The last 300m, an unstoppable run It was a ‘fun journey’



The 27th Dong-A Ilbo Grand Prize Race, the best jockey Seo Seung-woon for two consecutive years and Korea's best trainer Kim Young-gwan working together in a
'fun journey', a comeback race from second place

Horses participating in the 27th Dong-A Ilbo Grand Prize Race held at Let's Run Park Seoul, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 24th, are struggling to run on the final straight track. On this day, about 25,000 horse racing spectators visited Let’s Run Park Seoul.

Trainer Kim Young-kwan (64) is a prominent figure in Korean horse racing. Trainer Kim, who had not seen the light of day as a jockey, began an era of success after working as a horse trainer and becoming a trainer around the opening of Busan Gyeongnam Horse Racing Park in 2003. By the 23rd, he had won 1,468 wins, the most ever for a Korean horse racing trainer.

The racehorse 'Happy Journey', carefully managed by trainer Kim, proved once again that she is the best filly in the country. Joyful Journey teamed up with jockey Seo Seung-woon (35) to win the 27th Dong-A Ilbo Cup Grand Prize Race (total prize money of 300 million won) held at Let's Run Park Seoul, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 24th. The winning prize is 165 million won. In the 18 races in which it has participated so far, Pleasant Journey has recorded 10 first-place finishes and 3 second-place finishes, raising the winning rate to 55.6% and the return rate (percentage of finishing in second place) to 72.2%.

Joyful Journey was considered a strong candidate to win even before this race. Joyful Journey won all three Triple Tiara races last year when she was 3 years old. The Triple Tiara Series victory was the second record in history, following Golden Power in 2022. Reflecting these records, Joyful Journey received overwhelming support of 1.5x single wins (probability of being in first place) and 1.0x successive wins (probability of being in top 3). Gisu Seo has also been showing peak performance recently. He was selected as the best jockey in Busan-Gyeongnam by the Korea Racing Authority for two consecutive years, 2022 and 2023. It was an enjoyable journey with Korea's best trainer and the best jockey on his back.

Happy Journey, which had a good start in the 1800m long distance race on this day, was firmly positioned in second place between 'Wonderful Slew' on the in-course and 'La On The Purt' on the out-course. Pleasant Journey, who was looking for an entry, increased his speed from the point where 300m remained from the finish line and took the lead. And he beat Wonderful Slew, who had been following until the last minute, by three-quarters of a length (1 horse is about 2.4m, the length of a horse's body), and was the first to hit the horse. In horse racing, the first horse to reach the finish line is first place. The fun journey racing record is 1 minute 56 seconds 3. Wonderful Slew finished in 2nd place, and 3rd place went to ‘Yellow Cat’, who entered the lead from corner 3 and held on until the end.

Jockey Seo, who achieved his 759th personal victory, said, “Happy Journey ran well even though he had not raced for more than three months.” He added, “It was easy to race because the horse runs well in any position, including the front or rear. “I think she will be competitive enough in the second half of the year even if she goes up against a colt,” he said.

Trainer Kim, who added one win at the Busan Horse Race on this day and won two wins in one day, achieved his 1,470th career win and his 67th win in the grand prize race. Trainer Kim said, “The condition of the competing horse, Wonderful Slew, was so good that I was nervous until the end,” and added, “I will do my best for the remaining ‘Queens’ Tour’ series, including the Ttukseom Boat on April 28.” revealed.

The Dong-A Ilbo Cup, in which mares aged 3 and older participate, is the season opener of the Queen's Tour Series that determines the best filly. On this day, about 25,000 spectators visited Let’s Run Park Seoul, where the Dong-A Ilbo Cup race was held. Dong-A Ilbo News Grand Prize sales recorded approximately 3 billion won.



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