Expert - Alastair Middleton

Alastair Middleton, a British living in Seoul since 2006. With his passion in horse racing, he started his racing blog in 2007 which immensely popular with fans around the world trying to learn more about Korean racing. Alastair is familiar with Korean racing that providing racing insights for its races on his blog, like racecard, race-preview in English. He is currently appointed by Korea Racing Authority as the English-language racecaller for the races at Seoul and Busan.

Expert Column for Korea Sprint & Korea Cup (S2) (Alastair Middleton)

S2-1     Korea Sprint

Japan sends two genuine world class sprinters, and they are going to be very hard to oppose. The annual question mark over the internationals is how they take to the Seoul track, but Japanese trained runners have proved that it is not a problem for them, and they also recognise that to stay on in the heavy sand, you often need a horse that can get further than the 1,200m on regular dirt or all-weather.

Both Japan-trained horses fit the bill this year. We’ll side though with REMAKE. He ran 3rd in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint and then 5th in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen this spring and followed up with two super runs back home, most recently coming from a seemingly beaten position to win the Cluster Cup at Morioka in August. Defending JRA Champion Jockey Yuga Kawada is prepared to miss potential wins at home in a tight race to retain his title, suggests a high degree of confidence that REMAKE will win this on his way to the Breeders’ Cup.

BATHRAT LEON is a seasoned global traveller, coming to prominence with his long-shot G2 Godolphin Mile win in 2022 and while he couldn’t successfully defend that this year, he did pick up another big prize in the middle east, when landing the G3 1351 Turf Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard in Riyadh. He goes well on any surface and while he can mix his form, he will surely be close and gate one shouldn’t be a problem.

Among the locals, defending champion EOMA EOMA returns. He isn’t in the same peak form that he was a year ago, but his times have continued to be consistently quick, and he can’t be ruled out of a big run.

SSONSAL comes in the form of his life. He is a strong finisher so gate three may not be ideal for keeping out of trouble and patiently preparing his run, but he will be doing his best work late.

DUKE WAI won’t be fazed by the opposition as he has regularly lined up alongside Sha Tin’s top sprinters at home. The surface is more of a doubt for him but in Damian Lane, an astute pick has been engaged to ride who will know how to deal with this track – and indeed his rivals – from his experience in Japan.

SELECTIONS: 6. REMAKE, 1. BATHRAT LEON, 3. SSONSAL, 5. EOMA EOMA & 11. DUKE WAI

S2-2     Korea Cup

Since winning the G2 UAE Derby last year, CROWN PRIDE has been to the G1 Kentucky Derby, run 2nd to T O KEYNES in the local G1 JBC Classic and 2nd again to JUN LIGHT BOLT in the G1 Champions Cup back home, gone back to the Middle East and registered 5th places in both the G1 Saudi Cup and G1 Dubai World Cup and then run 2nd to MEISHO HARIO in a thrilling local G1 Teio Sho. What he hasn’t done is win, but that can change on Sunday. He draws wide but that shouldn’t be a problem and under Yuga Kawada, he can succeed CHRYSOLITE and LONDON TOWN as Japan-trained Korea Cup winners.

GLORIA MUNDI has been sensational in two starts this year, scoring in a local G2 at Funabashi over 2,400m in March and then taking the G3 Heian Stakes over 1,900m at Kyoto in May. He hasn’t raced since but has proven himself more than capable first up and he can push CROWN PRIDE.

GLOBAL HIT is the new big thing in Korean racing having won the local G1 Korean Derby and the local G2 Minister’s Cup in fine style this summer. The 3YO’s form took a boost when stablemate SPEED YOUNG, who he comfortably defeated in the Minister’s Cup, romped away with a Class 2 Handicap at Busan last week. This is a big ask so early in his career, but they sky really does seem the limit as far as his talent is concerned.

Defending champion WINNER’S MAN had an injury setback after his last start but has been back in work since mid-August and it seems to be all systems go. He does now have form to overturn on TUHONUI BANSEOK, who has beaten him on their two most recent meetings. Both can be strong contenders.

Hong Kong’s APACHE PASS may not be quite on the same level as the Japanese visitors, but he is a solid Sha Tin all-weather galloper and that’s enough to give him a shot at the minor money, so long as he takes to the track surface, and sees out the 1,800m, given his recent form is at 1,650m. Those are two big asks.

SELECTIONS: 14. CROWN PRIDE, 15. GLORIA MUNDI, 4. GLOBAL HIT, 12. TUHONUI BANSEOK & 8. WINNER’S MAN

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