Fly Top Queen made her way back to the winner’s circle in dominant fashion at Seoul Race Park today, crushing her opposition in the Segye Ibo Cup.
Fly Top Queen was back in the winner’s circle
Having suffered her first ever career defeat in Japan last November and putting in a poor performance on her season debut over 1700 metres last month, there were those who thought Korea’s most expensive ever import was a half-season wonder.
However, dropped back to 7 furlongs and with likely favourite Strong Wind a late scratching, Fly Top Queen was backed into odds-on and she didn’t mess about.
Gunned out of the widest gate, jockey Park Tae Jong took the 4-year-old to the front early and never looked back, cruising away from the field in the home straight to win by a distance of their choosing.
Behind them the Australian bred pair of Marica and Felix Joy came in 2nd and 3rd but they might as well have been running in a different race. so outclassed they were by the winner.
The victory and the manner of it – even against less than exalted opposition – puts Fly Top Queen firmly in the frame for the opening leg of the Queens’ Tour, the Ttukseom Cup at Seoul next month. There, also at 7 furlongs, Joy Lucky awaits. That should be a good one.
Segye Ilbo Cup – Seoul Race Park – 1400M – February 16, 2014
1. Fly Top Queen (USA) [Henny Hughes – Cape Discovery (Cape Town)] – Park Tae Jong 2. Marica (AUS) [Reset – Teneales Pearl (Redoute’s Choice)] – Jang Chu Youl 3. Felix Joy (AUS) [Hard Spun – Royal Amity (His Majesty)] – Yoo Seung Wan
It’s been a while but Stakes action finally returns to Seoul on Sunday in the shape of the Segye Ilbo Cup.
Fly Top Queen is among the Segye Ilbo contenders (Pic: Ross Holburt)
A rarity on the calendar in that it is restricted to fillies and mares of up to class 2 level, it serves both as an opportunity for imported fillies to win a big race and also as an important trial for those hoping to get a run in the Queens’ Tour series of races, which begins in March.
A field of 14 will contest this year’s edition and as usual it is a mix of young up-and-coming fillies and older mares who haven’t yet made the breakthrough to class 1. It should be a very open betting race with many having chances. Here’s a full run down of the field:
Segye Ilbo Cup – Seoul Race Park – 1400M – February 16, 2014 – 16:35
1. Socheonha (NZ) [Duelled – Interdame (Senor Pete)] 5 (36/1/3/5) – Ikuyasu Kurakane
Her only win came more than 2 years ago but she was 3rd last time out behind Xicar who has since performed well at Class 1. With Kurakane riding, she is a live outside bet. 5th in this race last year.
2. Felix Joy (AUS) [Hard Spun – Royal Amity (His Majesty)] 3 (12/1/2/2) – Yoo Seung Wan
A visually impressive winner over this distance last time out to finally break her maidem. That was at class 3 and she has recent losses to rivals here including Daeryugui Byeol and Marika. Another possible outside bet.
3. Strong Wind (NZ) [Duelled – Seams Of Gold (Made Of Gold) 3 (7/4/1/0) – Oh Kyung Hoan
The likely favourite, she comes into the race off of 3 consecutive wins and has beaten most of this field before. Seemingly class 1 bound sooner or later, if she runs to her best, she will be tough to beat.
4. Daeryugui Byeol (USA) [Rock Hard Ten – Big Miss (Chief Honcho) 4 (18/1/3/2) – Seo Seung Un
Has been in the money in her last 4 outings and has the most in-form jockey in Seoul riding. She shouldn’t have much chance of a win but she will have her backers.
5. Raon Bold (USA) [Big Brown – Wolfendale Island (Unbridled)] 4 (12/3/1/1) – Ham Wan Sik
Has two wins and a 3rd from her last four starts over two turns and drops down in distance here to look a solid bet for a place.
