Roshe blows rivals away in Busan Group 3 Owners’ Cup

BUSAN – A devastating kick in the early part of the home straight saw Roshe escape his rivals and establish himself as a serious force in Korean racing, as the three-year-old was an eased down 10-length winner in the 500 million won (S$421,000) Group 3 Owners’ Cup (1,600m) at Busan racecourse on June 28.

Entering the race sporting a perfect five-from-five in races ranging from 1,200m to 1,600m, the Seong Sang-hyeon-trained colt was sent off as the prohibitive $7 favourite.

The youngest horse in the race made that feel generous as after settling midfield under jockey Jang Chu-youl, he motored away from his 15 rivals between the 400m and 200m markers, putting the race to bed in easy fashion.

Such was the dominance of Roshe that it almost did not matter who was behind him fighting for the minor placings.

Trained by Park Jee-heon, Best Race (Choi Bum-hyun) finished a distant second and the veteran Star Matta (Jeon Jin-gu) was a further two lengths away in third.

Even if neither the two nor the 13 others who made up the numbers could be considered truly elite opposition, Roshe has still made his statement.

Seong, who has been training for a year, has already chalked up 14 winners, with the son of Rogueish handing him six of those victories.

Despite the seemingly effortless win, the 50-year-old handler said it was nothing to shout about, given the quality of the opponents and that Roshe was tired from the travel southwards.

“Roshe is a young horse. He was a bit exhausted after the journey (from Seoul),” he said.

“Yes, he won overwhelmingly but if you look at the race, compared to previous Owners’ Cups, it’s not exactly a strong field, is it?

“So, if this guy (Roshe) wants to deal with truly outstanding horses in future, we have to get better in all aspects of training and get everything right.

“We’ll probably give him a rest for a couple of months now and then plan his future. Maybe he would run once or twice again this year.”

Added owner Park Jae-yong: “There are lots of horses that are good at two or three, but don’t really make it in the same form to four or five-years-old, if they run at all.

“I see too many get injured before they can fulfil their potential, so we are going to take it slow.

“I thought long and hard before entering him in this Owners’ Cup because it wasn’t originally part of the plan.

“The real competition for him starts at four, let’s not push him too hard at three.”

Those could perhaps be disappointing words for racing fans who were debating whether the six-from-six Roshe would best suit lining up in the Group 1 Korea Cup (1,800m) or the Group 1 Korea Sprint (1,200m) in Seoul on Sept 6.

Jang was pleased with Roshe’s powerful turn of foot.

“When I saw his odds, I felt a bit of pressure,” he said to KRBC.

“But he is such a good horse, I thought let’s just get on with it.

“As for tactics, I didn’t really want to go to the lead as I thought the pace would be hot, so I was happy to settle where we did, but the horse has such a good stride and just wants to run.

“So I let him go and was able to ease him down at the end. It felt really good.”

An American-bred, Roshe was purchased at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale and arrived in Korea two months later.

He made his debut in October 2025 in a Class 4 race (1,200m) with a 2½ length-win over fellow imported maidens.

Before the victory in the Owners’ Cup, his biggest win came against fellow three-year-olds in the Listed Sports Seoul (1,400m) on March 1.

He has yet to tackle further than a mile, but from the way he ran in the Owners’ Cup, that should be well within his capabilities.
KOREA RACING AUTHORITY