The weekend’s racing gets underway at Seoul Race Park at 11:20 on Saturday morning, the start of a 12 race card. Highlight is race 11 at 17:20 which sees Galsaem (16 wins from 27 starts) going up against Baekpa and old-stager Flying Cat in a 1900 meter handicap worth 43Million won.

While Saturday looks to be the best of the two days in terms of schedule and quality, Sunday’s card also offers some interesting prospects with 11 races also starting at 11:20 but with two 1 hour breaks in the afternoon. Subsidy runs in race 10 – the former horse of the year wasn’t fit last time out but could be back in form this time. There is also racing at Jeju both days with nine races starting at 12:20 and a six race card on Sunday at Busan starting at 12:40. Weather at all three tracks should be cold but clear and dry.

After taking last weekend off, racing is back this week and we start  on Friday afternoon with a valuable nine race card at Busan Race Park. As usual, the action gets underway at 1pm and culminates in a 42Million won race at 5:10pm where Perfect Champ will bid for his sixth win from eleven starts in an 1800 metre handicap. Busan will put on a further card on Sunday and Seoul and Jeju will, as usual run on both Saturday and Sunday.

Bally Brae, winner of the 2007 Grand Prix race last December, returns to the track in Saturday’s feature race. Moon Se Young will partner the 6 year old in race 11, off at 17:20, over 1900 metres.  Bally Brae has a record of 11 wins from his 18 races and despite dropping down in distance, should be clear favourite here.  There are 12 races at Seoul on Saturday with the first under orders at 11:20 and the last at 17:50.  There are also 9 races at Jeju, getting underway at 12:20.

The week’s racing gets underway at Busan at 13:00 on Friday afternoon, the beginning of a nine-race card. As usual the feature race is the last, an 1800 metre at handicap at 17:10 for foreign bred runners with 13 declared and a winning prize of 34Million won. There will be racing at Seoul and Jeju on Saturday & Sunday and Busan again on Sunday before racing takes a week off for Lunar New Year.

There are 11 races on both Saturday and Sunday getting underway at 11:00. The feature race on both days is race 10 which is under orders at 16:50 on Saturday and 17:10 on Sunday. Sunday’s is a 2000 metre handicap featuring a number of veteran horses including last year’s President’s Cup winner Myungmun Gamun (Cho Kyoung Ho). Also running are Sirius (Ham Wan Sik) and Gayasanseong (Kim Hey Sung)- a horse with nearly a billion won in career prize money. Danny Craven has 4 rides on Saturday but none on Sunday.The weather could be a problem – it’s several degrees below zero in Seoul right now and is forecast to remain so until Sunday at the earliest.

The card for tomorrow’s meeting at Busan has been released. There are 9 races with the first under orders at 13:00 and the last at 17:20 . The day’s feature race is the last, an 1800 metre handicap for foreign bred horses with a first place prize of 32Million won. In addition to tomorrow’s card, Busan will run a further 6 races on Sunday.

There’s racing at all three tracks over the weekend. Busan started things off with nine races this afternoon and will run a further six on Sunday with the first off at 13:00. The feature race is the last at 16:10, an 1800 metre handicap worth 32Million won to the winner.  Jeju has nine races on both Saturday and Sunday.

Seoul gets underway at 11:00 on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There are 11 races both days. Race 10 is the feature race each day off at 16:50 on Saturday and 17:10 on Sunday both with a 34Million won first place prize.   After this week’s temperatures of -10, the weekend is expected to be warmer with temperatures perhaps even making it to the right side of freezing.

Today’s card is already underway at Seoul Race Park. A mild night has removed fears of yesterday’s snowfall freezing over and all looks set for a reasonable day. Only 11 races again today and tomorrow but the breaks look less brutal than last week so it should be a better weekend for racegoers. The most valuable race today is race 10 at 16:50. So far the short priced horses are coming in – Yoon, Dae Keun winning the first on the 2.2 favourite, Yang, Hee Jin took the second at 4.6 and Park, Tae Jong has just taken the third.

Warning: Unless you get up early, you won’t see much racing
Another 11 races start at 11:ooam Sunday but a day at the races can hardly be recommended given the race schedule tomorrow. All three tracks – Seoul, Jeju and Busan –  are running cards and this means that at Seoul there is 55 minutes between races during the peak afternoon time. So unless you enjoy watching a lot of TV racing then stay home tomorrow.  For those who do have the patience to venture out, the best advice is to get there for the first at 11:00am and then leave after Race 5.  The most valuable race of the day is not until 5:10pm and is a handicap over 2000 metres.  Overall though, the card looks rather thin.

Schedules like this are a prime example of why a day at the races in Korea doesn’t have mass appeal.  From 11:50 to16:40 there is a break of an hour between every race,  no wonder it’s only hard-bitten gamblers who attend.

The first race day of 2008 sees just 11 races at Seoul Race Park. The first is under orders at 11:00am and the last at 5:30pm. To celebrate the New Year, Race 6 is a big handicap worth 52Million won to the winner, an unusual prize fund for a Saturday race. It’s worth warning that as there are only 11 races, there are three hour-long gaps in the card instead of the usual two, with Jeju races being shown at 12:20pm, 1:20pm and 2:20pm. The big race is off at 2:50pm. However, after last weekend’s unbearably cold conditions, temperatures are expected to get the right side of zero and the sun should be out, which should make for a good day.