Song Moon-gil

HWANG GEUM EO JJANG GOES ALL THE WAY TO WIN KOREAN DERBY

There will be no Triple Crown winner in 2026 with KRA Cup Mile winner Funny Wild having to settle for 3rd as Hwang Geum Eo Jjang proved too good in winning the Korean Derby (1800M KOR-G1) at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday afternoon.

Hwang Geum Eo Jjang and Lee Dong-ha win the Derby (Pic: KRA)

With light rain having fallen since the early morning, wet conditions awaited the field for the Derby, which on Friday had been reduced to fifteen with the scratching of Hey Brother. Funny Wild was sent off as a 3.0 favourite locally.

With three wins already over 1800M, Doctor Chis was the second favourite but was crossed early and used up plenty of energy to get back to his favoured postion. He was ultimately one of the first beaten in the home straight.

The horse doing the crossing was HWANG GEUM EO JJANG who was ridden aggressively to the lead by jockey Lee Dong-ha. The 7.0 chance would go on to lead all the way around, comfortably seeing off a late challenge by Fantastic Force by a length and a half on the line with Funny Wild a further three-quarters back in 3rd.

Aside from Hwang Geum Eo Jjang and Funny Wild, the rest of the first seven finishers all came from well off the pace. Just like in the KRA Cup Mile, the other front-runners all fell away.

(Pic: KRA)

“It doesn’t feel real yet” winning jockey Lee Dong-ha told KRBC. “But it kept appearing in my dreams for the past three days. Good dreams and bad dreams, I just couldn’t wait to get to race day and fortunately it ended with a really good result. It feels so good.”

It was also a first Derby win for trainer Song Moon-gil. “I’ve been fortunate enough to win some big races, but I had never won the Derby before” he remarked to KRBC. “So it is kind of a dream come true.”

“We expected the number 1 (Doctor Chris) to go forward so the plan was to stick with him. I told the jockey to ride with confidence and without regrets, don’t’ worry about what the others are doing and we will have a good result.”

Song also revealed that he was behind Hwang Geum Eo Jjang’s unheralded sire, Nasca Prince, a horse who he trained to six wins, becoming a stallion.

“Hwang Geum Eo Jjang is by Nasca Prince, who actually won here at 2300M, leading all the way. Nasca Prince was from the final crop of Vicar, whose bloodline was disappearing from our country, so I suggested to the owner that he stand him as a stallion as he might get a good distance horse. Today was 1800M but I see no reason why (Hwang Geum Eo Jjang) won’t go further.”

Nasca Prince [Vicar – Rosa Rose (by Cryptoclearance)] is the first Korean bred and raced stallion to produce a Korean Derby winner. He has only covered nine mares and produced seven foals. Hwang Geum Eo Jjang’s dam is the American bred Meinertzhageni (by Stormin Cat).

Hwang Geum Eo Jang moves onto three wins from five starts.

Taking his final ever race ride, ten-time Champion jockey Moon Se-young rode Musket Cleaver to a creditable 6th place.

The third and final leg of the Triple Crown series is the Minister’s Cup (2000M KOR-G2) at Seoul in Sunday June 7th. Next Sunday it’s the fillies with the Korean Oaks (1800M KOR-G2)m the second leg of the Triple Tiara, at Busan.

Wow Wow Stuns Raon Pair in Segye Ilbo

Wow Wow came from off the pace to score a 46/1 upset in the Segye Ilbo Trophy at Seoul Racecourse on Sunday afternoon, leaving the green colours of the hotly fancied “Raon” pair, Raon First and Raon The Spurt, back down the track behind him.

Wow Wow came from off the pace to win the Listed Segye Ilbo Trophy under Song Jae-chul (Pic: KRA)

After a year where owner Son Chun-soo’s Raon stable had dominated, his progressive four-year-old filly Raon The Spurt, was sent off as favourite for the Segye Ilbo (1200M KOR-Listed), the first Stakes race on the 2023 calendar, with stablemate and President’s Cup winner Raon First second in the market, ahead of Jeju Governor’s Trophy winning mare Wish Me.

While Raon First was slow out of the gate, Raon The Spurt cruised into the lead alongside fellow Group winner East Jet. But on a rare day at Seoul where the track was not kind to front-runners – nine of the eleven winners on the card emerged from the rear – the leaders were in trouble entering the straight and by the furlong pole, both had wilted.

Raon First launched a home straight challenge through traffic but the longshot pair of Wow Wow and Jangsan Laser were quicker, flashing down the outside with Wow Wow, who had settled right back in the pack in the early exchanges, coming home a length-and-a-quarter to the good. Raon First was 3rd.

With the race being restricted to Korean-bred runners, the Nasca organization’s Korea Sprint winning star Eoma Eoma was ineligible but they also own Wow Wow, a four-year-old colt by Cowboy Cal and out of the Forest Camp mare Jjak Kkung, who did her racing in Korea, winning six of twenty-six starts.

Wow Wow was on last year’s Classic trail and overcame gate fifteen to run 5th in the Korean Derby before an indifferent run in the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Minister’s Cup. Before Sunday, the highest level he had won at was class 4. He is trained by Song Moon-gil and was ridden by Song Jae-chul, who was winning just his third Stakes race after successes in the YTN Cup (then not a group race) in 2015 on Areumdaun Donghaeng and then guiding Saenae Town to victory in the Listed NACF Chairman’s Trophy last November.

There are no Listed or Graded races in Korea in February, with the next big events on the calendar the three-year-old Classic trials at Seoul and Busan on March 19.