Another overseas jockey rides into Busan this weekend as Hong Kong’s Vincent Sit takes up a four month licence. He’ll make his debut on Friday.
Sit (Shun Keung Sit) isn’t one of Hong Kong’s most prolific jockeys – he has 103 career wins from 2385 rides. His best season was in 2000-2001. In the 2008-2009 season he has three wins.
He will join what’s becoming a vibrant overseas jockey community at Busan. Eiki Nishimura and Martin Wepner have been thriving recently with Wepner currently the in-form jockey at the track. Stephan Swanepoel also recently transferred down from Seoul and has already landed his first winner – something he was unable to do in four months in the capital.
Back up north, Nozomu Tomizawa continues to valiantly battle on against the odds at Seoul where he was recently joined by fellow Japanese rider Toshiyuki Katoh .
Baekpa not only stayed in touch with the field but actually beat one home in her second US outing at Colonial Downs on Monday evening. The five year old ran sixth of seven in race 6, an Allowance Optional Claiming over a mile on the turf under jockey Geovany Garcia.
Still not exactly world beating but a better effort for her first ever race on turf and if they must run her again before bringing her home, one that gives heart.
Yesterday saw the last live TV broadcasts of horse racing in Korea before such coverage became illegal today. The Living TV cable channel had previously broadcast four hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The ban comes in conjunction with an enforced end to telephone and internet betting which also came into effect today.
The move to ban TV coverage comes from a fear that as punters can no longer legally bet from home on what they are watching, they will do it illegally. Now they will have to leave their houses. Racing on TV had long been keeping those in charge of the nation’s morals up at night. The maximum bet limit of KRW 100,000 and the 27% take-out rate had meant that many had already been seeking other avenues for their gambling money and to prevent illegal bookmakers using the racing coverage, a time delay was in place to ensure races weren’t actually shown “live”.
Living TV, a relentlessly optimistic channel which spends most of its time showing travelogues set to uplifting music, will continue to show its “Ye-Sang Gyongma!” preview shows on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Many inside racing fear that the strong anti-gambling lobby will use this victory to move onto bigger targets. This year they have succeeded in cutting the number of race dates as well as limiting the number of pari-mutuel windows that can be open at any one time at the track. Now it is the ending of telephone and internet betting coupled with the TV ban. Next in their sights is likely to be the Off Track betting sites – or “KRA Plazas”. Aside from the race tracks themselves, these are now the only places in Korea where it is legal to place a bet.
The KRA is responding. They have worked to position the Plazas – generally located in prestige office buildings – as community hubs on the four days a week there is no racing, with various activities and events taking place free of charge for local residents.
There is some requirement on them to do this. The KRA is part of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (FAFF, as it were) and is mandated to fund a lot of social programs. It also plays a large role in promoting Korean agriculture. Making itself indispensible is perhaps the only defence the racing industry can use when the next onslaught comes.
Update: In semi-related news Korea Beat translates a YTN report about some Korean teachers being caught gambling. It is likely that these games go on up and down the country every day of the week. The report is typical of Korean news coverage of gambling issues in that it describes the teachers as engaging in “anti-educational” acts. Korearacing would contend that, on the contrary, he learned what little mathematics he did calculating each-way returns at Newmarket.
Baekpa will make her second US start on Monday evening (Tuesday morning Korean time) in race 6 at Colonial Downs in Virginia. The 2007 Korean Oaks winner finished last on her debut at Delaware Park last month and she’ll be hard pushed to improve on that with seven tough looking fillies and mares currently entered against her. Here’s the line-up with records and rider:
Allowance/Optional Claiming ($40,000) – Colonial Downs – One Mile (Turf), July 20, Race 6
1. One Man To Beat – (11/4/3/0) – H. Karamanos 2. Baekpa – (23/8/5/2) – G. Garcia 3. Royal Regan – (34/6/8/6) – L. Garcia 4. Miss Lombardi – (23/7/3/5) – R.B. Homeister, Jnr. 5. Song Cat – (19/3/2/3) – S. Russell 6. Burst Of Light – (13/3/2/1) – J. Hall 7. Lily’s Joy – (19/3/2/7) – M. Franklin 8. Beau’s Trip – (22/3/1/1) – E. Camacho
The race is off at 7:20pm local time (8:20am Korean time).
Former Champion Heads SBS Cup Field
Baekgwang will be the star attraction on Sunday as the SBS Cup crowns this year’s first weekend of night racing at Seoul Race Park. In a week when live televised horse racing was outlawed in Korea, it is perhaps a little ironic that the first big race after the ban is sponsored by one of the country’s three main broadcasters and is the only race of the year to usually be shown on that channel.
