Life’s Pretty Easy For A Boy Named Seo

Ham Wan Sik landed his 400th career winner today but it’s Seo Seung Un who continues to make the headlines.

Seo Seung Un returns after his 25th winner

The young jockey became the quickest in modern times to reach 25 winners and seems sure to become the first apprentice jockey to ride out his weight allowance in his first year in the saddle.

Seo, who debuted last August, landed a double on his first weekend and hasn’t looked back since. Last Saturday he scored a “true treble”, with wins in races 6, 7, and 8 – something the vast majority of Korean jockeys go through their careers without doing.

Today he was in top form, guiding Magic Light (Exploit) to victory by a head in race 7.

Twenty-two year old Seo is fourth in this year’s Jockeys’ Championship and is already being touted by the Korean racing press as potentially the best riding talent to emerge from the country.

The real test will come when he loses his weight allowance. New apprentice jockeys start with a 4 kilo advantage, losing a kilo for every ten winners (there is no time limit on this) and then they are left to compete with the very best for rides. On all the evidence so far, this will not be a problem for Seo Seung Un.

Ham Wan Sik is a jockey who has had a lot of tests to overcome since he gained his license fourteen years ago.

One of the taller riders in the weighing room, Ham faces a constant struggle to keep his weight down and his fluctuating minimum weight has, on occasion, caused problems for him. Today, however, he became one of a select few jockeys in Korea to pass the milestone of 400 career winners.

Ham Wan Sik celebrates win number 401

It came in race 7 on the aptly named Bulls Eye (Ingrandire) and he quickly followed up with number 401 on Holy Moely (Nihon Pillow Neil) in race 10.

Ham Wan Sik debuted in 1998 and has three Stakes wins to his name, the biggest being the 2007 Owners’ Association Trophy, which he won on Gwacheon Ruler. His best year in terms of winners was in 2006 when he scored 53.

Indeed, it is possible that Ham’s silks are better known than he is. In Korea, jockeys wear their own colours and Ham’s appeared in the 2006 racing movie Gakseoltang and also in 2011’s Champ, where he was referred to by name as being a friend of the lead character. Today though, he was recognised for what he does on the track.

Racing returns to Seoul on Sunday and it is a big day as 2011 Grand Prix Stakes winner Tough Win make his season debut.

Weekend Preview: Tough Win Returns

Reigning Grand Prix Stakes champion Tough Win makes his 2012 debut in the pick of the action on a busy weekend of racing in Korea.

Tough Win takes the Grand Prix ahead of Mister Park (r) and Smarty Moonhak (l) Pic: Newsis

Now five-years old, Tough Win (Yonaguska) is making his first appearance since ending the record-breaking win-streak of Mister Park and downing the young upstart Smarty Moonhak in the finale to last season at Seoul Racecourse.

With 14 wins from his 18 career starts, Tough Win is one of the biggest stars of recent years and he will, as ever, be partnered by jockey Cho Kyoung Ho who is himself returning from a six-week injury lay-off.

Up against Tough Win will be Jumong (Johar) and the pair of them will be carrying significantly more weight then the rest of the field; Tough Win the maximum 63Kg and Jumong 60.5Kg.

Both have proved more than capable of dealing with these imposts in the past although should they have problems, Sing Sing Cat (D’Wildcat) and Mass Media’s Tea (Mass Media) could be outside picks to take advantage in the 1900 metre Handicap.

There’s plenty of other action to keep us occupied too on what is set to be the warmest weekend of the year so far (although that is not saying a whole lot), including Japanese jockey Narazaki Kosuke debuting at Busan as well as the first Stakes race of the year for the ponies on Jeju Island.

Here’s what’s happening when and where:

Friday March 16

Busan Race Park: 10 races from 12:00 to 18:00
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 13:30 to 17:30

Saturday March 17

Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 17:20
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:20 to 17:20

Sunday March 18

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 11:00 to 17:40
Busan Race Park: 7 races from 12:15 to 16:40

Japanese Jockey Narazaki Kosuke To Debut At Busan

It was Sho Ueno at Seoul last week, this week it is the turn of another Japanese jockey to make his Korean debut.

Narazaki Kosuke

Narazaki Kosuke will have his first rides at Busan this Friday as he fills the foreign jockey slot recently vacated by his countryman Eiki Nishimura.

