A year ago, the G3 Korea Cup (1800m, sand)and G3 Korea Sprint (1200m, sand)returned to the calendar following a two-year hiatus during the global pandemic. That day, amid a raucous atmosphere at a Seoul Racecourse packed to the rafters for the first time since 2019, Eoma Eoma and Winner’s Man raised the roof by taking out the two features for the host nation.

Fast forward to September 10, 2023 and the two defending champions both return to run again but following indifferent seasons. Eoma Eoma has continued to run fast times, but he has won just one of four starts this year, and that was in a non-graded race back in February. Winner’s Man has won in Group company but enters having been beaten by Tuhonaui Banseok in his latest two.

Meanwhile, Raon The Fighter, second in last year’s Korea Cup and widely thought of as the most talented horse in Korea, is on the long-term injured list.

That, coupled with a set of visitors that while less in number than last year, are overall much more formidable, including established global stars such as Crown Pride and Bathrat Leon, as well as Remake and Gloria Mundi and the locals could be forgiven for feeling some apprehension going into International Day. There are reasons for hope, however.

Winner’s Man’s recent labours have been mostly due to emergence of Tuhonui Banseok as a serious elite level competitor and the latter will be expected to put in a big showing in the Korea Cup. But in the same race, there will be plenty of attention on a newcomer, a horse who had only raced twice at the time of last year’s race.

In fact, Global Hit raced only twice at all as a juvenile last season, but as a three-year-old he has thrived, winning four of five 2023 starts. Crucially those victories include the KOR G1 Korean Derby (1800m, sand)and the KOR G2 Minister’s Cup (2000m, sand), the final two legs of the Triple Crown (he didn’t contest the opening leg), both around the two-turns of Seoul Racecourse that he will tackle on Sunday (10 September) and both times, sitting back and attacking late.

Global Hit’s Derby victory was a first for a female jockey in Korea as the trail-blazing Kim Hye-sun added the main Classic to the Oaks she had won in 2017. She partnered him in the Minister’s Cup and will ride him in the big one on Sunday. Speaking after the Minister’s Cup victory, Kim said: “He proved the Derby wasn’t luck. He is such a good horse. Physically, he can appear quite fragile but when he is right, he is so good.”

Global Hit’s reputation received a boost even without racing last week when his stablemate Speed Young, who ran a well beaten second in the Minister’s Cup, bolted up in a Class 2 race at Busan.

Global Hit is by To Honor And Serve, a stallion who has already made his mark on the Korea Cup with his Cheongdam Dokki, who ran fourth in the race in 2018 and secondin 2019. Global Hit is tactically versatile, but from a good draw, jockey Kim should be able to pick her spot and he is possessed of a super finish.

Will it be enough to compete with established stars such as Crown Pride, fifth in both the G1 Saudi Cup (1800m, dirt)　and G1 Dubai World Cup (2000m, dirt)  this year? That remains to be seen and it is a big ask for a three-year-old who has only raced seven times. Five of those have ended in victory and while Sunday may not necessarily be a sixth, Kim Hye-sun and Global Hit can certainly allow local racing fans to go into the weekend feeling that the future can be bright.