News

Grand Prix Votes Revealed

At the beginning of November, just as it does every year, the KRA conducted an online poll of Korean racing fans, asking them which horses they would like to see run in the season ending Grand Prix race at Seoul on December 13.

Voting results were made public this week and 2008 winner Dongbanui Gangja heads the list of those horses the racing “Netizens” would most like to see take part in the season-ending Grand Prix race at Seoul Race Park on December 13.

The top eight vote-getters from Seoul and top 6 from Busan – whose horses are taking part in the Grand Prix for the first time ever – have received automatic invitations to the race. However, it is far from certain that all will take them up.

We’ll go over the final list next Monday but for now, here is the full list of the fourteen horses voted in:

Seoul

1. Dongbanui Gangja (USA)
2. Nice Choice (KOR)
3. Bulpaegisang (USA)
4. Bally Brae (USA)
5. Khaki Halls (AUS)
6. Yaho TS (USA)
7. Hwangnyongsaji (KOR)
8. Khanui Jeonsol (NZ)

Busan

1. Areumdaun Jilju (KOR)
2. Sangseung Ilro (KOR)
3. Gaeseon Janggun (KOR)
4. Yeonseung Daero (KOR)
5. Haengbok Dream (JPN)
6. Crafty Louis (USA)

Of the Busan contingent, Areumdaun Jilju and Yeonseung Daero both entered in the Busan Owners’ Cup Sprint on December 6, connections seemingly have a big decision to make. Meanwhile, there remain question marks over the delicate legs of Sangseung Ilro, winner of the first two legs of the Triple Crown and the only filly voted in.

As for the Seoul horses, Hwangnyongsaji is in action this weekend in an all domestic race. It’s unlilely we’ll see him line-up for the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, 2006 Horse of The Year and 2007 Grand Prix winner Bally Brae still remains popular with punters, polling fourth. However, after two disappointing recent runs, his trainer has indicated a long spell of rest and recuperation is on the cards for the much-loved gelding.

Apart from winning the 2007 edition, Bally Brae was second in both 2006 and 2008. Here is his commanding victory over long-time rival Subsidy from two years ago:

Cho Kyoung Ho Heads Close Title Race

When Moon Se Young was violently thrown from two-year old filly Raipai back at the end of August, his hopes of retaining his 2008 title were over. Still sidelined, Moon remains on 72 winners leaving a tight three-way battle for the Championship with a month to go.

On Saturday, Cho Kyoung Ho became just the third rider in Korean racing history to reach the 100 winners in a season mark. Meanwhile Park Tae Jong moved onto 99 to go one ahead of Choi Beom Hyun on 98.

Cho was fourth in 2007 and second last year but it has been a golden autumn for the 33-year-old with victories on Nice Choice in the President’s Cup and Lucky Mountain in the NACF Chairman’s Race and, in Moon Se Young’s continued absence, will most likely take the mount on hot 2-year-old Nothern Ace in the Herald Business on December 6.

For Choi Beom Hyun, while he’s an outside chance to make up the five winner deficit he has on Cho, a second consecutive Grand Prix on Dongbanui Gangja awaits. Park Tae Jong, who heads the all-time winners list, looks likely to land his second biggest ever haul in his twenty year career.

Current Standings:

1. Cho Kyoung Ho – 103
2. Park Tae Jong – 99
3. Choi Beom Hyun – 98
4. Moon Se Young – 72
5. Ham Wan Sik – 39

KRA Levels-Up its English

Visitors to the “Foreigner lounge” on the fourth floor of the Luckyville grandstand at Seoul Race Park are provided with an English language race card. Though very basic in the information it provides, it is invaluable for first-time racegoers or for those who cannot read Korean and therefore find it difficult to navigate the regular racecards.

For many years, on a Saturday, when two or three races are simulcasted from Jeju Island, the cards for these races have been included in the English race card. On a Sunday, however, that has not been the case for the races simulcasted from Busan. This has led to Gyongmaman watching (with some amusement, he is ashamed to admit) scores of first time visitors betting on what they think is the next race at Seoul but is in fact the next race from Busan. All this changed this past weekend though as the entire Busan card was attached to the usual Seoul listings.

We touched a couple of weeks ago on the prospect of an English language betting machine being introduced. Gyongmaman – always a terrible groveller when faced with officialdom, especially if they’re wearing a KRA badge – gave it his blessing and accordingly the English-speaking machine, made its debut on November 7, taking pride of place in the middle of the lounge. It lasted a full four races before malfunctioning and being taken away on a trolley. It hasn’t been seen since.