Kosuke – as he will be known in Korea – is 30 years old and has career figures of 848 wins from 7484 rides since debuting in 1999.

An NAR (rather than the more prestigious JRA) jockey, he has most recently been based at Fukuyama Racecourse in Hiroshima.

Kosuke only has two rides on his first weekend although one is for Busan’s leading trainer, Kim Young Kwan, which is a good sign. The other is for Kim Jae Sub who is one of the biggest supporters of foreign riders at the track.

Two other foreign jockeys have also been granted temporary licenses at Busan. More on that next week.

h/t @LBshaka

Sho Time – Japanese Jockey Ueno Has a Tough Task Ahead

Over the weekend, Sho Ueno became the latest Japanese jockey to debut at Seoul Race Park, replacing Mai Beppu who left the track at the end of February. He has a tough task ahead of him.

Sho Ueno at Seoul

Nevertheless, the young JRA rider made an encouraging start. With just four rides across the weekend, all unfancied, he ended up with two third-place finishes and another fifth with only one being out of the prize-money.

The foreign jockeys are now the only ones who are considered “freelance”. All others are attached to trainers.

Under the jurisdiction of the Jockey Union, it used to be the case that jockeys who were retained by a trainer could only take five race rides per week but would get a salary for trackwork. Freelancers could ride as many as they wanted but would have no guaranteed salary.

The best jockeys went freelance and on average, earned three to four times that of retained jockeys. The very top ones even more.

Now all jockeys are retained by a trainer with a limit for everyone of 14 rides over a weekend. Of course, the best jockeys still get all the best rides – Moon Se Young is with Ha Jae Heung and Ch Kyoung Ho back with his old boss Shin Woo Chul.

The new system makes is, however, likely making it even harder for the foreign jockeys to get rides. When each trainer has two or three jockeys retained, they need a very good reason to employ someone else. Not a problem for Moon Se Young who gets plenty from many trainers, but not so easy for the foreigners.

And the figures don’t lie. Makoto Noda has won 8 times since arriving last June while Toshi Inoue has just 1 victory to show from his three months so far – and that was on his first day. They are poor returns but both, just like Beppu and Hiro Hamada before them, seem more than capable in the saddle but only get opportunitites to ride horses in contention for the minor placings at best.

On the surface, the success last year of Nathan Stanley and Akane Yamamoto at Busan would appear to undermine this theory. In reality, however, while both were officially the only freelancers at the track, in reality the pair acted as stable jockeys to Peter Wolsley and Kim Young Kwan in all but name. It’s unlikely a visitor to Seoul will get similar opportunities any time soon.

With Cho Kyoung Ho sidelined since January, Moon Se Young has dominated the early part of the Seoul season. The breakthrough of the year is Seo Seung Un, still a first year apprentice but fourth in the standings:

2012 Seoul Jockey Championship (Up to March 12)

1. Moon Se Young – 33
2. Oh Kyoung Hoan – 16
3. Park Tae Jong – 14
4. Seo Seung Un – 12
5. Jo In Kwen – 11

Weekend Round-Up

Onsaemiro ran the race of her life at Busan this afternoon. Unfortunately, it will be her last. The four-year old was sent off as the 6/1 joint second favourite behind odds-on Tamna Ace (Thunder Gulch) who was bidding for an 11th win out of 15 starts in the track’s feature race.

Tamna Ace was never a factor though as Kim Yong Geun took Onsaemiro straight to the front and they never looked back taking a two-length win from Tough Tiger and Winning Perfect with Tamna Ace in fourth.

However, after the line disaster struck. Her foreleg gave way, and jockey Kim was on the ground. Although she managed to pull herself up and attempt to follow the rest of the field back to scale, the damage was obvious.

Onsaemiro [Harlan’s Holiday-Regal Heir (Regal Intention)] had 5 wins and 5 second places from 17 career starts, taking part in 2 Stakes races. Today was her first win at the elite Class 1 level.

Yacheonsaryeongbu was a winner at Seoul today

Up at Seoul, the feature race of a low-key afternoon ended in a narrow victory for four-year old Yacheonsaryeongbu (Vicar) who was recording his 6th win on his 14th start.

Performance of the day, however, goes to US import Grand Niner (Any Given Saturday) who looked very comfortable on his first attempt at racing around two turns as he eased to a five length victory in race 8.