And with the presence of Baekgwang, champion three year old of 2006, the race has become one of the most eagerly anticipated of the year. Whether the “White Wave” (see full profile) will be anything like his former self will go a long way to determining the outcome and a tough field of nine rivals will assemble to try to prevent him from achieving the fairytale comeback in winning the race his little sister Baekpa did last year.
Namchonuijijon will be there. Though dreadful last time out, he was second in the Ttukseom Cup and must always be considered. Third in that race back in April was Triple Seven and he returns on Sunday also. Winning last time out, he was a close second to Secret Weapon last month. Stepping up to the top level for the first time will be Wangson. Making his first appearance since winning the Sports Chosun in May, the four year old will be a dangerous contender.
A perennial placer of late has been Natural Nine. One of those who may have won a Classic were it not for J.S. Hold in 2007, he’s been involved at the business end of all of his races over the past year. Daehyo ran third to Top Point last monthand while Lucky Seven, Hallyu Star, Seungni Yongsa and Geumbit Gangja may look to be making up the numbers, all are proven winners.
The race, over nine and a half furlongs, is off at 7:35pm on Sunday. Click here to download past performance info (in Korean) and see below for a full list of runenrs, records and riders:
SBS Cup – Seoul Race Park – 1900M – July 19, 2009
1. Lucky Seven (KOR) [Didyme – Agent Flirt (Double Agent)] – (24/5/5/1) – Lee Sang Hyuk 2. Geumbit Gangja (KOR) [Didyme – Fleein Snow (Snow Chief)] – (25/4/7/1) – Ham Wan Sik 3. Daehyo (KOR) [Happy Jazz Band – Jasmine Douglas (Reference Point)] – (24/5/3/7) – Moon Se Young 4. Triple Seven (KOR) [The Groom Is Red – Impudence (Grand Lodge)] – (18/5/3/5) – Choi Beom Hyun 5. Seungni Yongsa (KOR) [Our Poetic Prince – Jane Lauren (Snow Chief)] – (49/5/4/7) – Won Jung Il 6. Baekgwang (KOR) [The Groom Is Red – Grey Crest (Gold Crest)] – (17/9/5/3) – Park Tae Jong 7. Hallyu Star (KOR) [Sharp Appeal – Angel (Land Rush)] – (36/5/6/3) – Choi Won Joon 8. Natural Nine (KOR) [Revere – C. Bop (Aly Dark)] – (21/7/4/4) – Oh Kyoung Hoan 9. Wangson (KOR) [Distilled – Eastern Tide (Far Out East)] – (11/5/3/0) – Kim Young Jin 10. Namchonuijijon (KOR) [Concept Win – Intriga (Lord At Law)] – (22/6/8/3) – Cho Kyoung Ho
A big weekend for Korean racing is coming up as the first of four weeks of evening racing gets underway. There are co-main events on Sunday with the SBS Cup at Seoul and the Gyeongnam-Do Min Ilbo Cup at Busan. The Min Ilbo is for imported horses and a full field of fourteen will contest the 1800 metre race.
Continuing the theme of recent weeks of locally bred horses running against the imports at Busan, Korean bred Areumdaun Jilju is entered. Last year’s most feared horse, has only run twice this season, but has won both of those and will, as ever, be hard to beat.
Among those trying will be a host of frequent winners such as Crafty Louis, who won over this distance last month. 2008 Busan Owners’ Trophy winner Hardride will be there, as will King Kephalos, winner of two out of his last four. Angle Slam prefers shorter distances but is always likely to be around the front of the field in the home straight while the filly Miss Ecton has been in strong form this year.