6. Geum Jello (USA) [First Defence – Jennifer Rose (Hennessy)] 4 (13/2/03) – Lee Chan Ho
Holds a win over the distance but has put in two consecutive poor performances since graduating to class 2. She’s had over a month off since the last one but she’s difficult to recommend here.
7. Namsan Chukje (KOR) [Volponi – Simple Charm (Capote)] 4 (13/4/2/1) – Jo In Kwen
One of just two Korean bred entrants, she was 2nd in the Nonghyup Chairman’s Trophy over this distance last November. May find herself a little outclassed here though and she’ll be an outsider.
8. Big Power (USA) [A.P.Warrior – Dixie Satin (Dynaformer)] 5 (20/3/1/1) – Lee Sang Hyeok
never disgraced but hasn’t been in contention in her last few outings and there’s not much to suggest that will change here.
9. Marica (AUS) [Reset – Teneales Pearl (Redoute’s Choice)] 3 (7/2/2/2) – Jang Chu Youl
Third behind Strong Wind and Raon Ruby at the end of December and a disappointing season’s debut last month – albeit over a much longer distance – doesn’t give much confidence of her reversing that form.
10. Fly Winner (USA) [Unbridled Energy – Legendary Destiny (Giant’s Causeway)] 6 (19/1/1/4) – Lee Ah Na
Another who has found life difficult since reaching class 2 level. Not to be recommended here.
11. Smart Chestnut (USA) [Corinthian – Stillbe (Wavering Monarch)] 4 (19/1/2/3) – Park Sang Woo
In awful form of late and is making the numbers up. No chance.
12. Pinot Noir (KOR) [Capital Spending – Neungnyeokchungman (Pacific Bounty)] 4 (9/3/3/1) – Park Hyun Woo
The second Korean bred entrant has talent but hasn’t run since a poor effort in November. She’ll likely be a long price.
13. Raon Ruby (USA) [Tapit – Daisy Dukes (Ghazi)] 4 (10/2/3/1) – Cho Kyoung Ho
Will have plenty of support and was narrowly beaten by Strong Wind last time out and there are those who will fancy her to overturn that. It will be tough but she should be involved at the business end of the race.
14. Fly Top Queen (USA) [Henny Hughes – Cape Discovery (Cape Town)] 4 (6/4/0/0) – Park Tae Jong
Defeat in Japan in November followed by a lacklustre performance last month when she finished behind three of her rivals here have taken a little of the shine off Korea’s most expensive ever import. If she runs at her best, she’s streets ahead of this field but doubts over exactly which Fly Top Queen will show up mean she won’t be favourite.
The Segye Ilbo Cup is race 9 of an 11-race card at Seoul on Sunday which runs from 10:50 to 18:00. There are also 6 races at Busan from 12:45 to 17:00
Smarty Moonhak (Smarty Jones), one of the most talented and talked about horses to race in Korea in recent times, has been retired after suffering a recurrence of the tendonitis that had previously kept him off the track for over a year.
Smarty Moonhak (KRA)
The 5-year-old had been spelled for a month after taking part in the Grand Prix Stakes in December but returned to Seoul Racecourse seemingly in good shape in mid-January. However, after several days of light work, swelling was noticed on January 31 and five days the return of the tendonitis was diagnosed.
Having had stem-cell treatment once already, the decision was taken to officially retire him and the horse has returned to Taepyeong Farm.
A $14,000 purchase from the 2010 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Smarty Moonhak, out of the Black Tie Affair mare Madeira M’Dear, arrived in Korea in February 2011 and after acclimatizing at Taepyeong, was sent into the care of trainer Ko Ok Bong at Seoul Racecourse.
He made his racing debut in May of that year, finishing 2nd to New Zealand import Mister Captain – a horse who would have his own very promising career cut short through injury after just three starts. Smarty Moonhak was sent off at odds of 24/1 in that race but he was the odds-on favourite by the time of his next start where he broke his maiden with a comfortable win over 6 furlongs.
