Speed Young lands Segye Ilbo Trophy

SEOUL – Speed Young showed why he was recently crowned 2025 Korean Horse of the Year. He overcame many obstacles to become the first Busan-prepared horse to take out the 300 million won (S$262,000) Listed Segye Ilbo Trophy (1,200m) in Seoul on Feb 15.

Trained by Bang Dong-suk, Speed Young finished third to Crown Hamseong in the same race in 2025, before going on to finish fourth in the international Group 3 Korea Cup (1,800m) that year.

The Menifee six-year-old then tasted his maiden Group 1 success in the President’s Cup (2,000m) in October 2025, before wrapping up the season with a third in the Group 1 Grand Prix (2,300m) in November.

Three months later, Speed Young is first-up in the first “black type” race in 2026.

Despite the versatile galloper’s previous seven wins between 1,400m and 2,000m, he defied all odds to come up trumps over 1,200m this time.

On a day where six of the 10 races in Seoul were won with leaders’ bias on the track, Speed Young came from the second half of the field to storm down the outside to deny a game Yeonggwangui World (Jang Chu-youl), who led all bar the last 50 metres.

Speed Young ($22) was outpaced and under pressure in the early stages. But, on a front-running dominated track, he proved to be by far the best under a brilliant ride from jockey Jo In-kwon, who was riding him for the first time.

The Lee Gwan-ho trained Ziggurat (Jo Jae-ro) – who also came from well back – finished a further five lengths away in third, ahead of Haksan Speed (Lee Dong-ha) in 4th.

Super Finish (Kim Yong-geun) – who finished third in the 2025 international Group 3 Korea Sprint (1,200m) – and Best Race (Choi Bum-hyun), who drew either side of the stalls, were the next pair home in fifth and sixth respectively.

The 2025 winner Crown Hamseong (Wong Chin Chuen) managed only seventh.

Yet, the major disappointment from the feature came from the Jung Ho-ik-trained favourite Munhak Boy (Ruan Maia).

The son of Lord Nelson came into the race on a back of six straight victories, with his latest victory in the Group 3 Kookje Shinmun Cup (1,400m) in Busan on Oct 26, 2025, but he was effectively beaten from the start after he was unable to get onto the early speed.

Munhak Boy ultimately finished in 10th, 8¾ lengths behind Speed Young.

Speed Young’s last attempt over the 1,200m trip was in the same race in 2025, and hence Jo was not going to take Speed Young’s latest success in the Listed sprint event for granted.

“(Speed Young) hadn’t raced over the distance for a year, so there was always that concern,” he told KRBC.

“But, as soon as I saw Munhak Boy hadn’t managed to get on to the speed, I was more at ease and thought we could win.

“If Munhak Boy had been in front of me, I would have been anxious, but from then on, I just left it to Speed Young.”

Speed Young is not yet nominated for the first leg of the Sprint Series – the Group 3 Busan Ilbo Trophy (1,200m) in Busan on March 8 – and Bang was non-committal about where his bay charge would next run.

“The first priority is the health of the horse, but we will consider going back to the Stayer Series,” he said.

“For now, I am happy to start 2026 with a win.”

The next two legs in the Sprint Series are in Seoul, namely the Group 3 SBS Sports Sprint (1,200m) on April 12 and the Group 2 Seoul Racehorse Owners’ Association Chairman’s Trophy (1,200m) on May 17.

The Stayer Series would kick off with the Group 3 Herald Business Trophy (2,000m) in Seoul on March 15, followed by the Group 3 YTN Cup (2,000m) in Seoul on April 19 and culminate in the Group 2 Busan Mayor’s Cup (1,800m) in Busan on May 24. SKY RACING WORLD