Namchonuijijon will look to retain the Group 3 Ttukseom Cup in Seoul’s biggest race of the season so far on Sunday April 12. Going up against him, in a surprise entry, could be stablemate and 2008 Horse of the Year, Myeongmun Gamun.

The Ttkuseom Cup is named to commemorate the old Seoul Racecourse at Ttukseom on the north bank of the River Han. Ttukseom was the sole home of Korean racing from immediately after the Korean War in 1953, until the opening of the new Seoul Race Park at its present home in Gwacheon in 1989. The race is run over seven furlongs and was formerly the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown until that honour was shifted, seemingly permanently, to Busan’s KRA Cup Mile in 2008. However, with a first prize of KRW 132 Million, the Ttukseom Cup remains one of the season’s highlights.

Last year, the then four year old Namchonuijijon held off the grey Baekgwang to record victory by a length. While Baekgwang limped away wih ligament damage that prematurely ended his season, Namchonuijijon went on to disappoint during the rest of 2008 but began his 2009 campaign with a smart victory earlier this month.

If he starts, Myeongmun Gamun will be stepping back down to seven furlongs for the first time since the 2006 running of the race when he finished fifth. Now eight years old, Myeongmun Gamun has seventeen wins from thirty one outings and has only got better with age, 2008 being his most successful season to date. However, he suffered a surprising reverse at the hands of mare Top Point in his only run so far this year. Also among the thirteen early entries are Triple Seven, Taebaek Janggun, Seven Card and Geumsuni.

Meanwhile, this coming Sunday sees the KRA Cup Mile at Busan. Final declarations will be made tomorrow. Gyongmaman will be attending the Football World Cup Qualifier between South Korea and North Korea at Sangam Stadium tomorrow evening so our preview of the big race will be up on Thursday.

Entries for the KRA Cup Mile, the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown, are out and missing from the list is last year’s top juvenile Nice Choice. Trainer Kim Hak Soo confirmed that the Seoul based colt will not make make the trip down to Busan for the April 5 race and will instead focus solely on May’s Korean Derby at his home track.

That last year’s Seoul entrants at Busan performed so disappointingly may have played a part in only two horses shipping down for the Cup Mile. Bae Dae Sun will send Money Teukgeup [Ft. Stockton – Headwork (Silveyville)] and Kim Yang Seon will saddle the filly Love Cat [Creek Cat – Love Cue (Curia Regis)]. Both should comfortably get the Mile trip but how they will adapt to Busan remains to be seen.

Love Cat is one of four fillies entered at this stage while in the absence of Nice Choice, Peter Wolsley’s Impeccable [Distilled – Belle Breezy (Foolish Pleasure)], who remains unbeaten in four outings looks likely to be favourite despite not having gone a mile before.

After the Cup Mile last year, a number of possible reasons were put forward to explain the dominance of Busan horses including the visiting jockeys being unfamiliar with the course and Busan’s uphill back straight being very different to that at Seoul. All of these were found to be wanting when Busan horses went to Seoul and swept the placings in both the Derby and Minister’s Cup later in the season. Here is a list of the entries with race records:

KRA Cup Mile (G.III) – Busan Race Park – 1600M – Apr 5, 2009

1. Yeonseung Daero C (7/5/1/1)
2. Sangseung Ilro F (5/3/1/1)
3. Namdo Jeap C (5/3/1/1)
4. Geumbit Sesang C (4/3/0/0)
5. Dream Wings F (5/2/1/0)
6. Sandeomi C (7/4/0/1)
7. Sky Star C (8/4/1/0)
8. Power Boy C (7/2/3/1)
9. Pangpang F (9/2/0/1)
10. Impeccable C (4/4/0/0)
11. Love Cat F (8/5/0/2)
12. Money Teukgeup C (7/2/3/1)

We’ll have a full preview once the final line up is confirmed next week.

Weekend Round-Up: Gaeseon Janggun who won the final leg of last year’s Triple Crown was back in the winner’s circle at Busan yesterday, beating Derby winner Ebony Storm into third place over 2000 metres. Meanwhile, up at Seoul, Hwangnyongsaji took the feature race and there was another win for the improving Symphony Sonata.

Down on Jeju Island it was another frustrating day as, for the second time in as many months, Sunday’s entire card was called off due to fog.