Phenom: Smarty Moonhak wins the TJK Trophy as a 2-year-old (KRA)
He would stroll his next 3 races too, culminating in a eleven-length win in the Listed TJK Trophy at the beginning of November. Despite only being 2-years-old, he came back from that race, which was run over 1800 metres, looking as though he could have quite easily have gone round again.
It was because of this that his name was added to the ballot for the season-ending Grand Prix Stakes – a race similar to Japan’s Arima Kinen in that racing fans get to vote on which horses they want to see run in the season-ending showpiece.
Smarty Moonhak was voted in by a landslide becoming the first ever Juvenile to take part. On the day, He ran a game and valiant 3rd behind Horse of the Year Tough Win and the defending champion Mister Park. Despite not being eligible for the Triple Crown, Smarty Moonhak’s 3-year-old campaign was the most highly anticipated in years.
That campaign started as expected. Four consecutive routine wins meant that he arrived on the South coast for the Busan Mayor’s Trophy – informally known as the “Summer Grand Prix” as the overwhelming favourite.
He ran well that evening but while he was always towards the front of the field, he never looked like catching the winner, Dangdae Bulpae, who he finished two lengths adrift of in 2nd.
When he returned to Seoul, however, detailed veterinary examinations revealed that Smarty Moonhak was suffering from tendonitis in his left-foreleg. It was a very similar injury to the one that ended the career of that year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another on the eve of his bid to sweep the US Triple Crown.
The stem cell treatment process was a long one and if truth be told, few expected Smarty Moonhak to ever race again. Nevertheless, in July 2013, a year after his diagnosis, he was quietly returned to the racecourse.
It was with a different trainer – he’d been away for so long that Mr. Ko had retired in the meantime. A month later he breezed through his race-trial before making his comeback in a low-key class 1 race in early October. He finished 6th but more importantly, came through unscathed and looking sharp.
A month later, he was back in the winner’s circle, making a dashing late run to win a class 1 sprint over 6 furlongs. That was enough for him to once more be voted into the Grand Prix Stakes. In what would ultimately be his last race, he showed at the front early before fading into a mid-field finish.
Of course, with hindsight, he shouldn’t have come back at all. But almost all racing fans here will have to admit to have being delighted when he did. Now that delight is replaced with relief that he didn’t suffer an even worse injury.
Smarty Moonhak’s final win (KRA)
A half-brother has just been born. Smarty’s dam, Maderira M’Dear, was imported to Korea in 2012 and recently delivered a colt by Ecton Park. We will be looking out for him on the Korean Triple Crown trail in 2017. As for Smarty Moonhak himelf, he is recuperating at Taepyeong Farm before most likely becoming the resident stallion in the small breeding operation there.
Overall, he ran 14 times, winning 9 of them and won about $600,000. He also gained an overseas following by virtue of being a son of the wildly popular Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones. Although he may never have come close to reaching his true potential, in terms of impact, few have matched Smarty Moonhak.
Joy Lucky began her 2014 campaign in fine style with an easy gate-to-wire win at Seoul Race Park this afternoon.
Winner Again: Joy Lucky and Seo Seung Un
If anything it was too easy with the 7-furlong class 1 race proving little more than a workout for the 4-year-old who ended 2013 as Seoul’s top filly.
Under Seo Seung Un, Joy Lucky took an early lead and settled into a steady pace before sauntering away from her rivals in the home straight to win by a leisurely 9 lengths.
Despite how easy it was, her time was only just over half a second outside the track record for the distance.
Joy Lucky (Ecton Park) now has 8 wins from 11 starts and looks set for a very interesting year. The Queens’ Tour, which begins with the Ttukseom Cup in just over a month’s time, may be on the agenda.
There was no joy for the foreign jockeys at either Seoul or Busan today, but it will still go down as a successful weekend for them. On Friday at Busan, Joe Fujii landed a double while there were also wins for Jerome Lermtye and Masa Tanaka.
