The KRA’s website is reporting that Australian jockey Danny Craven is set to move to Busan.  Craven came to Seoul Race Park in November 2007 on a six month contract during which he has so far ridden five winners from 102 rides.  His initial contract with the KRA finishes on May 14th and it is reported that he will relocate to South Gyeongsang province for a further three months which will keep him in Korea until the middle of August.

Park Tae Jong has been handed a two day ban for his ride of Baekgwang in the Ttukseom Cup on Sunday. Park dropped his whip with 50 metres to go (wrongly attributed by me to him recognising Baekgwang’s injury) and this being his third offence recently, the ban was imposed. Meanwhile, Baekgwang will be out of action for at least a year.

Seoul Jockey’s Championship

Moon Se Young scored a treble on Saturday and Cho Kyoung Ho a treble on Sunday. Both jockeys added one more victory on the other day so there’s no change at the top of the table with Moon leading by ten. It was a winless weekend for Park Tae Jong who nevertheless, remains in third.

1. Moon Se Young 45

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 35

3. Park Tae Jong 20

4 = Shim Seung Tae; Choi Beom Hyun 12

Shim Seung Tae was the weekend’s biggest winner with five victories nearly doubling his total for the season so far. Moon Se Young crossed the forty mark with three winners and Cho Kyoung Ho stayed within ten. Park Tae Jong lost on three favourites on Saturday but scored a double on Sunday to move on to 20.

1. Moon Se Young 41

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 31

3. Park Tae Jong 20

4. Choi Beom Hyun 12

Back on the Gold Coast, Garry Baker has been speaking about his time in Korea again, this time in an interview with Queensland Racing Magazine. As in other interviews Baker generally looks back quite positively on his time at Busan although noting that the quality of horses was “very average” and that “racing (in Korea) is probably like it was in Japan about 30 years ago”. Read the full article here.

Also the Chosun Ilbo today reported details on the KRA’s alleged misconduct as found by the Board of Audit and Inspection. Article.

On a bad Monday morning for the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), the state auditor named it as one of seven public companies out of thirty one inspected that will face punishment for various wrongdoings. The KRA’s alleged offence appears to have been to declare overtime work payments as “basic fees” thereby paying its employees too much. The announcement has intensified calls in some parts of the media for the KRA along with the other public companies (including the Korea Coal and Oil Corporations) to be privatised, as well as speculation that executives in the companies – who are appointed by the government may be replaced after the April 9 National Assembly elections. See articles here and here.

The KRA has come under fire for Sunday’s late cancellation which apparently came after some racegoers had entered the track. Local press has put the cause of the cancellation of racing on what turned out to be a mild and dry, if slightly breezy, spring day on the supposedly all-weather track down to there being excessive salt in the track which, during Saturday’s downpours turned the course into a quagmire. This had severely impeded jockey’s visibility making racing too dangerous. Indeed both last Sunday and on Saturday, conditions did not look fit for racing. Sunday was the fourth day of racing called off at Seoul in the past year – one following the death of jockey Lim Dae Gyu during a race last August and another two in November due to industrial action.

Seoul Jockey’s Championship 2008
With just one day of racing over the weekend there wasn’t much change at the top of the leaderboard. Cho Kyoung Ho recorded two wins to Moon Se Young’s one to move to within ten winners. Shim Seung Tae also scored a double as did Choi Beom Hyun who moved into double figures for the year.

1. Moon Se Young 38

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 28

3. Park Tae Jong 18

4. Woo Chang Gu; Oh Kyoung Hoan; Choi Beom Hyun 11

Today’s card at Seoul Race Park has been called off because of track conditions. Racing at Busan and Jeju will go ahead

Seoul Jockey’s Championship
Cho Kyoung Ho rode five seconds but only one winner on a weekend where Moon Se Young went 11 clear at the top of the jockey’s championship. Cho won Race 1 on Saturday but then suffered a series of near misses, notably on hot favourite Wind Rush in race 6. Moon Se Young picked up three winners on Saturday, including Bally Brae – after which he voiced his concern that Bally Brae was carrying too much weight in handicaps and was in danger of injuring himself – and a further two in the quagmire conditions on Sunday. Woo Chang Gu moved into double figures for the year and Ikuyasu Kurakane ended his recent lean spell with two winners on both days, doubling his year’s total to 8.

1. Moon Se Young 37

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 26

3. Park Tae Jong 17

4. Woo Chang Gu; Oh Kyoung Hoan 11

5. Chun Chang Ki 10