Jeju Racecourse Park
Jeju Race Park opened in 1990. Located 15 kilometres south of Jeju City on the North side of Mount Halla, it’s the smallest of the three tracks with a grandstand holding 3000 people - although plenty of parkland capable of accommodating many more. The unique thing about Jeju is that instead of thoroughbred racing, it plays host to Pony racing.
The Jeju Native Pony - “dedicated as National Monument No. 347″ according to the KRA - is one of the symbols of Jeju Island. Jeju has long been renowned in this particular part of Asia for its horses. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Jeju was ruled by the Mongols who supposedly introduced their own horses and the practice of selective breeding with the native horses to produce the distinctive Jeju pony which is exceptionally strong for its size and has excellent resistance to extreme weather conditions.
Horse breeding became a major industry on Jeju during subsequent centuries with pony numbers on the island reaching an estimated 20,000. During the 20th century, however, the demand for working horses dwindled and by the 1980’s the Korean government estimated there to only be 2500 left. It was at this time that the government gave the Jeju pony “National Monument” status and started to look for ways to ensure their preservation. It was then that the KRA stepped in with the idea to race them and built the track and stables for 500 horses.
Racing at Jeju takes place every Saturday and Sunday (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 and 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 races of just 400 metres. There are 36 jockeys attached to the Jeju course, the most successful over the past year has been Jang Woo Sung with 58 winners from 329 rides.
May 1, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[...] his two week ban and Cho Kyoung Ho is also back after a one week lay off. There is also racing at Jeju Race Park on both Saturday and Sunday, race 1 is at 12:20 on both days. Possibly related posts: [...]
May 11, 2008 at 1:51 am
[...] off at 11:20. There is also a six race card at Busan beginning at 12:40 and the usual nine races on Jeju with the the first at [...]
May 16, 2008 at 2:50 pm
[...] Derby card also gets underway at 11:20 with eleven races. There is also racing on Jeju Island on both Saturday and Sunday with the first race off at 12:20 both days and a six race program at [...]
June 6, 2008 at 4:30 am
[...] Day (14 runs 10 wins) heading the field of the 1900 metre race 10. As usual there is also a card at Jeju Race Park on both Saturday and Sunday, with the first under orders at [...]
June 6, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hello,
Are there any big races of pony-racing in Jeju-island?
June 13, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hi fpop,
There are some “Cup” races. The most recent was the “Jeju Ma-ju-hyup-huijang” Cup which was in May and won by Samdabobae who’s won all seven of her races. The race had about $25,000 in first place prize money. Last year, they ran the KRA Jeju Cup for the first time. This will take place again in September. There are also a couple of other big races - The Halla Ilbo Cup (there’s a video of this year’s running on fallight’s youtube page) and the Jeju Ilbo Cup both sponsored by local newspapers on the island. The Halla Ilbo was won by Baekhohwarang who is unbeaten in 11 starts.
In general though prizes are small although there’s still a lot of betting on it. Each Saturday two races are simulcasted to Seoul Race Park. I’ll try to report results of the bigger races on Jeju as and when they occur.
June 21, 2008 at 12:03 pm
[...] was a mixed day at Jeju Race Park. In a dramatic race 3 over 1200 metres, Salmosa (8.6) produced a blistering final furlong to come [...]