The KRA has announced that the trifecta will make its first appearance in Korea on KRA Cup Mile day on April 5. However, on the day, the bet will only be available on the actual Cup Mile race – the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown – which will take place at Busan Race Park. As with the five other types of bet, minimum stake will be 100 won and the maximum will be 100,000 won. Takeout will be 27%, in line with the Quinella and Exacta.

KRA Trifecta

In other gambling news, word is that our old friends at the National Gaming Control Commission (NGCC) aren’t happy with the number of pari-mutuel windows at Seoul Race Park. There are too many and apparently a queuing punter is a responsible punter.   One proposal is that the number of windows that can be open at any one time be reduced. Additionally, the NGCC is holding firm with its long stated aim of limiting off-track betting.

While the NGCC fine-tunes its latest proposals to protect Korean society, at least three  Korean provinces are reported to have expressed an interest in building a fourth race track, which would become necessary if the off-track KRA Plazas are forced to close or have further limits on their size.  Jeolla and Chungcheong Provinces are thought to be the most eager.

Elsewhere in the world of betting, there is happier news for those who bet on US racing. Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance readers can now get a substantial discount on past performance information from the Daily Racing Form. See the TBA Homepage for details.

It’s been confirmed that Playing Politics is to be retired from racing. As reported last week, the four year old gelding came back lame after winning his first race at class 1 level on February 21. An x-ray revealed a fracture to his knee and further tests showed he would not be able to return to the track.

Imported to Korea in October 2007, Playing Politics [Outflanker – Political Bluff (Unaccounted For)] is a half brother of Bally Brae, Korea’s most successful imported horse of the past few years. Playing Politics broke the Seoul Race Park track record for 1300 metres in his second outing and went on to win the JRA Trophy Race in October last year. Moving up to class 1, he defeated Subsidy in a race thought by many to symbolise the new generation taking over from the old and a match-up with Dongbanui Gangja – and possibly even Bally Brae himself – was to look forward to.

Instead it was his last race. Retiring with figures of six wins from seven races, we will never know if Playing Politics would have gone on to make the same impact as his older brother. The Korean blogger “샤카” has put together a very good video of all his seven races, complete with appropriately sad music, which is well worth a watch.

The newest addition to Korea’s stallion ranks is Ecton Park, winner of the 1999 Super Derby and Jim Dandy Stakes. The thirteen year old has been purchased by Jeju Island’s Isidore Farm where he will join Yehudi [Sadler’s Wells – Bella Vitessa (Thatching)], Isidore’s first stallion purchase in 2005 and whose first offspring are expected to begin racing later this year.

Ecton Park [Forty Niner – Daring Danzig (Danzig)] has long been a favoured stallion amongst Korean overseas racehorse buyers, with eleven of his foals having been imported. Among these have been Summit Party, the filly who won her first five races including the 2006 JRA Trophy and 2007 Segye Ilbo Cup.

Others include Miss Ecton, who won the Busan Ilbo in 2008, Ecton Cat who is on a run of eleven money winning finishes and Blue Dia, third in the 2007 KRA Cup Classic. Winner of that race was Pocketful of Money and coincidentally her sire, Running Stag [Cozzene – Fruhlingstag (Orsini)] is also a recent arrival in Korea.

Ecton Park’s stud fee for 2009 has reportedly been set at KRW 3.5 Million.

Hat-tip to Sid Fernando.

Playing Politics, winner of five of his six career starts, may never race again. The four year old gelding went wire to wire over 2000 metres in his first race in class 1 company on February 21, comfortably defeating a field including multiple winners Subsidy and Baekjeonmupae.

However, the Gyongma Munhwa (Racing Journal) reports a later x-ray showed a small fracture to his knee. Trainer Hong Dae You reported Playing Politics to have been in good shape before the race and having won comfortably carrying a light weight, showed no obvious ill-effects after.

Playing Politics [Outflanker – Political Bluff (Unaccounted For)] is a half brother of 2006 Horse of the Year Bally Brae. Brought to Korea as a two year old, he made his debut in May last year and broke the track record for six and a half furlongs in his second outing. He suffered his only defeat with a lacklustre performance in the YTN Cup, coming in fourth behind Vicar Love but after two months off, was back on form landing the JRA Trophy.

One more win at class two followed in 2008 before last week’s impressive run marked him down as a likely Grand Prix contender this year. Distressed trainer Hong said further tests will determine the severity of the fracture and whether his racing career can be saved.