The three-year old has now won all 3 of his starts without needing to try very hard.

Earlier on back at Busan, there was another impressive performance from a three-year old import as filly Gamdonguibada (Werblin) recorded a 12 length victory over a mile. It was her 4th win from 5 starts and, while it was only at class 3, things look good for the future.

* Yesterday at Seoul, four-year old Magnifique (Menifee) returned to form in the feature race. He was kept off the Classic trail last year but spent the autumn racking up successive victories before flopping when favourite in his season debut last month when he finished out of the money for the only time in his career so far.

Yesterday there were no problems though as he recorded victory by a length and a half over Andy’s Runner.

Grand Niner is not exactly stretched as he saunters to victory at Seoul this afternoon

Weekend Preview

We’re less than a month away from the KRA Cup Mile and while many of the contenders will have already had their final race before the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown, there’s still plenty to occupy us on the peninsula this weekend.

Filly Grand Teukgeup (Menifee) seeks her fourth straight win as she takes on the Cup Mile distance for the time on Friday afternoon.

Low-key racing but still a lot to see this weekend

She goes up against ten rivals one of whom, Baekho Janggun (Pico Central) could see himself added to the classic mix with a good performance.

Busan’s Friday feature sees old-timers Crafty Louis (Louis Quatorze) and Wonder Love (Wild Wonder), both of whom have been racing at Busan since the track opened in 2005, making their season-debuts. They will probably find the comparatively youthful six-year old Purely Spontaneus (Pure Precision) a bt too quick for them.

On Sunday at Busan, Tamna Ace (Thunder Gulch), with ten wins from fourteen starts, will be the one to beat in the feature handicap.

Up at Seoul, it’s very much a low-key weekend. The most valuable race is on Saturday afternoon when Magnifique (Menifee), who was less than magnificent in his last start, seeks to get back to winning ways in a nine furlong handicap. Former champion filly Love Cat (Creek Cat) is among nine rivals.

It’s been a reasonably pleasant week weather-wise, however, temperatures are set to drop a little for the weekend.

Friday March 9

Busan Race Park: 10 races from 12:00 to 18:00
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 13:30 to 17:30

Saturday March 10

Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 17:20
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:20 to 17:20

Sunday March 11

Seoul Race Park: 11 races from 11:00 to 17:40
Busan Race Park: 7 races from 12:15 to 16:40

Akane is Famous!

Japanese Racing TV has produced a feature on jockey Akane Yamamoto as she comes to the end of her first year riding at Busan.

It’s all in Japanese but well worth a look both for the quintessentially Japanese graphics at the beginning and also for the trackwork shots of Busan:

*h/t @uk_maniax

Before coming to Korea, Kyoto-native Yamamoto had a spell riding in New Zealand.

In Korea for being the current jockey of Mister Park, who last year set a Korean record of 17 consecutive wins. She has won twice on him and rode him to second-place behind Tough Win and ahead of Smarty Moonhak in last year’s Grand Prix Stakes at Seoul Racecourse.

Her total record in Korea to date is 34 wins from her total 217 rides.

Too Simple For Smarty Moonhak

It was oh so simple for Smarty Moonhak (Smarty Jones) at Seoul Racecourse this afternoon as the three-year old romped to his second easy win of 2012.

He was yawning in the paddock beforehand and, with nothing prepared to take him on as they came out of the gate for the 2000 metre feature handicap, his new jockey Moon Jung Kyun took Smarty Moonhak straight to the front.

Smarty Moonhak in the Winner's Circle at Seoul today

There they set a very pedestrian pace, slowing to almost a halt in the back straight as Moon invited the rest of the field to have a go.

No-one accepted and the favourite ultimately accelerated away in the final two furlongs to win by seven lengths without ever being challenged or allowed to extend himself, Moon not using his stick the whole way around.

It wasn’t much of a race, the others clearly hoping that if allowed to lead, an over-eager Smarty Moonhak would tire himself out early. That was never likely to happen and Jewang Tansaeng (Petionville) was left to win the race for the minor placings ahead of Ppoppai (Rockport Harbor).

It was one of the slowest ten furlongs run at Seoul for a very long time and therefore nothing more than a workout for Smarty Moonhak. Moon Jung Kyun did his job and protected his horse. He carried 59Kg and will, inevitably, go up in the handicap again. Tough Win and Dongbanui Gangja both won up to 63Kg and it seems as though this colt will do the same.

