Korea

Ben Glass, the stable manager for Gary and Mary West, has reported that GI Stephen Foster S. winner West Will Power (Bernardini--Wild Promises, by Wild Event) has been sold to a Korean farm, where he will stand at stud next year. Glass said the deal was brokered by bloodstock agent Jun Park. Glass did not know what farm had bought West Will Power, but according to a Tweet from Korea Racing his new home will be Songma Farm. On July 1, West Will Power picked up the biggest victory of...

Dolkong (Afleet Alex--Swampoodle, by Broken Vow), the champion older horse in Korea in 2019, was euthanized Apr. 1 after suffering an injury during trackwork two days earlier. He was nine years old. Bred in Kentucky by Ellen B. Kill Kelley, the chestnut was the distant runner-up in the Korea Cup in 2018 and was part of a select Korean contingent at the 2019 Dubai World Cup Carnival, posting a 9 1/2-length victory in the Listed Curlin H. beneath Olivier Doleuze before just missing second in the G1 Al Maktoum Challlenge...

MGISW Dortmund (Big Brown--Our Josephina, by Tale of the Cat) passed away at Korea's Great Hill Farm Apr. 18 due to a small bowel torsion, the farm reported on Instagram Thursday. Dortmund won his first six starts for Kaleem Shah and trainer Bob Baffert, including the 2015 GI Santa Anita Derby and 2014 GI Los Alamitos Futurity. The hulking chestnut was the bettors' second choice in the 2015 GI Kentucky Derby behind his stablemate American Pharoah. The 'TDN Rising Star' finished third to eventual Triple Crown winner that day and...

Officials at the Korean Racing Association (KRA) have announced that the country's two races open to international competition, the Korea Cup and Korea Sprint, have been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the related compulsory quarantine measures on foreign visitors that have been implemented by the Korean government. Racing at Busan and Seoul, which takes place Friday through Sunday, was shut down beginning Feb. 28, as the government refused to permit the KRA to hold meetings behind closed doors. Other Asian racing jurisdictions, such as Hong Kong and...

As a result of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in the country, all horse racing operations in South Korea will be suspended at least through Mar. 22. Alastair Middleton, an English racecaller for the Korean Racing Authority, reported the news in a tweet Wednesday. On Wednesday, Feb. 26, officials at the KRA announced that racing would cease in the country beginning Friday, Feb. 28 before the situation was reevaluated Mar. 9. A total of 12 meetings (including pony races) at the three KRA-owned facilities were to be canceled. An additional six...