Filly Triple Crown winner Golden Power returns to Seoul on Sunday as Group races resume in the capital. But the three-year-old will have her work cut out to if she is to prevent Raon The Spurt from gaining a modicum of revenge for her Triple Crown losses in the Jeju Governor’s Cup (1400M KOR-G3).
Golden Power swept her own generation aside as she won all three legs of the Filly Triple Crown earlier this year. She then put in a run full of merit against older mares in the KNN Cup (1600M-KG3) at Busan in July when drawn wide and running on in the straight. She comes back down to a sprint distance here but draws well and having had a couple of months off, she can measure up. Choi Si-dae, who rode her to sweep the Crown, will be in the saddle.
But so too can RAON THE SPURT. She ran 3rd in the Luna Stakes and then 2nd in both the Oaks and the Gyeonggi Governor’s Cup behind Golden Power. Since then, however, she has returned to winning ways, first scoring in a class 3 handicap over 1800M and then showing her versatility by winning the valuable Singapore Turf Club Trophy over 1200M on international weekend in September. She likes to race forward and could be leading this all the way.
WISH ME had the measure of Golden Power in that KNN Cup, running 2nd. But Wish Me always seems to finish 2nd these days. She was 2nd in the Ttukseom Cup (1400M KG3) and 2nd in a valuable Trophy race over 1200M on international day. She is no doubt a talented mare who before this run of runner-up results, won five of her first seven starts and she can’t be left out of the calculations. Korea Sprint winning jockey Moon Se-young climbs aboard.
Back when she was three years old in 2019, DIA ROAD won this race and went on to win the 2020 Ttukseom Cup taking over the mantle of Korea’s best filly or mare from Silver Wolf. She resumes in the Jeju Governor’s for the first time in fifty-three weeks having last raced on October 3rd last year. She did go through a trial but was asked by jockey Kim Yong-geun to do absolutely nothing as she cantered around on the bridle to finish last but well within the qualifying time. Like Golden Power she races in the colours of owner Son Boing-chul and at anything like her best, she will be right in this, but she will be one to check out closely in the parade ring.
In total thirteen locally bred fillies and mares will line up with LADY KELLY looking the best of the rest. The Jeju Governor’s Cup is race 8 of an 11-race program at Seoul on Sunday with the big race having a post time of 16:20.
Selections: (8) Raon The Spurt (4) Golden Power (12) Wish Me (13) Dia Road