The real test is not going to come in handicaps though. Among the crowd at Seoul today was Kwak Jong Soo, owner of Mister Park. Kwak was up from Busan in order to visit the exhibition for his record-breaking horse that is currently being held at Seoul Racecourse. That exhibition has a picture of Mister Park alongside Tough Win and Smarty Moonhak, between whom he finished in the Grand Prix Stakes in December, ending his unprecedented winning streak.

Kwak and everybody else involved knows that these three must clash again although with Tough Win yet to reappear since winning the Grand Prix, it seems some way off until the right Stakes race brings them together.

It will happen though. Until then, Smarty Moonhak, possibly the most exciting talent we’ve had in Korea for years, can only beat what races against him. Hopefully next time they won’t all decide to simply race for second place.

Class 1 Handicap – Seoul Race Park – 2000M – Sunday March 4, 2012

1. Smarty Moonhak (USA) [Smarty Jones-Madeira M’Dear (Black Tie Affair)] – Moon Jung Kyun – 1.0, 1.0
2. Jewang Tansaeng (USA) [Petionville-Awesome Joy (Awesome Again)] – Park Tae Jong – 1.6
3. Ppoppai (USA) [Rockport Harbor-Fair And Lively (Lively One)] – Lee Gang Seo – 2.9

Distances: 7 lengths/2 lengths, 11 ran

Earlier, Jigeum I Sungan (Ingrandire) continued to burnish his classic credentials. The colt beat a competitive class 3 field over 1700 metres in race 7 by a full four lengths in a decent time. It’s only his third win from nine starts, however, unlike some of his rivals, he is showing great development each time out. Whether he ventures to Busan for the KRA Cup Mile in a month’s time or is saved for Derby remains to be seen.

At Busan there were co-feature races. US import Viva Ace (Macho Uno) upset hot favourite Jewang Tansaeng (Stromberg Carlson) in the first of these while lightly raced five-year old Quantum (Ecton Park) took victory in the second. Quantum, who missed over year with injury, now has a record of six wins from nine starts.

Weekend Preview: Smarty Moonhak at Seoul, Classic Hopefuls at Busan

It’s March and there has been a definite spring-like feel to the weather on the peninsula over the past few days. On the track it’s set to be a big start to the month as Korea’s current hottest racing property, Smarty Moonhak (Smarty Jones) makes his second appearance of 2012.

After dispatching two-time Grand Prix Stakes winner and former horse of the year Dongbanui Gangja by ten lengths in his last outing, the three-year old should have little difficulty seeing off a less than daunting class 1 field in Sunday’s 2000 metre feature handicap.

Moon Jung Kyun gets the mount on Smarty Moonhak

Smarty Moonhak will be carrying 59Kg and will for the first time be ridden by Moon Jung Kyun instead of previous regular Shim Seung Tae.

Best known for riding J.S. Hold to the Korean Triple Crown in 2007, Moon has taken over as stable jockey for trainer Ko Ok Bong with Shim moving to Kim Ho. As jockeys in Korea ride in their own colours instead of those of the owners, it will mean a slightly different look for the horse.

So long as the weight isn’t a problem few of his rivals seem likely to be.

On Saturday, Singgeureounachim (Exploit) headlines the feature race while top-rated three-year old filly Cheoneun (Forest Camp) goes over the Derby distance of 1800 metres in race 9.

Down at Busan, Friday sees Classic prospects Gyeongbudaero (Menifee) and Good Time (Yehudi), last year’s champion Juvenile, attempt the Derby distance for the first time in race 9.

There are co-features on Sunday. Aussie colt Jeonseong Sidae (Stromberg Carlson) headlines the first of these while both Peter Wolsley and Joe Murphy saddle contenders in the second in the shape of Pnata Rhei (Stormy Atlantic) and Ganghan Yeoja (Lethal Instrument) in the six furlong sprint.

Here’s what’s happening when and where:

Friday March 2

Busan Race Park: 10 races from 12:00 to 18:00
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 13:30 to 17:30

Saturday March 3

Seoul Race Park: 12 races from 11:00 to 17:20
Jeju Race Park: 9 races from 12:20 to 17:20

Sunday March 4

Seoul Race Park: 11 race from 11:00 to 17:40
Busan Race Park: 7 races from 12:15 to 16:40