Horse Racing in South Korea
Horse racing in South Korea traces back to 1920s, when the "Modern Horse Racing" involving a betting system made its debut. In 1922, the Chosun Racing Club, the nation’s first-ever authorized horse racing club was born. It was established to make horse racing better organized. Also, to coordinate and control incorporated racing clubs to ensure the consistency in their administration.
In 1945, the Chosun Horse Affairs Authority was renamed to the ‘Korea Racing Authority', and efforts were made to restore the national identity in horse racing. However, the Korean War which broke in 1950 resulted in great turmoil for Korean society, thus undermining the development of horse racing. Not only this, but during the three-year war, racecourses were used for military training and horse racing came to an abrupt halt.
The rapid growth of Korean horse racing and the efforts of Korean Racing Authorities efforts have drawn the international attention since the beginning of the 2000. Led by this, in October 2002, ‘the Asian Racing Federation’ decided to designate South Korea as the host of the 30th ‘Asian Racing Conference’ in May 2005.
The total number of Racecourses in South Korea is three, which are internationally renowned; The Busan Gyeongnam Race Park, Jeju Race Park and Seoul Race Park to be precise.
Busan Gyeongnam Race Park is the newest of the three horse racing tracks in Korea. It is located in Korea’s second largest city Busan. The construction of Busan Gyeongnam Race Park got completed in August 2001, but it was officially opened in September 2005. There is a capacity of 32,000 spectators and racing fans at the track, the stables accommodating 1,000 horses and 40 Jockeys are currently based there. Busan Gyeongnam Race Park was built for Friday races, and fulfilling the purpose it run 10 races each Friday. In 2007, the occasional race day was held on a Saturday and in 2008, six races were held each Sunday. This will continue in 2009.
Jeju Race Park was opened in 1990. It is the smallest of the three tracks and is located 15 kilometres south of Jeju City. It has the capacity to accommodate 3000 people at a time. The unique thing about Jeju Race Park is that instead of thoroughbred racing, it plays host to Pony racing.
Jeju racecourse has been renowned for a long time in this particular part of Asia for its horses.
Racing at Jeju takes place every Friday and Saturday (some exceptions). Start time is usually around Midday with on average 9-10 races each day. The races are shorter than those at Seoul and Busan. The track itself is only 1600 metres around and very few races are longer than this distance. Most races are 900 or 1000 metres but it is not uncommon to see sprints of just 400 metres. There are 36 jockeys attached to the Jeju course, including Na Yu Na, who holds the record for most wins by a female jockey in Korea. The most successful over the past year has been Jang Woo Sung with 58 winners from 329 rides.
Seoul Race Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. A number of thoroughbred horse races take place on this racecourse including the Korean Derby and Grand Prix. Seoul Race Park is located next to Seoul Racecourse Park station on Line 4 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. It is operated by the Korea Racing Authority. The first race at the new Seoul Race Park was held on September 1, 1989.
Races are held on an oval-shaped track with a two furlong home straight. There is a capacity of around 80,000 people and has two main grandstands, the older “Happyville” near the winning line and the newer “Luckyville” which are joined together and cover the entire home straight. There is a “Foreigner’s Lounge” on the fourth floor of Luckyville which provides a great view over the entire course.
There are usually 11-12 races every Saturday and Sunday. The majority of races are sprints with distances of between 1000 meters and 2300 meters. Highlights of the season include the Korean Derby in May, the Minister of Agriculture Cup in October, and the Grand Prix Race in December.
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