Who is the Strongest 3-Year-Old Horse This Year? 'The 18th KRA Cup Mile' Held... The First Gateway to the 'Triple Crown'

Korea Racing Authority.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] On April 17th, the first stage of this year’s ‘Triple Crown,’ the ‘18th KRA Cup Mile’ Grade race, will be held as the 5th race (15:55) at the Korea Racing Authority Busan-Gyeongnam Racing Park.

The race distance, as indicated by the name KRA Cup Mile, is 1600m (approximately 1 mile), and the total prize money is 600 million KRW. The race grade of the KRA Cup Mile is GⅡ (Listed ? GradeⅢ ? GradeⅡ ? GradeⅠ in ascending order of prestige), so a high-level race can be expected.

The ‘Triple Crown’ refers to a series of three races held to select the best 3-year-old horse of the year. Unlike last week’s ‘Luna Stakes’ held at Busan-Gyeongnam, which was a filly-only race to select the best 3-year-old filly, the Triple Crown races have no gender restrictions as long as the horse is 3 years old.

Among the three series races, the first gate is this ‘KRA Cup Mile’ (GII, 1600m), followed by the second gate ‘Korean Derby’ (GI, 1800m), and the third gate ‘Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Cup’ (GII, 2000m).

This year, the total prize money for the Triple Crown races reaches 2 billion KRW. Based on the results of each race, the horse with the highest cumulative points becomes this year’s ‘Best Domestic 3-Year-Old,’ and in addition to the race prize money, receives a 100 million KRW incentive. A horse that wins all three races earns the honorary title of ‘Triple Crown Winner.’

A total of 13 horses will participate in this KRA Cup Mile, with 6 from Seoul and 7 from Busan-Gyeongnam. It looks like the horses that performed well in last year’s ‘Juvenile’ series (a series of races to select the best domestic 2-year-old) final stage, the ‘Breeders’ Cup,’ will clash once again. Leading the strong Seoul horses is ‘Complete Value,’ who swept the Juvenile last year and became the 2-year-old champion, and fans are keen to see if the Busan-Gyeongnam horses can perform well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.