All mockery aside, the KRA is to be commended on their efforts. The vast majority of regulars in the Foreigner lounge are ethnic Koreans who have passports from other countries and therefore can read Korean. That the KRA provides an English and Japanese service and provides reserved seating for overseas visitors – a demographic that generally bets tiny amounts – all for free, is much to its credit.

Also on English affairs, recently the KRA revamped its website. It is pretty sexy. However, one by-product of this was that it became impossible to access the English language section of the site from the homepage. While this is a sorry state of affairs, Korearacing understands that a brand new English language homepage is in the works and is scheduled to be launched in the New Year. This site will indeed supposedly have what everyone has been waiting for: English langauge racecards and results.

Finally on “Internationalization” matters, Paulick reported that the KRA was in Florida last week – looking at property by all accounts.

Baekgwang & Baekpa On For Remarkable Double

This coming Sunday at Seoul Race Park, Baekgwang will seek to complete what was thought to be an impossible comeback when he lines up alongside the track’s top Korean bred horses in the President’s Cup. During his career, the six-year-old has spent a total of two years on the sidelines. He finally returned to the winner’s circle last month in his third race since returning from successful stem-cell treatment.

Now he will take on a strong field including three-year olds Nice Choice and Khanui Jeguk as well as old foe Baengnokjeong. Natural Nine, Triple Seven, Mighty Runner and Wontagui Gisa are also among the proven winners that will contest the Group 1 race over 2000 metres.

A week later another long overdue return will take place. And this time it’s Baekgwang’s little sister Baekpa, back in town following her summer in the United States, who heads the line-up in the Nonghyup Bank Cup. Korean racing fans were pained to see Baekpa in the US, running her heart out but being left behind by fields that could hardly be considered world-beating. How she recovers from that ordeal will become clear on Sunday 22 as she makes her first start back on Korean sand.

Currently thirteen other fillies and mares are entered for the Nonghyup race. An in-form Baekpa should have the beating of them all with the one interesting contender being the three-year old Love Cat.

Is she the same horse she was when she left? Can her brother beat the three-year olds a week earlier? Either way, racing fans here are just delighted to see the grey siblings back home racing where they belong.

Here’s Baekgwang in pre-injury days in 2007:

And Baekpa taking the Korean Oaks in the same year:

“Elmo” Case a Gift to Racing’s Enemies

It’s been two weeks since it was revealed that a Seoul based jockey was under investigation for allegedly passing insider information to illegal betting operations. The case involving the jockey – who, although his identity was initially made public, can now only be identified by his initial “L” or “L-Mo” in Korean, could not have come at a worse time as the KRA battles to portray racing in a positive light in the face of an increasingly puritanical regulator.

Support – or at least indifference – from the majority of lawmakers is essential in resisting the recommendations of the National Gaming Control Commission, an organization that makes little secret of its aim to eliminate any form of gambling and has already succeeded in having the KRA close down its “KNetz” Internet betting service which ceased operations in July.

While the NGCC may not be able to grasp the concept, most lawmakers currently accept that the more restrictions there are placed upon legalized gambling, the more the many illegal ones thrive. To keep this support, however, the KRA has to be able to demonstrate that racing is clean. Bent jockeys will always pop up from time to time, but, however this case proceeds, its timing is terrible and has prompted speculation over the likely success of the next recommendations from the NGCC as outlined over the weekend by Korea Racing Journal editor Kim Mun Young.

The Electronic ID Card scheme raised its head again. Under this scheme, when trying to place a bet, a punter would be asked to produce an ID card that they have previously had to apply for and been issued. The card will have a chip that records all his gambling activity. While punters mutter darkly about essentially being put in the same category as sex-offenders by having to be on a register, it would also eliminate racing as an activity for all but those “on the register”.

On a summer’s day, the Seoul Race Park infield and track apron is packed with picnicking families and dating couples. If, in future they’re going to need to be on the government’s list of registered gamblers if they fancy a stroll to the windows to put 500 won each-way on the favourite, it’s likely they’ll spend their weekends elsewhere.

Of course, there was a very easy way of tracking punters’ expenditure. It was called KNetz and it was closed down this July. The ID card scheme, however, is a real possibility – not least because of the lucrative contracts that would need to be dished out for running it

Less likely is a reduction in the maximum bet amount although this is another NGCC proposal. Instead of the current 100,000 won per bet limit, a daily limit of the same amount be imposed. This would of course essentially close racing down and most observers agree that outside of the NGCC, there is little appetite for that due to the huge revenues it generates in both taxes and in support of agriculture.

