Seoul racecourse to show local ace's Dubai World Cup bid in middle of the night

South Korean racing fans will flock to Seoul racecourse in the early hours of Sunday morning to watch their nation's representative Dolkong tackle the Dubai World Cup at Meydan.

They will not be the only ones celebrating in style if 33-1 shot Dolkong does pull off the improbable as trainer Simon Foster, an Australian who took out a licence with the Korean Racing Authority in November 2017, joked victory would lead to him having a crack at beating the 52 cans of beer cricketer David Boon downed on a flight between Sydney and London.

Explaining Dolkong's popularity in Seoul, Foster said: "There are Dolkong signs up around the track and they've named a race after him on Saturday. They're going to open the track at 1am and show it live on the big screen."

Racing in South Korea is a popular attraction and there are invariably big crowds for Seoul's Saturday and Sunday fixtures, with large betting turnover helping to boost prize-money.

Foster added: "Betting turnover is huge. They have the third-highest prize-money in Asia behind Hong Kong and Japan. It's all betting orientated – they don't go there for a few beers and to watch a race, they just go there to bet.

Simon Foster: 'Dolkong is a lovely, relaxed horse, really enjoying it here'

"They get big attendances for every meeting, there's 30-40,000 every Saturday and Sunday, and that's because the ability to bet off-course isn't there, they don't have bookmakers.

"What the KRA has done right is control their product, whereas in Australia and Britain there are so many bookmakers and by the time the dollar gets back to the participants in the industry it gets watered down too much. All the betting turnover goes to the KRA and goes to prize-money."

Dolkong has impressed Foster with how well he has settled in at Meydan, winning the Curlin Handicap last month before finishing a creditable third behind World Cup fancies Capezzano and Thunder Snow last time.

Foster said: "We're really happy with Dolkong. He's a lovely, relaxed horse, really enjoying it here. He's matured since he's been here and that's shown in his performances, but we know he's got to do that bit more."

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