Wonderful Slew takes Governor’s Cup again
Leading Seoul rider, 2017 Kranji visitor Moon honours late father
BUSAN - Wonderful Slew claimed the second leg of the Queens’ Tour Fall & Winter by retaining the Group 3 Gyeongnam Governor’s Cup (2,000m) at Busan Racecourse on Oct 20.
A maestro with the fillies, trainer Luigi Riccardi scored his first Korean Group race win with Choego Black in the Korean Oaks at Busan in 2021, but it is Wonderful Slew who has been his stable star, winning the race in 2023 and then adding the KNN Cup, also at Group 3 level this June.
The Italian handler has been operating at a win rate of 18 per cent and a top-three rate of nearly 49 per cent over the past year, the stable arriving on the south coast in peak form.
Sent off as the $9 favourite (on the Singapore Pools tote) to overturn the defeat she was handed by Jeulgoeunyeojeong over 1,400m in the Jeju Governor’s Cup at Seoul in September, Wonderful Slew was sent out to track that filly, who herself had settled into second early behind Flying Star.
They would remain in that order, Wonderful Slew glued to Jeugeounyeojeong’s tail, until the home straight. There, jockey Moon Se-young asked for an effort from Wonderful Slew and the pair quickly zipped by their main rival, before dismissing Flying Star with similar disdain and ran on to win by 2½ lengths on the line.
Flying Star (Yoo Seung-wan) held on for second place while Jeulgeounyeojeong (Alan Munro) had to settle for third.
“She was the defending champion, so I was confident,” Moon told in-house broadcaster KRBC.
“It rained a lot on Friday, which wasn’t ideal, but I was thinking who would be the horses in front and assumed Jeulgeounyeojeong and Flying Star would be. The idea was to track them, and that’s how it turned out.
“Wonderful Slew and Jeulgeounyeojeong have raced each other a lot, and at 1,400m, 1,600m, 1,800m, we are the challenger and the underdog, but at 2,000m, the expectations are on us, and (I am happy) we were able to do it.”
Moon, who plied his trade in Singapore in 2017, chalking up four wins in 82 rides, also talked about his father, who passed away last week.
“As I prepared for this race, I thought about it as one last gift I could give to my father, and I felt like he was watching me,” he said.
With the victory, Wonderful Slew, a son of Purge out of the Volponi mare Worldly Dude, overtakes Jeulgeounyeojoeng at the top of the Queens’ Tour Fall & Winter leaderboard with 650 points to 600. The final leg is the Listed Breeders’ Cup Queen (1,800m) at Busan on Nov 24.
Also slated for Busan that day are the top juveniles from Seoul and Busan who will meet for the first time in the Group 2 Breeders’ Cup Rookie (1,400m) and lead-up races were held on Sunday at both Seoul and Busan.
In the Juvenile Division, Captain P.K. scored in the Listed NACF Chairman’s Trophy (1,200m) in Seoul, while Wonderful Groom was handed Busan’s Listed Gimhae Mayor’s Trophy (1,200m) in the Stewards’ Room.
Twelve lined up for the NACF Chairman’s Trophy, and just as he did in August’s Rookie Stakes, Captain P.K. emerged from the pack late to win by 1½ lengths. Blushing Rose was second and Munhwa Ilbo Trophy winner Silver Rain third, having set the early pace.
Trained by Song Moon-gil and ridden by Kim Jeong-jun, Captain P.K, a son of Race Day, moved on to three wins from four starts and emulated his dam, P.K. Party, who won the very same race as a juvenile herself back in 2017 when it was open to overseas, as well as locally bred runners.
P.K. Party that year was the only Korean-bred, beating 11 US-bred runners that included Moonhak Chief, who would go on to win both the Grand Prix Stakes and the Korea Cup in 2019.
In Busan, things were less straightforward in the Gimhae Mayor’s Cup. After running third on debut, Winner Clear won his next two starts by a combined 25 lengths and was accordingly sent off as the favourite.
He was slow out of the gates, though, and while ridden up hard to take the lead, he wilted in the straight and crossed the line third as his stablemate Oasis Blue romped home by five lengths.
It was not to be for Oasis Blue, however. Around the 700m mark, he had shifted out slightly when not fully clear of My Dream Day and the resulting chain reaction of checking on heels ended with Mo Jun-ho being unseated from Union Champ.
Under rules of racing, there was no option but to disqualify Oasis Blue and Wonderful Groom, a son of Testa Matta, was promoted to first place.
Winner Clear was awarded second and quinella backers of the odds-on favourite rejoiced. Regardless of the disqualification, for which jockey Jung Do-yun copped a four-day ban, Oasis Blue will surely be a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Rookie in December.
Sky Racing
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