There was Class 1 action at Seoul Racecourse on Saturday afternoon and it was 8/1 shot Ganghae who returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in over a year as he got the best of a tight finish to win the seven furlong contest.
Ganghae (Didyme) recorded consecutive 2nd place finishes in Stakes races last year but yesterday would record his 7th career win, racing forward throughout under jockey Choi Bum Hyun and holding off the fast finishing 2nd-favourite Grade Captain by a neck on the line.
Grade Captain was ridden by Djordje Perovic and the “Balkan Wolf” was in superb form throughout the day, partnering three winners; Power Jeongsang in race 3, Bulkkochwangja in race 5 and Whiz Speed in race 6 to move onto 59 Korean winners.
In other races, US filly Wow Cat (Cowtown Cat) continued her development, taking the class 3 race 10 by just over a length to chalk up her 3rd win in 7 starts.
Racing retirns to Seoul Sunday with 11 races including the Donga Ilbo Cup. Race 1 is at 10:50. There are 6 races at Busan with the first underway at 1pm.
The 2016 Principal Race program got underway at Seoul Racecourse this afternoon and the majority of punters were left frustrated as 66/1 chance Global Fusion emerged the winner of the six furlong Segye Ilbo Cup.
Global Fusion in the Segye Ilbo Cup winner’s circle
On a bright but chilly afternoon in the Korean capital, Seonbong was sent off as a warm favourite but while he wasn’t too far off the early pace, which as expected was set by Kim Dong Soo on Always Winner, he would fail to be involved at the business end of the race.
Always Winner would battle on well but while the well-backed Power City would come with a late run, quicker than them all would be Global Fusion. A 7-year-old gelding, Global Fusion hadn’t visited the winner’s circle since the New Year’s Commemorative race all the way back in 2013.
Under Yoo Seung Wan, Global Fusion broke from gate 7 and settled towards the rear of the 12-strong field. Still in eighth place entering the home straight. His finish though was too strong as he passed first Magic Dancer and finally Always Winner close to the line.
It was a seventh win in total for Global Fusion and for jockey Yoo Seung Wan, his 2nd Segye Ilbo Cup, having partnered Indian Blue to victory three years ago (when the race was for fillies).
Segye Ilbo Cup (Listed) – Seoul Racecourse – 1200M – Jan 31, 2016
1. Global Fusion (KOR) [Menifee – Morning Red Sky] – Yoo Seung Wan – 67.6, 8.9 2. Always Winner (KOR) [Creek Cat – Halla’Teukgeup] – Kim Dong Soo – 6.6 3. Power City (KOR) [Archer City Slew – Power Bull] – Park Tae Jong – 1.6 Distances: Neck/3 lengths Also Ran: 4. Magic Dancer 5. Forty Cure 6. Seonbong 7. Geomtan 8. Long Speed 9. Royal Star 10. Lion Star 11. Yaho Sky Cat 12. Portray
At Busan on Sunday afternoon, Beolmaui Kkum, for some time ranked as the number one horse in Korea, returned to the track for the first time in over six months in winning fashion. The six-year-old beat Gamdonguibada and Cowboy Son in a high class 1400M race in track-record-equaling time.
Italian jockey Nicola Pinna landed his biggest Korean winner to date as he guided home the unbeaten OS Hwadap in a Juvenile Special race on Sunday afternoon at Seoul Racecourse.
The race was one of a pair of valuable races for juveniles who had already passed their training test before entering the racecourse for the first time. An equivalent race on Saturday restricted to Korean bred horses was won by Clean Up King (Strike Again) but the main interest was in Sunday’s event which was open to the imports.
Three came in undefeated, including OS Hwadap but it was Miso Wangja, under Djordje Perovic, already a winner at the race distance of 1400M who was sent off as the favourite. He jumped a little wide whereas under Pinna, OS Hwadap was quickly into a lead that he never looked like giving up, running on to win by almost three lengths on the line and take his 100% record to four races.
Perovic himself didn’t exactly have a bad end to the year, riding four winners on a rare Friday afternoon card in the capital.
Also of interest on Sunday was New White Socks, who had seemed almost unbeatable at distances up to 1700M but had been beaten in four previous tries at 1800M. On Sunday, he was stepped up to 2000M and while punters didn’t keep faith, sending him off at close to 7/1, connections evidently knew what they were doing and New White Socks this time stayed on to grind out a half-length victory.
