Myeongmun Gamun didn’t disappoint in the feature race at Seoul Race Park this afternoon. Under Cho Kyung Ho, the President’s Cup holder went off 1.6 favourite and returned three lengths ahead of Gayansanseong (Kim Hey Sung) and Best Condition (Moon Se Young) the second and third favourites in the 2000 metre 34Million won handicap.

It was a beautiful day in the winter sunshine and just like yesterday, it was a day for outsiders. The longest priced winner was Rich Family in race 7, coming in at 45.4. Other long priced winners included the aptly named Miracle Winner at 19.8 in race 8. The day’s second most valuable race was race 11, won by Aegis Ham (Yang Hee Jin) at 5.9.

There were also six races at Busan, the feature race being the last won by Procyon (Chae Kyu Jun), the 4.4 second favourite.

FULL RESULTS FROM SEOUL CLICK HERE

FULL RESULTS FROM BUSAN CLICK HERE

FULL RESULTS FROM JEJU TO FOLLOW…

Eleven races were held in bright sunshine at Seoul Race Park this afternoon and with temperatures not falling as low as expected, there was a good day’s sport on offer. Races 10 and 11 were the joint feature races both 1900 metre contests, race 10 being for domestic bred horses and race 11 being for foreign bred. It was the domestic race where the shock occurres, Yoon Dae Keun bring home Kkumi Mulgyeol at 27.0 a length ahead of Morning Dance (Cho Kyung Ho) at 4.4. The foreign bred race went to form as 2.1 favourite Angus Empire (Kim Ok Sung) led home 2nd and 3rd favourites Dankee’s Pal and Geumbittuhon by a length and a half.

Earlier in the day, jockey Cho Kyoung Ho scored a treble with victories in races 6,7 and 8. Cheonyeonbulpae was strong favourite in race 6 but Torpedo Mast in race 7 and Chaser in race 8 both went off fourth favourites. In general it was a day of outsiders as aside from Cheonyeonbulpae, Useungcup (Moon Se Young) in race 5 was the only successful odds-on shot. Race 2 also saw an unusual dead heat finish for second place with Taepungchukje and Gold Dash tying 5 lengths behind winner, Nice Good.  Danny Craven had 4 rides coming closest with fourth place in race 10.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS.

There were nine races at Busan this afternoon. The feature race was won by the moderately fancied Admiral Reigert at 12.1 in a competitive race. The 2.8 favourite Hangye Geokbok came in second a length and three quarters back. Click here for full results.

Haengun Daewang got the better of former horse of the year Subsidy in today’s feature race at Seoul Race Park. The 34Million Won 17:10 saw Yoo Sang Wan guide Haengun Daewang the 2.2 favourite home a length ahead of Subsidy who went off second favourite at 3.0. The day’s second most valuable race was the last won by Jingyok Napal (Oh Kyung Hoan) at 4.1. Racing was competitive throughout but withdrawals to the highly fancied Rebound in race 6 and Photo Map in race 8 skewed the odds slightly. Favourites for the most part won with the longest price winner being Dunamjae in race 2 at 5.0 giving Moon Jung Kyun his first winner of 2008.

There were six races at Busan this afternoon although persistant rain meant there was a lower than hoped for turn out. The feature race was the 16:10, an 1800 metre handicap which was won by the 4.4 second favourite Keep It Quick, ridden by Cho Seung Keun a head in front of Hidden Hero (Im, Sung Shil) at 5.0. Race 5 saw an impressive win by Vitesse (Choi See Dae) at 5.5, timing his run to perfection to overcome Jincheol Han and favourite Myunggyung Cheolli by half a length.

There were also nine races at Jeju. The feature race was won by outsider Myeonggajarang (Han Young Min) at 19.4. It was a day of outsiders at Jeju as some racegoers became very rich, principally after race 5 – the exacta paying 214.0 on first placed Jeonseolihim and second Sokbojeondal.

Jockey’s Championship 2008
Eleven different jockeys won races at Seoul today. Moon Se Young took the first to consolidate his lead at the top of the table. Park Tae Jong finished second three times today but couldn’t build on his double yesterday and remains on four.

