| INDUSTRY |
Paull Khan
MIGHT TECHNOLOGICAL A D VA N C E L E A D TO G R E AT E R I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O O P E R AT I O N I N R A C I N G ? I MP RE S S I O N S FRO M KO RE A AN D THE ASIAN RACING CONFERENCE
T
he Asian Racing Conference (ARC) was first staged 58 years ago and attracted less than 70 delegates. These days, it is held biennially, and the 37 th ARC returned to Seoul this year – the third time it has been Korean-hosted.
The Racing
Prior to the conference, delegates had the chance to attend Korean Derby Day at Seoul Racecourse Park. Prize money for the 11-race card averaged over €100,000
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per race, with the Derby itself – won by 2/1 favourite Ecton Blade, a son of imported Kentucky-bred stallion Ecton Park – worth €640,000. The grandstands at Seoul are enormous structures, stretching far along the finishing straight and reminiscent of those at Tokyo racecourse. For many of the 80,000 racegoers who can be accommodated, there is the option of an individually numbered seat, not with any vantage point affording a view of the track, but rather deep in the bowels of one or another of five identical and cavernous
floors. Each of these floors was packed this Derby Day with studious race fans, mostly deeply absorbed in their form guides, checking betting monitors, and scribbling notes, doubtless plotting betting combinations of fiendish complexity. The bias towards exotic bets is extreme in Korea, with just one percent of the handle directed at win bets. By the time of each race, the crowds migrated to the viewing areas of the stands, looking out at the biggest bigscreen in the racing world – which, despite its 150m width, is every bit as