Female Jockey Kim Hye-seon, First Korean Horse Racing Grand Prix Winner, Heads to Dubai Expedition

First Female Jockey in Korean Horse Racing Wins Grand Prix

Preliminary Round for 16.8 Billion Won World Cup Participation

Jockey Kim Hye-seon, who made history as the "first woman to win the Korean horse racing Grand Prix," is about to embark on a Middle East expedition to participate in the Dubai Racing Carnival. She will be traveling with ‘Global Hit’ (4-year-old stallion, trainer Bang Dong-seok, owner Kim Jun-hyun), with whom she achieved the Grand Prix victory in perfect harmony.

The ‘Dubai Racing Carnival (DRC),’ in which they will compete, is a series of qualifying races for the ‘Dubai World Cup’ scheduled for April 5 next year. Starting last November and continuing until March next year, 6 to 8 races are held almost every Friday. The first race that jockey Kim Hye-seon and Global Hit will challenge is the 1900m dirt race ‘Al Maktoum Challenge’ on January 24.

The main event, the Dubai World Cup, carries a prize of $12 million (approximately 16.8 billion KRW), with the winning owner receiving 58% of the total prize money, amounting to $6.96 million, or 9.7 billion KRW.

The total prize money for the nine races held on the same day, including the Godolphin Mile and the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic, amounts to $30.5 million (approximately 42.7 billion KRW). Due to the Islamic prohibition on betting, the prize money is sponsored by royal family members including King Mohammed, as well as Emirates Airlines, known for sponsoring European football and tennis Grand Slams, and the Swiss luxury watch brand Longines.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defense, stated, “Sports are a powerful force for social development, economic growth, and job creation,” and is implementing various sports strategies to elevate Dubai’s status on the global stage. The founder of the Dubai World Cup is his father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Amir (supreme leader) of Dubai.

The Middle East’s passion and interest in horse racing are as fierce and aggressive as the desert winds. Now in its sixth year, although the history is short, Saudi Arabia has emerged as a new powerhouse in global horse racing by offering a $20 million (approximately 28 billion KRW) prize for a single race, snatching the prestigious title of the world’s highest prize money horse race from Dubai.

Horse racing countries are broadly classified into PART 1 to 3 based on the quality of racehorses, race organization systems, and human and material infrastructure levels. Although Saudi Arabia is a PART 2 country, the same as Korea, the Saudi Cup has quickly established itself as a top-tier international race due to its high prize money and efforts to promote Saudi national appeal and cultural excellence.

The Korea Cup and Korea Sprint, international races held in Korea, are also gradually increasing their prize money levels and are taking flight as global horse racing festivals combined with our unique resources such as K-Culture and K-Food.