The race is off at 19:05 and is race 4 of 6 on Busan’s Sunday card which gets underway at 16:20. Full past performance information can be downloaded here (Korean) and a full list of runners and riders is below:
Gyeongnamdo Min Ilbo Cup – Busan Race Park – 1800M – July 19, 2009
1. Hardride (USA) [Colony Light – Lametta] – (21/6/5/1) – Han Sang Gyu 2. Wonder Love (USA) [Wild Wonder – Love Spanish] – (43/5/9/7) – Kim Tae Kyoung 3. Jewang (USA) [Precise End – Chap Slewy] – (21/1/6/1) – Eiki Nishimura 4. Winter Invitation (USA) [Take Me Out – Winter Crown] – (38/3/7/8) – Kim Dong Young 5. Crafty Louis (USA) [Louis Quatorze – Crafty Atlantic] – (31/11/4/2) – Jo Chang Wook 6. Power Captain (AUS) [King Charlemagne – Green Band] – (25/5/4/2) – Kim Young Min 7. Haengbok Dream (JPN) [Lammtarra – Sister Slew] – (7/3/2/1) – Jo Chan Hoon 8. Miss Ecton (USA) [Ecton Park – Miss Lion King] – (15/5/2/5) – Martin Wepner 9. Phasmes (USA) [Parker’s Storm Cat – Madelaine] – (10/4/1/4) – Jo Sung Gon 10. King Kephalos (JPN) [King Glorious – Western Edge] – (15/7/2/2) – Kim Eu Su 11. Gyeoncheonsa (USA) [Slew Gin Fizz – Jika] – (23/6/2/0) – Park Geum Man 12. Angle Slam (USA) [Gold Case – Platinum Code] – (40/8/7/8) – Gu Min Sung 13. Saeroun Bulpae (USA) [Northern Afleet – Really Appealing] – (17/5/1/4) – Chae Gyu Jun 14. Areumdaun Jilju (KOR) [Didyme – Chills of Nepal] – (19/13/3/0) – Lim Sung Sil
Tomorrow we’ll have a full look at the rest of the weekend’s cards including a run down of the contenders for Seoul’s SBS Cup.
Former Champion battled back from likely career-ending injury
It didn’t seem possible but the “White Light” could be just days away from returning to racing. Champion three year old of 2006, Baekgwang, is amongst the early entries for the SBS Cup which will be run at Seoul Race Park on Sunday July 19.
It took Baekgwang [The Groom is Red – Grey Crest (Gold Crest)] three races to break his maiden and after showing promise in the early part of his three year old season, he was beaten into third place in the 2006 Korean Derby by 85/1 outsider Baengnokjeong . Following this, he embarked on a golden late summer and autumn, landing the Munhwa Ilbo and Donga Ilbo Cups in quick succession before going to claim the Minister’s Cup, the final leg of the Triple Crown, in October that year.
His form would continue into 2007 in which he won his first four outings. With his distinctive light grey coat and his come from behind running style, which made for some thrilling finishes, he was a firm favourite of the racing public – even if his tendency to lay-in in the home straight was maddening for some punters. With J.S. Hold dominating the three year old ranks that year a likely season ending showdown between the two in the 2007 Grand Prix, looked set to be Korean racing’s most hotly anticipated race in history.
Neither of them would make it there. An already less than fully fit J.S. Hold would suffer a career ending injury in the process of making history in the Minister’s Cup by winning Korea’s first Triple Crown. Meanwhile Baekgwang suffered an injury in September that would keep him off the track until April of 2008. His return came in the Ttukseom Cup. Coming through late as ever, he hit the front with 150 metres left to run only for Namchonuijijon, a contemporary of J.S. Hold, to come through even later to pip him him on the line. After the race, it emerged Baekgwang had suffered ligament damage to his right foreleg. Automatically stood down by the stewards for a minimum one year, it seemed his career was over.
Sent to Jeju Island for recuperation, Baekgwang underwent a series of reportedly pioneering operations and, to the surprise of many, returned to his box at Seoul Race Park earlier this year. He began working out in May and, on June 12, breezed through an official race trial over five furlongs and was given the all clear to race again. Baekgwang now finds himself entered in the SBS Cup, a race won by his little sister Baekpa last year.
If he makes it to the starting gate, he is once again likely to find himself once again alongside Namchonuijijon as well as Natural Nine and Sports Chosun winner Wangson. For race fans, whether he wins or loses, seeing a fit Baekgwang once again is going to raise smiles and bring back memories. All will hope he comes back to the barn safely this time. We’ll have a full preview of the SBS Cup – with or without Baekgwang – on Thursday next week. In the meantime, here is Baekgwang’s biggest victory, the 2006 Minister’s Cup:
Just as in most countries these days, racing in Korea doesn’t get a lot of mentions in the traditional media. While YTN News carried a twenty five second report of Park Tae Jong reaching 1500 career winners last week, generally it is only the slightly trashier “Sports” editions of the newspapers that cover goings-on at the track, in between photographs of the local schoolgirls getting wet.
Coverage is even less common in the English langauge media, so it was surprising to see yesterday’s racing on Haeundae beach at Busan featured in the Photo-News section of the Korea Times today.
Korea Times, July 2, 2009
The racing was held as part of Haeundae Beach’s “Opening Ceremony”. Korea has an official beach going season and that began on July 1. That means that while the last month may have seen better beach weather, now it is the official thing to do, this coming weekend is sure to see everybody heading there and it will probably look something like this.
Ten fillies will line up when the Sports Seoul Cup, Seoul Race Park’s main Korean Oaks trial race goes to post on Sunday afternoon. Whether any of the ten will eventually travel down to Busan in August to potentially face double classic winner Sangseung Ilro at her home track is another matter but in any case, the Sports Seoul looks an entertaining race in its own right.