1. Moon Se Young 9

2. Cho Kyoung Ho 7

3. Yoon Dae Keun 5

4. Park Tae Jong 4

5. Choi Beom Hyun, Ikuyasu Kurukane, Kim Dong Kyun; 3

Danny Craven picks up fourth winner
Aussie jockey Danny Craven got his first winner of 2008 and his fourth in Korea in the last race of this afternoon’s meeting at Seoul Race Park. Craven had already had two unplaced rides before winning race 11 on the Australian bred Cash Parade which came home the 4.2 second favourite, two and a half lengths ahead of Yoo Sang Wan on Baekjonmupae in a race worth 22Million won to the winner.

Ride of the day came from Lee Shin Young, one of only two female jockeys at Seoul, who pulled off an outstanding victory in race 8 on outsider Nokhaji at 31.2. Lee took the horse from the back of the field to the front in the back straight to lead ny three lengths with three furlongs to go. Inevitably the field pulled her back, however, in the last furlong Lee asked the horse to go again and found the front right on the line a nose ahead of Jeon Deok young on Sollong Goes. A truly remarkable ride which was greeted with rare applause by racegoers – rare especially as clearly no-one had backed the horse.

Elsewhere there were two winners each for Moon Se Young and Park Tae Jong. Park’s second coming in race 6 which saw a blanket finish with the first four horses within a length of each other. Generally it was a day of outsiders with Magic Victor at 1.6 in race 4, the only successful odds-on shot all day. The feature race of the day saw victory for Flying Cat at 13.2 (Oh Kyoung Hoan) but only after favourite Secret Weapon (Park Tae Jong) had been disqualified.

Overall some exciting racing, especially races 6 and 8. Racing gets underway tomorrow at 11:00 at Seoul, 12:20 at Jeju and 13:00 at Busan.

Well…it was bitterly cold, but the absence of any wind made it a tolerable day at Seoul Race Park. Racing at Busan made for more breaks in the day’s card than is comfortable for a good day’s racing – but more on that later. On the track, the big race was race 10, a 1900 metre handicap, won in a close finish by Jungtongsung a 17.2 outsider ridden by Cho, Kyoung Ho a length ahead of Hongji (Jung, Ki Young) and Totoro (Ikuyasu). The strong favourite, Sebyokdongja (Moon, Se Young) was unplaced. Another odds-on favourites was overturned – Free Woody in race 6 getting beaten at 1.9 by Hammer Punch (3.6) but others came up, Headline News won Race 4 for Cho, Kyoung Ho and Erectus had his first outing of the year comfortably winning race 7.

There was another full card at Busan this afternoon. While it is an excellent idea to run races at Busan on Sunday to try to get people in the south of the country to go the track on the weekend (really there is no point in spending billions of won on a racetrack if you’re only going to run races on a Friday!) it is a shame that this means less races at Seoul. Ideally they should maintain full programs at both. For development of racing in Korea it is important that Busan runs weekend racing but it also important the Seoul Race Park offers an attractive day out if, as the KRA claims, it wants to move beyond being just a company that caters to the misery of gambling debts. Interestingly, the Busan races were valuable with prize money in the races that were simulcasted to Gwacheon matching that of Seoul. Korea Racing Blog will report on a card from Busan soon to see what’s happening down there.

Jockey’s Championship 2008: It looked like Cho, Kyoung Ho was going to catch up with Moon, Se Young until Moon won the last to move ahead again:

1. Moon, Se Young 6

2. Cho, Kyoung Ho 5

3. Yoon, Dae Keun 4

4.=. Yoo, Sung Wan; Choi Beom Hyun 3

6=. Ikuyasu Kurukane; Park Tae Jong; Shin, Hyoung Cheol; Jung, Ki Young 2

Eleven races again saw 11 different jockeys in the winner’s enclosure and a reasonable turn out at Seoul Race Park for what was an average Saturday card in terms of quality. There were two joint main races – the final two and it was in the first of these that we saw the day’s best contest. A 17.7 outsider, Leaders, ridden by Ikuyasu Kurukane took the race by a nose from Eunpamense (5.5) under Park, Tae Jong with the 2.2 favourite Yuel Mountain three-quarters of a length back in third.