Meanwhile in the capital on Saturday, Ikuyasu Kurakane notched a treble, taking him up to 11 wins for the season. The most notable of those victories came on the promising 3-year-old filly Clean Up Speed (Pico Central), who was recording her 3rd win from 5 starts.
It was another wintry weekend in Seoul
Next week sees the return of big race action in the shape of the Segye Ilbo Cup, a Queens’ Tour trial, at Seoul. Joy Lucky doesn’t need to run in it but a host of domestic and imported fillies looking for their pass to compete for the big prizes will be there.
We’re back! After a weekend off for the holiday, the first racing in Korea in the Year of the Horse gets underway at Busan on Friday, the beginning of a busy 3 days on the peninsula.
Joy Lucky makes her 2014 debut this weekend(Pic: KRA)
Pick of the action is at Seoul on Sunday where Joy Lucky (Ecton Park), who finished last year as the strongest filly in the country, kicks off her 2014 campaign in the first of co-feature races. She’ll have the likes of Full Moon Party and Magnifique for company as she drops back to 7 furlongs.
Saturday at Seoul sees plenty of up-and-comers on show. 3-year-old US imports Winning Andy (Cowboy Cal) and Hwanggeum Tap (Tiz Wonderful) finished off last year impressively and look like ones to watch this.
On the domestic front, Jangsan Horangi, Call Me Rocket, Geumbit Hwanhui and Clean Up Speed are all worth watching in their respective races on Saturday.
Friday February 7 Busan Race Park: 11 races from 11:40 to 18:00 Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 13:30 to 17:20
Saturday February 8 Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 18:00 Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:30 to 17:30
Sunday February 9 Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 11:00 to 18:00 Busan Race Park: 6 races from 12:45 to 17:00
The lot of a foreign jockey here is not an easy one. And it’s especially not easy if there are 3 other foreign jockeys ahead of you when you arrive.
Jerome Lermyte (KRA)
However, one French jockey is trying to overcome those odds. Jerome Lermyte made his Korean debut at the beginning of November last year.
While on first inspection his bottom-line figures of 2 wins since then do not seem especially impressive, new light is shed on them when it is considered that those 2 wins have come from just 22 rides and that he’s found the money with 10 of those.
The 24-year-old Lermyte started his apprenticeship in France in 2006, winning the apprentice championship the following year.
In Europe, Lermyte has ridden in Germany, Spain and Switzerland as well as riding 20 winners in a 6-month stint in Macau and 15 during 3 months in Qatar.
In total he has over 300 career winners, 20 of them coming in group or listed races.
Lermyte’s first Korean winner came for Peter Wolsley at the end of December but it is his 2nd, which was last Friday at Busan that may be more significant. That win came on the first Korean runner for South African trainer Bart Rice who Lermyte is set to act as jockey for.
It was a good ride, with the French rider getting the better of Darryll Holland in a tight finish. He’s going to need plenty more of those to help the Rice stable get established. For both jockey and trainer, February is looking like an important month.
The emerging combination of Australian trainer Peter Wolsley and British jockey Darryll Holland was in top-form on Friday with the pair combining for 4 winners at Busan.
Darryll Holland weighed in a winner for Peter Wolsley 4 times on Friday
It looked for a time that South African trainer Bart Rice’s debut winner was going to be the story of the day among Busan’s foreign contingent.
However, Wolsley and Holland took over, winning race 5 with 11/1 Never Seen Before (Ecton Park), race 6 with even-money favourite Bulpae Dongja (Purge) and race 7 with 2/1 favourite Cinderella Man (Southern Image), the latter an 8-length stroll.
They weren’t finished either as they returned to take race 10, with 8/1 Gaseumeuro (Pico Central) getting the better of a very tight finish with the Masa Tanaka ridden Sea Monster.
With Wolsley’s stable jockey Jo Sung Gon in Macau for the first few months of 2014, the Wolsley, Holland partnership is one that will be watched closely – by punters and rivals.