The most experienced filly in the race is Love Cat. Sent to Busan to race the colts (and of course, one other filly) in the KRA Cup Mile in April, she wasn’t able to do herself justice. Off the track since, she will still have plenty of backers.
She’ll be up against a number of fillies who have impressed at sprint distances but have yet to appear over anything approaching the 1700 metres this race will be contested at. Isanghwa, Good Leader, Morning Rush and Ganghan Speed fall into this category as do the lightly raced Tummim and Jeongsang Cheonji. Abigail is the only other filly with form over this distance.
The Sports Seoul is one of Korea’s longest established races with its first running in 1986. It only became restricted to female horses in 2004 and to three year olds in 2006. Baekpa won the race in 2007 before going on to land the Oaks later in the year, however, last year’s winner Samsimnyeonsarang has since failed to live up to her promise.
Full list of runners, pedigree, race records and riders:
Sports Seoul – Seoul Race Park – 1700M – June 27, 2009
1. Love Cat [Creek Cat – Love Cue (Curia Regis)] – (9/5/0/2) – Choi Beom Hyun
Hasn’t run since her disappointing eleventh in the KRA Cup Mile at Busan. Before that she won twice over this distance. Currently races several classes above anything else in this race. 2. Ganghan Speed [Lethal Instrument – Devil’s Mama (Devil’s Bag)] – (8/3/1/1) – Yoo Sang Wan
Has beaten some useful horses at shorter distances. 3. Good Leader [War Zone – Kkummaeul (Curia Regis)] – (8/3/0/0) – Moon Jung Kyun
Returned to form last time out after some poor efforts during the Spring. 4. Victor Hunter [Social Charter – Angel’s Walk (Commemorate)] – (8/0/2/3) – Kim Ok Sung
The only maiden in the race and little to suggest that she’s going to break it here. 5. Tummim [Lost Mountain – Skip The Trial (Skip Trial)] – (4/2/1/1) – Moon Se Young
Won impressively last time out and is an interesting prospect if she makes the step up in distance. 6. Rose Cat [Creek Cat – Rose Bouton (Somethingdifferent)] – (8/2/2/1) – Park Tae Jong
The other “Cat” in the race, she took on the foreign horses last time out in the STC Trophy race but finished a well beaten 10th. 7. Morning Rush [Al Naba – Ireun Achim (Psychobabble)] – (4/2/0/0) – Shin Hyoung Cheol
A smart winner last time out, she’s never gone more than six furlongs. 8. Abigail [Exploit – La Finale (Dunbeath)] – (6/1/3/1) – Oh Kyoung Hoan
A rare Korean bred winner of a race open to foreign horses in April bumped her up in class, she finished third behind the unbeaten gelding Holy Dreamer over this distance. 9. Isanghwa [Didyme – Sugar Lips (Miswaki)] – (6/3/1/0) – Ham Wan Sik
Has won three of her last four and must be considered. 10. Jeongsang Cheonji [Didyme – Gypsy Fire (Best Western)] – Jun Deok Young
She’s only run three times and won two of them. Has been off the track since early April when she breezed to a seven length victory over decent opposition.
After spending the last two weeks inching closer, Park Tae Jong today became the first Korean jockey to reach 1500 career winners. It was only just after midday at Seoul Race Park when, in torrential rain, Park guided three year old filly J Stern to a hard fought victory in race 3.
While the race was as low key as it is possible to get – a class 6 maiden in which six of the twelve runners were odds of well over 100/1 – the final furlong duel between J Stern and Ever Clever, who had led from the gate, was a furious one, Park getting his mount ahead with fifty metres to go and holding on by a length.
As the rain worsened Park would go on to add three more winners later in the afternoon. There was Boeun Gaduk in race 5 and then Symphony Sonata in race 9. The much hyped four year old relentlessly chased down long time leader Sajaseong in the home straight. Next up came Tiffanyuikkum, the Australian filly securing her fifth win.
Things didn’t go Park’s way in the feature race but he still managed to take outsider Daehyo to an unlikely third place behind Top Point and Gayasanseong.
Tomorrow, Park Tae Jong will partner Beakjeonmupae in the Seoul Owners’ Association Trophy. Dongbanui Gangja will be the overwhelming favourite but if anyone can stop him, it is Baekjeonmupae. Park won this race last year on Saerounbisul – over his twenty two years in the saddle he has won every race, most more than once. Today in the rain, Seoul Race Park honoured one of Korea’s greatest sportsmen. Tomorrow, he’ll be out on the track doing it again.
