,596,000 – Natural Guy – 8.1%
Volponi has been the best performer so far out of eleven first crop sires (albeit with just two wins) and is sixth overall in the list of sires of two year olds.
Full details can be found at the Korean Studbook.
Miyashita to make history at Busan
She won the International Lady Jockey Invitation race at Busan Race Park in August and clearly Japanese jockey Hitomi Miyashita took a liking to the southern track. On Friday, Miyashita will make her debut as a licensed freelance jockey at Busan and in doing so, becomes the first foreign female jockey to ride full-time in Korea.
Hitomi shared the Japanese National Association of Racing (NAR) Grand Prix award for best female jockey of 2008 and has been based recently at the Aichi racecourse.
Miyashita has secured a competitive set of rides for the upcoming weekend. She will debut in race 6 on Friday when she partners Chowolgeum – likely to be an outsider in a seven furlong contest. She’ll follow that up with three more rides, including taking the mount on Yongdu Baram in the feature race. On Sunday, she will partner Viva Galileo in Busan’s big race of the weekend, the Gyeongnam Shinmun Cup.
Hitomi Miyashita (centre) with Laura Cheshire and Chiaki Iwanaga at Busan
Enjoy racing has has more on Hitomi – including pictures of her putting her time in eating something re-assuringly Korean looking back in August.
Here she is winning the International Lady Jockey Invitational on Ima Firecracker:
Posting has been light recently but Gyongmaman is back in the saddle after a scarcely earned break over the Thanksgiving weekend. And it’s almost time for the Minister’s Cup.
Four of the eight Busan contenders, including Oaks Winner Pangpang have already arrived in the capital with the rest, including KRA Cup Mile and Derby winner – and therefore Triple Crown hopeful – Sangseung Ilro will be up shortly.
The big race is off at 5pm on Sunday afternoon and it will crown a big weekend of racing on the peninsula which includes the Gyeongnam Shinmum Cup at Busan as well as a likely appearance at Seoul on Saturday by the track’s number one horse, Dongbanui Gangja. Final declarations will be made on Thursday and we’ll be back with a full preview of all the action.
In the meantime, here’s the great J.S. Hold taking the inaugural Triple Crown by winning the Minister’s Cup in 2007:
In the race, he just got up to beat Ganghomyeongjang in the final few strides with the luckless Namchonuijijon in third. Namchonuijijon would go on to finally have his day in the Ttukseom Cup the following year but for J.S. Hold, there would be no more races. After the race he was discovered to have re-aggravated a previous injury and ultimately was retired.
Tough task for Sangseung Ilro to complete Triple Crown
There’s no racing in Korea this coming weekend as the nation shuts down for the “Chuseok” (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday which falls on Saturday. The following week, however, it’s the big one. Sangseung Ilro will attempt to emulate J.S. Hold two years ago and complete the Triple Crown when she travels up from Busan to Seoul to run for the Minister’s Cup.
Entires were published today and at this stage there are eleven horses set to go. There are seven colts and four fillies while a remarkable eight of the entrants are from Busan, Here’s the provisional line up with their race records (Runs/Wins/2nd/3rd). All are Korean bred:
1. Nice Choice [Lost Mountain – Betty’s Rhapsody (Don’t Hesitate)] Colt, Seoul (10/7/2/0)
2. Love Cat [Creek Cat – Love Cue (Curia Regis)] Filly, Seoul (11/6/1/2)
3. Khanui Jeguk [Sunday Well – Lucky Dip (Didyme)] Colt, Seoul (11/5/2/1)
4. Sangseung Ilro [Concept Win – Ms. Whiskey (Whiskey Wisdom)] Filly, Busan (8/5/2/1)
5. Namdo Jeap [Ft. Stockton – Wandering Katie (Tejano)] Colt, Busan (12/4/3/3)
6. Pangpang [Revere – Awishnotalark (Rio’s Lark)] Filly, Busan (17/4/1/1)
7. Isidae Gangja [Lost Mountain – Angel (Land Rush)] Filly, Busan (11/3/3/2)
8. Yeonseung Daero [Creek Cat – Sensationalkris (Cryptoclearance)] Colt, Busan (14/8/1/2)
9. Tamna Hero [Creek Cat – The Big C (Deputed Testamony)] Filly, Busan (10/4/3/0)
10. Conqueror [Revere – Model Actress (Stage Colony)] Colt, Busan (13/4/3/0)
11. Sky Star [Tahamkke – Blue Lark (Ravenwood)] Colt, Busan (15/5/3/1)
Over the next few days, we’ll look at the race in a little bit more detail before final declarations are made next Thursday.
Meanwhile Government wants visitors to borrow to gamble
The Korea Herald reports today on a press conference given by KRA Chairman & CEO Kim Kwang Won to mark the end of his first year in the job. Gone was the talk of raising revenue and lobbying to get the KRW 100,000 maximum bet limit removed. Instead the focus was on preservation in the face a wildly unpredictable regulator.
To this end, Kim focused on the KRA’s charity work and and the expansion of its community activities. He made particular mention of his plan to promote horse riding as a leisure activity by improving equestrian facilities across the country and making it affordable for more people to actually be around horses. At the same time, Kim hopes to establish a “horse academic institution” and improve veterinarian facilities.
Kim’s comments were in line with moves by the KRA to fend off the National Gaming Control Commission – some of whose members appear determined to hand total control of the gaming market to the criminal fraternity.
The strategy has already involved sponsoring the Korean Table Tennis and Judo teams (the latter of which picked up several Olympic medals in Beijing last year) as well as the utilitzation of off track betting plazas for community activities on non-race days. Meanwhile the “KRA Angels” are becoming one of the more visible charitable organizations in Korea.
On the same day that the KRA Chairman talks of the measures his organization is having to take to distance itself from the gambling which so threatens Korean society, it comes as little surprise to hear that the government plans to wring every last bit of currency out of foreign gamers.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced Wednesday that foreigners will now be able to use credit cards to buy gambling chips in the country’s casinos. The highlight of the article in the Korea Times is the following passage:
“Currently foreign tourists are able to buy chips only with cash…Government officials said this has discouraged non-Koreans from gambling here adding if visitors were allowed to purchase chips with plastic, they would spend more money”.
Horse Racing in Korea 