Meanwhile, one grocery store chain is currently giving away national lottery tickets with all purchases over 10,000 won and the “Sports Toto” – where players predict the results of European football matches – can be gambled on from almost every convenience store on the peninsula. Racing feels picked upon but “Elmo” hasn’t helped its cause.

Melbourne Cup to be shown live in Korea

There’s a rare treat for Korea based racing fans on Tuesday as the Australia Network Cable Channel will be broadcasting live coverage of the Melbourne Cup from Flemington.

The programme runs from 11:10am to 2pm Korean time and features three races, including the Cup itself at 1pm. The Australia Network can be found on most Digital Cable platforms across Korea but for those without the right package or for those who will be tied to their office desks, it can also be viewed here.

It will be the first live racing to be shown on television in Korea since coverage of domestic cards was banned in July this year. The ban came in to try to stop illegal gaming houses from moving into the gap in the market created by the outlawing of online betting and enforced shutdown of the KRA’s “KNetz” betting platform.

The YTN News Channel managed to get away with broadcasting their own sponsored race (The “YTN Cup”) live during a news bulletin back in August but racing has been absent from screens since then.

Head over to Foolish Pleasure for a full preview of one of the greatest occasions in world racing.

Setbacks and Sports Days

Reverses for Secret Weapon, Bally Brae / Aoki shines in Jockeys Vs Punters

Secret Weapon is Seoul’s top rated Korean bred horse but he suffered a shock defeat on Saturday as SBS Cup winner Hallyu Star bested him over 1900 metres. Secret Weapon is one of the “Po-In-Ma Troika” – “Po-In-Ma” referring to horses foaled in Korea by mares who were pregnant when imported. They are therefore classed as Korean bred but are ineligible for the Triple Crown races as well as some other big races which are restricted to Korean breds, such as this month’s President’s Cup.

The other two members of the “Troika” are Gi Ra Seong and the mare Top Point, ranked third and fourth respectively in the Korean bred rankings. With all three absent from the President’s Cup, the prospect of the great grey Baekgwang completing a remarkable comeback is a real one. Early entries have been announced and Baekgwang heads them along with Seoul’s top three year old Nice Choice. We’ll start the build-up to the race later this week. The winner of the President’s Cup will almost certainly go on to the Grand Prix in December where the “Troika” will most likely all be present.

Looking increasingly doubtful to be present in the Grand Prix is 2007 winner Bally Brae. The seven year old struggled when returning from a three month lay off in September but came back to be sent off odds-on favourite over the Grand Prix distance of 2300 metres on Sunday with a return to the winners’ circle looking on the cards. It wasn’t to be. Park Tae Jong’s saddle slipped as they rounded the first corner and the former champion jockey was left with little control for the rest of the race. That Bally Brae still finished in touch with the field was testament to both horse and rider. Angus Empire took advantage to land the victory.

Bally Brae still has talent and if he was to get into the Grand Prix, a race where he wouldn’t be handicapped out of contention, anything could happen. However, with Myeongmun Gamun and Subsidy now retired and Bally Brae in the twilight of his career, a new generation are likely to be the ones challenging Dongbanui Gangja in December. Unless of course, Baekgwang can pull off somthing very special.

* It was the ninth annual Jockeys Vs Punters Sports Day in the Seoul Race Park infield last week. No idea who won – although Yoo Mi Ra was given the “MVP” award. In any case, as the “sports” included skipping and dodgeball, it probably doesn’t matter. The Chulgigi blog was there and he has some pictures as well as a video.

Watch out for new Japanese jockey Yoshi Aoki who first introduces himself and then procedes to interrupt an interview with Seoul Jockeys’ Union President Kim Dong Kyun. Sadly Aoki doesn’t ask Kim for his organization’s views on foreign jockeys coming to Seoul. Nevertheless, it seems as though everyone enjoyed themselves. The jury is still out on Aoki but he’s had a good start and he certainly seems an interesting – and English speaking – addition to the ranks.

It’s Busan Vs Seoul as Hardride Defends Cup

Six head down to try to break Busan’s domination
It’s Busan vs Seoul part 5, but this time it’s different. While up until now, only the three year old classics have been contested by horses from both tracks, this coming Sunday, six older overseas bred horseswill travel to Busan for the first Group 3 Busan Mayor’s Cup. Eight will be waiting for them from the home team, among them a mixture of the Busan’s top imports as well as its home bred stars.

