Last year’s triple crown winner J.S. Hold, who hasn’t run since winning the Minister of Agriculture Cup last October, is on his way back to fitness. The horse has been suffering from Tendinitis which caused him to miss the end of year Grand Prix and many have doubted whether he would emerge as a four year old. J.S. Hold reportedly ran at racing speeds in sessions on the track during last week and a return to racing is on the cards. His injury is similar to that suffered by Baekgwang last year – Baekgwang returned to finish second in the Ttukseom Cup in April only to suffer a re-occurence which has sidelined him for another year – so further injuries are a big concern. Also set to return is Ganghomyeongjang, who finished only half a length behind J.S. Hold in the Minister’s Cup. Both horses finished four lengths clear of the star performer of this year so far, Namchonuijijon.

Derby day has arrived and it’s raining. There have been showers overnight and it is now forecast to develop into a persistant light rain throughout the afternoon which means that come 17:05 the track may have quite a bit of water in it. The morning tipsheets are mostly backing Rainmaker to take the Derby with some support for two of the other Busan horses Gaesan Janggun and Jeolho Chance. There’s some place support for Magic Victor and Mighty Galloper.

Work has begun on remodelling the interior of the “Happyville” grandstand of Seoul Race Park. Over the next 16 months, the entire grandstand will be extensively redeveloped to bring its facilities in-line with the neighbouring “Luckyville” grandstand. The work affected race-goers for the first time over the past weekend with the southern half of the stand being closed. Work on this section will continue until the end of December, when the Northern half will be closed with completion of the whole project scheduled for August 2009. The closure means fewer betting windows open although the KRA will open windows in Luckyville that are not currently in use on major race-days such as next week’s Korean Derby. The outdoor seats remain open along the whole length of the stand.

The start of the work coincided with the KRA opening an exhibition on the 1st floor of Luckyville celebrating “100 years of Korean Horse Racing” (which will come as a surprise to visitors to the history section of the KRA’s website).

With Moon Se Young, Park Tae Jong and Ikuyasu Kurakane all ruled out this weekend for various infringements, Cho Kyoung Ho was the only jockey in the top four with the chance to add to his winners for the year. Unfortunately for Cho, he failed to record a single victory over the weekend including defeats on two odds-on chances. Ham Wan Sik was the most successful with a treble on Sunday adding to one win on Saturday. Yoo Sang Wan landed three races across the weekend to move up to sixth:

1. Moon Se Young 50
2. Cho Kyoung Ho 44
3. Park Tae Jong 23
4. Ikuyasu Kurakane 18

Five Busan trained horses are entered in the 2008 Korean Derby which takes place at Seoul Race Park on Sunday May 18. Headed by KRA Cup Mile winner Rainmaker, the Busan contingent will be hoping to do better than than the runners from Seoul Race Park did when they travelled down to Busan for the Cup Mile in April where, despite much build-up, the highest placed finisher was Sammuae in a disappointing fifth. We’ll have a full preview of the Korean Derby during next week, but for now, these are the Busan entrants:

1. Rainmaker – (6 races/3 wins/3 seconds) – Never outside the top two finishers and has won his last two, including the KRA Cup Mile.

2. Cheongnyenuigisang – (7/3/0/0) – After an indifferent year as a juvenile, the colt has a 100% record from three races in 2008.

3. Jeolho Chance – (8/4/1/1) – The filly was third in the KRA Cup Mile.

4. Ebony Storm – (10/4/0/3) – A mixed record but won last time out in a KRW 31Million handicap.

5. Namdo Jijon – (7/1/4/0) – The colt finished fourth in the KRA Cup Mile and finished second to Rainmaker in his previous outing.

Moon Se Young’s victory on Sichuseon in the Netizen’s Day race yesterday afternoon was his fiftieth of the season, however, Cho Kyoung Ho managed to narrow the gap slightly to six after managing a double on both days. Park Tae Jong marked his return from a two week ban with three winners on Sunday and Ikuyasu Kurakane continued his good run of form with three wins over the weekend. Shim Seung Tae is in fifth place on 16 and Woo Chang Gu, the highest placed retained jockey in the list with 13. Jockeys retained by trainers are only allowed a limited number of rides each week so freelancers – of which there are 18 at Seoul – dominate the leaderboard:

1. Moon Se Young 50

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 44

3. Park Tae Jong 23

4. Ikuyasu Kurakane 18

With Cho Kyoung Ho and Park Tae Jong both absent, Moon Se Young was the only one of the top three jockeys in action at Seoul Race Park over the weekend, managing three wins to go eight clear of Cho. Moon was, unsurprisingly voted “MVP” for the first quarter and is on course to break Park’s 2000 record of 120 winners in a calendar year. Ikuyasu Kurakane landed three over the weekend to move into fourth place on 16 winners and there were victories for both of the female riders, Lee Ae Li and Lee Shin Young who moved onto 2 and 5 winners respectively. Lee Ae Li’s weekend finished early, however, injuring a finger during race 2 on Sunday.

1. Moon Se Young 48

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 40

3. Park Tae Jong 20

4. Ikuyasu Kurakane 16

Seoul Jockey’s Championship – With Moon Se Young absent over the weekend, Cho Kyoung Ho scored five winners to move within 5 at the top of the jockey’s championship. Park Tae Jong, back in third, was also absent through suspension although he maintains a 6 win lead over Shim Seung Tae who has moved into fourth on his own. Other notable results from the weekend included a treble for Ikuyasu Kurakane – his first in Korea – on Saturday, and a first win for nearly a year for female jockey Lee Ae Li on Sunday:

1. Moon Se Young 45

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 40

3. Park Tae Jong 20

4. Shim Seung Tae 14