New White Socks will be one to watch as a four-year-old and OS Hwadap one to watch as a three-year-old. However, that’s it for Seoul Racecourse in 2015 with Busan set to close out the year in Korean racing with cards this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Bold Kings maintained his unbeaten record after getting the best of a thrilling stretch duel with Gumpo Sky to win the most prestigious race on the Korean calendar, the Grand Prix Stakes, at Seoul Racecourse this afternoon.
Bold Kings and Jo Sung Gon in the Grand Prix winner’s circle
Trained by Australian Peter Wolsley and ridden by Jo Sung Gon, Bold Kings was sent off the third choice in the betting market with President’s Cup winner Triple Nine the clear favourite.
Gamdonguibada, winner of this race in 2012, would set the early pace and she was joined up front, as expected, by Gumpo Sky, a 40/1 outsider. Bold Kings was in close attendance throughout as was Triple Nine.
As they turned into the home straight, Gamdonguibada weakened but Gumpo Sky kept on going and going. On the rail, Bold Kings got his nose in front and while Gumpo Sky gave no quarter and Clean Up Joy, Triple Nine and Clean Up Cheonha started to press down the outside, Bold Kings simply would not get beaten.
The distance between the winner and the runner-up would be a neck throughout the final furlong. As good as the ride was by Jo Sung Gon, his horse gave everything to win in what was a proper horse race. Bold Kings was not letting anything best him today.
So it had been all year. Bold Kings was a $14,000 purchase at Fasig Tipton’s Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2013 and arrived in Korea in Spring 2014. He didn’t make his debut until this March and arrived here today with just six starts behind him. He had won them all, including a trial for this race last month stretch run in which a similarly battling performance in the home straight, served as a preview for today.
Gumpo Sky was immense in 2nd place and the rest of them, even Triple Nine in 4th, lost nothing in defeat.
For Jo Sung Gon it was a first Grand Prix winner as it was too for Peter Wolsley. The Australian trainer recently marked eight years in Korea and while he won the Minister’s Cup last year with Never Seen Before, this is his greatest triumph. He goes into 2016 with the hottest property in Korean racing in his stable.
Grand Prix Stakes (KOR G1) – Seoul Racecourse – 2300M – Dec 13, 2015
1. Bold Kings (USA) [Afleet Express – Gilded Time (Bold Arrival)] – Jo Sung Gon – 6.6, 2.8 2. Gumpo Sky (KOR) [Vicar – Perfect Storm (Didyme)] – Ikuyasu Kurakane – 7.7 3. Clean Up Joy (USA) [Purge – Greta’s Joy (Joyeux Danseur)] – Ham Wan Sik – 1.4 Distances: Neck / 0.5 lengths Also Ran: 4. Triple Nine (KOR) 5. Clean Up Cheonha (USA) 6. Chief Red Can (USA) 7. Heba (USA) 8. Cheonjae Bogo (NZ) 9. Gamdonguibada (USA) 10. Nobody Catch Me (USA) 11. Gandai (KOR) 12. Sotong SIdae (KOR) 13. Cinderella Man (KOR) 14. Damyang Chukje (USA) 15. Goji Jeongbeol (USA) 16. Unbeatable (USA)
After fifteen long months in the Korean racing wilderness, Queen’s Blade, the 2014 Korean Derby and Oaks winning filly, was back in the winner’s circle at Seoul Racecourse this afternoon having triumphed in the Jeju Governor’s Cup.
Queen’s Blade in the Jeju Governor’s Cup winner’s circle
Being sent to the USA is generally a career death-knell for a Korean racehorse with connections understandably taking advantage of the inexplicably generous subsidy available for running a Korean Group race winner in the States (you have to do it three times and one of them must be a Stakes race) only when they feel their horse isn’t going to win an equivalent amount at home anymore.
And while Queen’s Blade, unlike another Derby winning filly Speedy First, was at least sound, she wasn’t in race shape in America and duly met with the now familiar humiliation that greets participants in this program. Home, retirement and the breeding shed seemed to await, not the racecourse.
This filly was a little different though and after the three-month spell on the farm that she was long overdue, she returned to work last month, flying through a barrier trial and found herself in the starting gate today.
True, this was not the toughest assignment first up with race-watchers here scratching their heads trying to recall a weaker looking Stakes race which had no upper class or rating limit on its entrants. They put on a decent show though and under a characteristically skilful ride from Japanese jockey Ikuyasu Kurakane, Queen’s Blade battled hard to earn victory by a neck.