Hardride is back to defend his title from last year but it’s the Korean bred runners who provide most of the interest from the Busan side. Areumdaun Jilju and Gaeseon Janggun will get another crack at Yeongung Manse, who surprised both of them in last month’s Governor’s Cup, while three year old Yeonsung Daero has another tilt at glory after failing in the classics.

Vicar Love, Saerounbisul and Bulpae Gisang head the Seoul contingent who will be looking to regain some pride for the capital track. In clashes between the two, Busan leads 8-0. Will things change on Sunday? We’ll find out when they go to post for the ten furlong race at 3:40pm.

Let’s have a look at the runners and riders.

Busan Mayor’s Cup (KOR. G.III) – Busan Race Park – 2000M – Nov 1, 2009 – 15:40

1. Saerounachim (NZ) [Pyrus – Jouet (Langfuhr)] (18/2/5/3) – Seoul – Shim Seung Tae
Second in the JRA Trophy, it’s hard to argue that he’s come along for any other reason then to keep stablemate Saerounbisul company.
2. Yeongung Manse (KOR) [Sharp Appeal – Saratogasplash (Wild Again)] (17/9/3/2) – Jo Chang Wook
Pulled off a stunning win over Areumdaun Jilju and Gaeseon Janggun last month in what was billed as a match race between the track’s top two stars. Not to be ignored.
3. Tiffanyuikkum (AUS) [Iglesia – Blue Lady (Western Symphony)] (18/5/1/2) – Seoul – Shin Dae Jun
Three out of his last four runs have been dreadful. Unproven at the top level, will his best form return?
4. Gamadongja (NZ) [Howbaddouwantit – Miss Martha (Iades)] (23/9/3/4) – Seoul – Stephan Swanepoel
Likely to set the early pace, Gamadongja is a sprinter but consistantly places at the longer distances.
5. Balbora (NZ) [Keeper – Deutzia (Chem)] (21/3/0/3) – Seoul – Bang Choon Sik
Hasn’t finished in the money this year. Perhaps his connections know something we don’t.
6. Saerounbisul (NZ) [Danske – Miss Golly (Casual Lies)] (25/6/4/4) – Seoul – Martin Wepner
Finished in the money on all but one of his last twenty-three races, the five year old won the Seoul Owners’ Cup last year and must be respected.
7. Bulpae Gisang (USA) [Lightnin N Thunder – Neat Trick (Clever Trick)] (11/6/2/0) – Seoul – Choi Beom Hyun
Won on his first attempt at class 1 and has two solid second places since. Choi Beom Hyun accompanies him down from Seoul.
8. Angle Slam (USA) [Gold Case – Platinum Code (Lost Code)] (42/8/7/8) – Han Sang Gyu
Like Gamadongja, he excels at shorter distances – he may contest the minor placings but a win would be a shock.
9. Vicar Love (USA) [Vicar – Canberra (Silver Hawk)] (17/9/1/3) – Seoul – Oh Kyoung Hoan
One of the top three year olds of last season, he’s back in form with a good win last time out.
10. Hardride (USA) [Colony Light – Lametta (Lomond)] (24/6/5/2) – Chae Gyu Jun
Winner of this race last year, he’s not in quite the same form as he was a year ago but can’t be ruled out.
11. Gaeseon Janggun (KOR) [Duality – Diamond Star (Dixieland Band)] (16/8/4/1) Jo Sung Gon
Last year’s champion Korean bred three year old has won four of his five outings this term, his only defeat being to Yeongung Manse last month. A real contender.
12. Luna (KOR) [Concept Win – Wu Su Hae (Exactly Sharp)] (31/12/5/2) – Eiki Nishimura
The only female in the race, the seven year old mare is a Busan stalwart. The 2007 KRA Cup Mile is the highlight of her career to date but she also pulled off a shock win in last year’s Owners’ Cup.
13. Areumdaun Jilju (KOR) [Didyme – Chills Of Nepal (Nepal)] (21/14/3/1) – Lim Sung Sil
Always in the money and usually in the winners’ circle. His defeat last time was a shock but Lim Sung Sil retains the ride and he will be in the mix at the end.
14. Yeonseung Daero (KOR) [Creek Cat – Sensationalkris (Cryptoclearance)] (15/8/1/2) – Park Geum Man
A disappointment in the classics, he’s the “nearly colt” of this year’s three year old group. Has always finisined in the money.

It’s nice but…

….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.

New KRA Homepage

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!

Pari-Mutuel Machines Learning English

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.