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Location | Gwacheon, South Korea |
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Owned by | Korea Racing Authority |
Date opened | 1 September 1989 |
Course type | Left |
Official website |
LetsRun Park Seoul, also known a Seoul Race Park or Seoul Racecourse Park is a 40,000 capacity Korean thoroughbred racetrack in Gwacheon, South Korea. It is host to many of Korea's most valuable thoroughbred horse races including the Korean Derby and Grand Prix. LetsRun Park Seoul is located next to Seoul Racecourse Park Station on Line 4 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. It is operated by the Korea Racing Authority (KRA).
In South Korea, the racecourse has been misleading with the negative image of gambling and speculative facilities and has been distorted into a socially problematic place. It's called 'Park'. The name of the station was changed in 2000.
The current site at Gwacheon is the third home of LetsRun Park Seoul. The first was at a track in Sinseol-dong, Dongdaemun District, which was in operation from the early 1920s until just after the Korean War. Following the closure of the Sinseol-dong track, a new racetrack was constructed at Ttukseom, on the north bank of the Han River In February 1983, after South Korea was awarded the 1988 Summer Olympics, the KRA was given the task of organising the equestrian events. [1] The Ttukseom Racetrack was inadequate; the KRA acquired a new site south of Seoul in Gwacheon Gyeonggi-do, where the equestrian (except the individual-jumping final) and the riding portion of the modern pentathlon events were held. After the Olympics, the KRA turned the site into a racetrack. [2]
This is where the headquarters of the Korean Horse Society is located. Gyeongseong Racecourse, which opened in Yongdujeong [2], Gyeongseong-bu, on September 20, 1928, started as a racecourse. Construction began in 1984 to host the equestrian events of the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul and the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and officially opened on September 1, 1989. Construction began in 1984 and moved to 1989. Until 1998, it was called 'Seoul Racecourse' and then changed to the current name.
The first race at the new LetsRun Park Seoul was held on 1 September 1989. The track can accommodate more than 80,000 spectators; in 2003 a second grandstand, "Luckyville", was opened alongside the existing "Happyville". Races are run on an oval artificial sand-based track with a two-furlong home straight. [3] [ unreliable source? ]
As of 2011 live thoroughbred racing takes place on Saturdays and Sundays all year, with 12 races each Saturday and 11 each Sunday. On race day, races are also simulcast from the pony-racing track on Jeju Island and the thoroughbred track at Busan-Gyeongnam. Major races at the LetsRun Park Seoul include the Korean Derby in May, the Minister of Agriculture Cup in October, the President's Cup in November and the season-ending Grand Prix in December.
In 2007, the Korean-bred J.S. Hold won the Korean Triple Crown (the Ttukseom Cup, the Korean Derby and the Minister's Cup) at LetsRun Park Seoul. In 2008 the Ttukseom Cup was replaced as the first leg of the Triple Crown by the KRA Cup Mile, which is run at Busan-Gyeongnam Race Park on the first Sunday in April.
In 2009 the champion jockey at LetsRun Park Seoul was Park Tae Jong, who also holds the record for most wins in Korean racing history. The 2009 Korean Derby was won by a filly, Sangseung Ilro, who had previously won the KRA up Mile at Busan-Gyeongnam. At the end of each season, racing fans in Korea can vote for which horses they wish to take part in the traditional season-ending Grand Prix race. In 2009, the American-bred Dongbanui Gangja won the race for the second consecutive year.
It consists of a 25m wide outer 1800m, an inner 1600m, and a 1000m auxiliary 400m sand track. They all look the same from the observation deck, but the velodrome structure has a 2.5% internal slope for the curved sections and 1.5% internal and external slopes for the straight sections.
The width from the 2300m starting point to the finish line of the outer perimeter straight track is 30m. The goal is to maintain an average sand thickness of 7 cm.
Month | Racename | Distance | Qualification |
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Grade I | |||
May | Korean Derby | Dirt 1800m | Korean 3yo c&f |
Sep | Korea Sprint | Dirt 1200m | International 3yo+ |
Sep | Korea Cup | Dirt 1800m | International 3yo+ |
Nov. | Presidents Cup | Dirt 2000m | Korean 3yo + |
Dec. | Grand Prix | Dirt 2300m | Mixed 3yo + |
Grade II | |||
Oct. | Minister of FAFF Cup | Dirt 2000m | Korean 3yo c&f |
Grade III | |||
Apr. | Ttukseom Cup | Dirt 1400m | Korean 4yo + |
Jun. | SROA Chairman's Trophy | Dirt 2000m | Korean 4yo + f |
Oct. | KRA Cup Classic (Handicap) | Dirt 2000m | Mixed 3yo + |
Nov. | Breeder's Cup | Dirt 1300m | Korean 2yo c&f |
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, often shortened to Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for Thoroughbreds, often restricted to three-year-olds. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment in Thoroughbred racing. The term originated in mid-19th-century England and nations where Thoroughbred racing is popular each have their own Triple Crown series.
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for fillies and mares, three years old and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Gwacheon is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies close to Seoul in the heart of the Seoul National Capital Area, and also lies just east of Anyang. Seoul Subway Line 4 passes through the city.
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Roberto was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from 1971 until July 1973, he ran fourteen times and won seven races. He was the best Irish two-year-old of 1971, when his victories included the National Stakes. As a three-year-old, he won the Derby before recording a famous victory over Brigadier Gerard in the inaugural running of the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup. This is regarded by many experts to have been one of the greatest ever performances on a European racecourse. He won the Coronation Cup as a four-year-old before being retired to stud. Roberto had fragile knees and required a left-handed track to perform to his best; he never won going right-handed. He was described by Lester Piggott as " a champion when things were in his favour". Roberto also proved to be a highly successful and influential stallion.
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Horse racing in South Korea traces back to May 1898, when a foreign language institute run by the government included a donkey race in its athletic rally. However, this type of racing was sponsored for entertainment purposes only. No betting was conducted. It was in the 1920s that '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 established to make horse racing more systematic and better organized. In 1923, the pari-mutuel betting system was officially adopted for the first time in Korea. The Sinseol-dong racecourse opened in 1928 and incorporated racing clubs were allowed to have their own racecourses.
Korea Racing Authority is a public company established to manage the racehorse breeding industry in South Korea.
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint is an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old horses, run on a grass course at a distance of 5 or 5+1⁄2 furlongs, depending on the configuration of the host track. It is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing. All Breeders' Cups to date have been conducted in the United States, with the exception of the 1996 event in Canada.