Queen’s Blade was always handy and while she and stablemate Bukbeol Sinhwa (a full sister to President’s Cup winner Triple Nine) stayed on, the rest of the early front-runners would fade in the closing stages and it was left to closers Pinot Noir and Meni Money to get the closest to the winner with Pinot Noir, an 18/1 chance, just running out of track in the end.
Queen’s Blade is a half sister to 2008 Korean Oaks winner Jeolho Chance and was recording her first victory since her own Oaks success last August. It was her 8th career win in total from sixteen (Korean) starts. For jockey Ikuyasu Kurakane it was a third Korean Stakes race win while for trainer Kim Young Kwan it was business as usual in the biggest races.
Jeju Governor’s Cup (KOR G3) – Seoul Racecourse – 1400M – November 15, 2015
1. Queen’s Blade (KOR) [Menifee – Harboring (Boston Harbor)] – Ikuyasu Kurakane – 2.9, 1.6 2. Pinot Noir (KOR) [Capital Spending – Neungnyeokchungman (Pacificbounty)] – Park Eul Woon – 2.9 3. Meni Money (KOR) [Menifee – Pocketful Of Money (Running Stag)] – Seo Seung Un – 1.7 Distances: Neck/2 lengths Also Ran: 4. Bukbeol Sinhwa 5. X File 6. Smart Time 7. Winner’s Marine 8. Indian Star 9. Hwanggembitjijung 10. Jokwang 11. Jibong Sarang 12. Appealing Star 13. Space Shuttle 14. Chongal Gongju 15. Blue Guardian 16. Geumbit Hwanhui
There isn’t a jockey challenge bet in Korea but if there was, yesterday at Busan it would have been a two-man race with Jo Sung Gon and Ikuyasu Kurakane dominating the Friday afternoon card.
Four winners: Ikuyasu Kurakane (Pic: Hiromi Kobayashi)
Of course, punters had seen this coming. With the likes of Kim Yong Geun, Choi Si Dae and Masa Tanaka among eight Busan riders in Seoul for the President’s Cup on Sunday (Union rules say a jockey who has the temerity to go and ride in a big race at the other track isn’t allowed to ride at his or her home track on the same weekend) and You Hyun Myung on the long-term injured list, Jo and Kurakane were really the only Big Beasts of the weighing room in action.
Jo Sung Gon managed to get himself beaten on two favourites but like Kurakane, still emerged with four winners from the eleven-race card.
Highlight of Jo’s winners was perhaps a dominant victory for the young US import Doraonpogyeongseon (Kantharos) the third of his four winners which all arrived consecutively in races 5 to 8. Doraonpogyeongseon, named after a Grand Prix winning horse of the 1990’s, was getting his maiden win on his second start.
Kurakane’s winners arrived in pairs. He rode two-year-old debut-maker My Alice (Limitless Bid) to an eye-catching, albeit hard to judge how good it really was, eleven-length triumph in race 2 but the highlight was in the final race 11 when he guided two-year-old import Gakbyeolhan (Big Brown) to win by three lengths.
Four winners: Jo Sung Gon
The juvenile Gakbyeolhan was beating seven older horses over a mile on what was just his third career start and looks quite a prospect.
Had there been a jockey challenge and had it been run under Hong Kong rules, Kurakane would have come out as the winner due to riding three 2nd place finishers as well – two of them behind Jo’s winners. Contrastingly Jo, aside from his winners, only got one other into the top three.
While the eight Busan riders in the capital will be riding in the big race on Sunday afternoon, both Jo Sung Gon and Ikuyasu Kurakane have a full book of rides on Busan’s short six-race card on Sunday. It would be very surprising if either failed to add to their weekend total.
Urawa-based Satono Tiger was too strong for Cheon Gu and the other Korean raiders as he ensured the honours remained on home soil with a comfortable victory in the Interaction Cup at Ohi last night.
Satono Tiger goes clear (Pic: sanspo.com)
As expected it was Cheon Gu (Old Fashioned) who set the early pace but Satono Tiger (King Kamehameha), a 7-year-old horse who had won seven of his forty-one primarily JRA starts and was top sprinter in the NAR last year, took things up inside the final two furlongs and cruised away for a comfortable victory.
The fast finishing Major Athlete (Daiwa Major) on the outside and Fire Prince (On Fire) on the rail knocked Cheon Gu out of the places in the closing stages with the Seoul trained three-year-old hanging on for 4th. The other two Korea-trained entrants Cowboy Son and Dynamic Jilju finished in 8th and 10th.
Horse Racing in Korea 