Yesterday’s wins took Holland to the top of the 2014 Busan Jockey Chaampionship with 10. Wolsley is joint-top of the trainers’ table with 7 alongside Kim Young Kwan.
* In Friday’s feature race at Busan, there was a welcome return to the winner’s circle for Gyeongbudaero (Menifee).
The 2012 KRA Cup Mile winner was 6th in the Grand Prix Stakes on his last outing in December and out-battled US import Donggeupchoegang (Bernstein) – to who he was conceding 7 kilos – to win the 1900M class 1 event by a nose.
Bart Rice, who arrived in Korea at the end of last autumn, finally sent out a runner at Busan Race Park on Friday afternoon and he fond immediate success as that runner, Gyeongnam Sinhwa, won race 3.
Debut winner: Bart Rice (KRA)
The 37-year-old, who is the 3rd foreign trainer to be licensed in Korea, has put together a string of 22 horses since his arrival although – no fault of the trainer – they appear to be in varying states of race-readiness.
US import Gyeongnam Sinhwa (Keyed Entry) was himself making his racecourse debut and after being sent off at odds of 8/1, landed victory by a length under French jockey Jerome Lermyte, who was himself scoring only his 2nd win in Korea.
Rice’s other 2 runners on Friday were unplaced but his 33.3% strike rate will stand for some time. He doesn’t have any entires on Sunday and racing takes a break next weekend for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Watts Village scored an unforgettable victory in Tokyo last November but found himself brought back down to Earth this afternoon as he was handed a defeat on his season re-appearance at Seoul Race Park.
Indian Blue & Ikuyasu Kurakane (Pic: Ross Holburt)
And it was a horse ridden by a Japanese jockey that did for him as Ikuyasu Kurakane guided Indian Blue (Henny Hughes), 4th in the Grand Prix Stakes last month, to victory by a length.
On board Watts Village, Seo Seung Un tried to repeat the same tactic that served him so well in the Japanese capital and headed straight for the front. By contrast, Kurakane took Indian Blue right to the back.
There was a key difference this afternoon though as they were racing over 7 furlongs as opposed to 6 in Tokyo and this time Watts Village just couldn’t hold on. Once Indian Blue got into the gear in the home straight, it was just a matter of time and she swept by inside the final 50 metres.
Indian Blue was recording just her 4th win in 14 starts, however, she’s only been outside the money on 2 occasions and has shown she can claim prizes at distances ranging from 1000-2300 metres. It seems the best is still to come for her. As for Watts Village, now that a trip to Dubai is off the table, he’ll be back. He still looks very difficult to beat at sprint distances.
Despite being beaten on Watts Village, the day was by no means a write-off for Seo Seung Un. One race earlier, the jockey guided filly Cheonnyeon Dongan (Ecton Park) to a comfortable victory in the first of the 2 co-feature races.
Now entering her 4-year-old season, Cheonnyeon Dongan was 4th in last year’s Korean Oaks but followed it up with back-to-back Stakes wins in the Dong-a Ilbo Trophy and NACF Chairman’s Cup. Today made for her 3rd straight win and her first against class 1 mixed company.
Down at Busan, it was another successful day for Darryll Holland. The British jockey now lies in joint 1st-place with Joe Fujii in the Busan Jockey Championship after victory on promising US import K Teryus (Not For Love) in race 5. Holland is yet to draw a blank at a single meeting in 2014.
Holland couldn’t score in the feature race though (not having a ride in it didn’t help) as Choi Si Dae guided High Five (Creek Cat) to a 3-length victory from My Key (Macho Uno).
Next weekend is the last before racing takes a short break for the lunar New Year holiday. As such, a number of big names are expected to be in action, especially at Busan where beaten Grand Prix runners Beolmaui Kkum and Gyeongbudaero are entered.
Horse Racing in Korea 