Redemption for Last Year's Disqualification in the Gimhae Mayor's Cup
‘Oasis Blue’ stood at the top of the Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup, a preliminary race of the ‘Triple Crown’ that allows a glimpse into the 3-year-old horse landscape in 2025.
On the 23rd, at the Korea Racing Authority’s LetsRun Park Busan-Gyeongnam, in the 6th race of the Busan-Gyeongnam circuit, the 18th Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup (Domestic 3-year-olds, 1400m, total prize money 200 million KRW), ‘Oasis Blue (owner Lee Jong-hoon, trainer Baek Gwang-yeol)’ and jockey Jin Gyeom outpaced the strong favorites and crossed the finish line first. The race record was 1 minute 28.05 seconds, winning by 3 lengths (about 7.2m) over second-place ‘Yongbi Paewang’. With this, ‘Oasis Blue’ marked itself as the leading 3-year-old horse representing this year.
Assistant trainer Baek Gwang-yeol, jockey Jin Gyeom, and other related personnel are taking a commemorative photo of their victory. Provided by Korea Racing Authority LetsRun Park Busan-Gyeongnam.
‘Oasis Blue’ executed a successful front-running strategy. True to the nature of a Triple Crown preliminary race, the battle for the lead was fierce from the start. Immediately after the start, ‘Unjuga’ took the lead, with ‘Oasis Blue’ on the inside and ‘Wonderful Groom’ on the outside joining the competition. ‘Oasis Blue’, who conserved energy by running in second place, took the lead upon entering the home stretch and ran relentlessly to cross the finish line first.
The winning horse ‘Oasis Blue’ erased the disappointment from last year’s Gimhae Mayor’s Cup (1200m), where it crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for interference. With ‘Oasis Blue’s victory, owner Lee Jong-hoon and trainer Baek Gwang-yeol lifted the Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup trophy once again, following their win at the 16th Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup.
Among the entrants, the only offspring of ‘Musketman’, ‘Chogyeokcha’, attracted the most attention before the race with odds of 1.2 in the win pool, but left some regrets due to a slow start. ‘Chogyeokcha’ made an effort to catch up by sprinting along the outer track to reach 5th place, but failed to show strong finishing power and crossed the finish line last.
The Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup, along with the Sports Seoul Cup held in Seoul on the same day, can be considered preliminary races of the Triple Crown series that selects the strongest domestic 3-year-old horses. The Triple Crown series consists of three stages: starting with the ‘KRA Cup Mile (G2, 1600m, 700 million KRW)’ held on April 6 at LetsRun Park Busan-Gyeongnam, followed by the ‘Korean Derby (G1, 1800m, 1 billion KRW)’ on May 11 at LetsRun Park Seoul, and concluding with the ‘Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Cup (G2, 2000m, 700 million KRW)’ on June 15.
Winning moment of Oasis Blue, the winner of the Gyeongnam Newspaper Cup, and jockey Jin-gyeom. Photo by Korea Racing Authority Let's Run Park Busan-Gyeongnam
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