Relieving the Agony of Being Perpetual Second... Trainer Baek Gwang-yeol Approaches 1000 Wins Countdown

42 Wins This Year, Only 4 Wins Left to a Major Record

Let's Run Park Busan-Gyeongnam, operated by the Korea Racing Authority (Head: Eom Young-seok), is entering the final countdown to its second-ever 1,000 wins.

Trainer Baek Gwang-yeol (59 years old, Team 1), who is challenging for the second 1,000 wins after Trainer Kim Young-gwan, has recorded 42 wins this year, bringing his career total to 996 wins?just 4 wins away from this historic milestone.

Baek Gwang-yeol debuted as a trainer in 2005 with the opening of Let's Run Park Busan-Gyeongnam. He first started as a groom at Seoul Racecourse in 1988. Although he began as a low-ranking groom without special knowledge, he organized a then-unfamiliar racehorse pedigree research group, contributing to the development of domestic racehorses.

Trainer Baek is also known for producing champion horses through customized training based on racehorse pedigree analysis. Starting with “Gaeseon Janggun,” who won the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Cup, the final stage of the 2008 Triple Crown, he has produced star horses such as the top domestic horse “Beolma-ui Kkum,” Korean Derby winner “Yeongcheon Ace,” and the 2024 Busan Mayor’s Cup winner “Winner Clear.”

However, Trainer Baek Gwang-yeol has been tagged as the “perennial runner-up.” This image is largely due to the influence of Kim Young-gwan (64 years old, Team 19). Although Baek has achieved 15 major race wins and consistently recorded over 50 wins annually since his 2005 debut, he has inevitably been overshadowed by Kim Young-gwan, the first trainer in Korean racing history to reach 1,500 wins.

The biggest regret in Trainer Baek’s racing career has been the title of top winner. Since his debut, he has ranked second in wins 12 times, never quite capturing the top spot. However, last year, Baek achieved 60 wins in total, surpassing his rival Trainer Kim Young-gwan (56 wins) in the win count competition, somewhat easing his frustrations.

Though sometimes criticized for being inflexible and stubborn, Baek continues to study domestic racehorses more diligently than anyone else. If he doesn’t know something, he freely asks juniors who are like grandsons to him. And you can often see Trainer Baek Gwang-yeol, smiling broadly with enlightenment, battling on the racetrack alongside his beloved horses.

Trainer Baek said, “This is the result of the cohesive efforts of my team. I have come this far by discovering outstanding domestic racehorses and trying to reduce the number of injured horses, even if only by one. I want to work harder and be recognized by fans as a trainer who produces great horses for major races.”

Baek Gwang-yeol, Trainer at LetsRun Park Busan-Gyeongnam.

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