In other races, apprentice jockey Choi, Won Jun rode his third career winner in race 9, a race notable for the fact that the favourite went off at 4.0 – exceptionally high by Korean standards – and was unplaced. Choi’s horse was second favourite at 4.5.

The 2008 racing year at Seoul Race Park began in bright sunshine this afternoon with a competitive main race won by 15.3 shot Hwangryongsaji (Choi, Beom Hyun). The 1800 metre handicap came down to the final few metres, Choi managing to hold off Park, Tae Jong on 1.6 favorite Namchoneuijichun by a length to claim the 52Million won prize. Every race was won by a different jockey, Moon, Se Young and Yoon, Dae Keun got their usual winners as did Ikuyasu Kurakane with a winner in the last. Danny Craven had three rides but was unplaced in each. The biggest priced winner of the day was a 70.5 shot which came home in race 7 under Choi, Jung Seob.

Racing returns at 11:00am tomorrow.

A bitterly cold day at Seoul Race Park with temperatures officially hovering around -6 but with a cruel wind making the conditions much worse. Still 12 races took place and it was a good day for veteran jockey Park, Tae Jong who notched up 3 winners. The most valuable race of the day was Race 11, a race over 1400 metres worth 31Million won to the winner. It was won by the favourite Good Day ridden by Jeon, Deok Young a length ahead of Ikuyasu Kurakane on Dalkane. Other odds-on favourites Gamadongja in race 6 and Baekpa in race 12 also came home in front. The longest priced winner was Chanranhanbit in race 9 returning at 15.1 in an open race on a day when class proved vital in the freezing conditions.

Australian Danny Craven experienced his first real taste of the Korean winter with some creditable rides, his best placing being a 4th behind Baekpa in the last race of the day. Overall, the final race day of 2007 was a day dominated by the cold with a lower than average turnout – many racegoaers found it too cold even to go outside to smoke. Hopefully it will warm up for next Saturday’s card – the first of 2008.

Bumper crowd sees Bally Brae take Grand Prix
Racing returned to Seoul Racecourse Park this week after last weekend’s unplanned hiatus and a huge crowd turned out Sunday for the 12 race card, the highlight being the Group 1 Grand Prix Race. Run over 2300 metres it’s the season’s longest race and is worth 182 Million won to the winner. The five year old Bally Brae with ten wins from 17 previous starts went off the 1.5 favourite under 2007’s top jockey Moon, Se Young, in a race that also featured old-stager Flying Cat and prolific winners Myeongmun Gamun (Chun, Chang Ki) and 2005 Horse of the Year, Subsidy (Oh, Kyung Hoan). And it proved to be these three who disputed the placings. Subsidy came round the field on the back straight to open a 5 length lead, however, as they rounded the turn, Moon asked Bally Brae to quicken up, catching Subsidy on three furlongs and then opening out into the final straight winning by a comfortable 5 lengths. Subsidy battled on for second and Chun, Chang Ki brought Myeongmun Gamun home for third. Fly Queen, (Park Tae Jong) finished fourth. The start of the race had been delayed by almost 5 minutes due to Myeongmun Gamun’s refusal to go into the stalls. It was looking like the horse was going to have to be withdrawn until a last ditch attempt – or brute force of about 10 handlers – finally got the 6 year old in. The owners owe the handlers a drink as the horse went on to win 45 million won for finishing third.

So Moon, Se Young confirms his position as Korea’s top jockey with yet another big race win. Earlier in the day he’d been in the winner’s enclosure after steering Happy Hero to victory in race 5. It’s getting to the stage where Moon’s booking on a horse is enough to bring its price down a good 2 or 3 points. He’s also beginning to get his share of groupies in the paddock…

Overall a good return to racing at Seoul – big crowd, good weather, good afternoon’s sport. More next week.