On March 24, the 27th Dong-A Daily Bae (L), the seventh race of the Korea Horse Racing Association's Let's Run Park Seoul, was won by Busan Gyeongnam's Joyful Journey (Korean-bred 4-year-old filly by NASCAR Mazoo, trainer Young Kwan Kim, jockey Seung Woon Seo).

The filly had already been named the best 3-year-old last year after winning all three races of the Triple Tiara for the second time in her 3-year-old season. Reflecting this popularity, Pleasant Journey was the overwhelming favorite at 1.5x to win and 1.0x to win consecutively.

After a good start to the race, JOYFUL JOURNEY settled into a solid second-place position under the watchful eyes of Wonderful Slew on the inside and Laugh On The Pursuit on the outside. Looking for an opportunity to make a move throughout the race, Joyful Journey accelerated to take the lead 300 meters before the finish line. He then crossed the line first, three-quarters of a length (about 1.8 meters) clear of the hard-chasing Wonderful Slew. The race record was 1:56.3.

Second place went to Wonderful Slew, who showed great resilience at the end of the race, and third place went to Yellow Cat, who entered the lead from the third turn and held on until the end.

After the race, Seo Seung-woon, the jockey aboard Joyful Journey, said, "The horse ran well despite a gap of more than three months," adding, "We prepared for the race by doing practice runs to find the racing feel as there were no Grade 1 races organized after his win last 토토 December." "He's a freestyle horse that can run from any position, so it was easy for me to develop the race, and I think he's competitive enough to run with the geldings in the second half of the race," he added, expressing confidence.

"The condition of 'Wonderful Slew,' who I thought was my opponent, was so good that I was nervous until the end," said Kim Young-kwan, who manages 'Joyful Journey,' and thanked the horse racing fans for their support and jockey Seo Seung-woon for bringing out the horse's abilities. "We will prepare well for the Ttukseom Bae (G2) on April 28 and do our best for the rest of the Queens Tour Series," he said.

With his 67th career victory in the Dong-A Ilbo Bae, Kim Young-kwan is now the winningest trainer in Korean horse racing history (1,470 wins) and the first trainer to win both the Triple Crown (Powerblade, 2016) and Triple Tiara (Joyful Journey, 2023) series, a record that will be hard to match for some time to come.

Meanwhile, Dong-A Ilbo's sales hit 3 billion won, and Let's Run Park Seoul was packed with an estimated 25,000 people who came out to get a head start on the cherry blossom festival, which begins March 29.