By Alan Carasso
Triple Nine (Kor) (Ecton Park), winner of half of his 22 career local trips to the post and third to Japan's Chrysolite (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) in the 2016 Keeneland Korea Cup (1800m) and Triple Crown winner Power Blade (Kor) (Menifee), who will somewhat surprisingly cut back in trip for the Keeneland Korea Sprint (1200m), head up a strong home entry for Sunday's Korean Autumn Racing Carnival at Seoul Racecourse.
A four-time stakes winner, Triple Nine made four appearances at the Dubai International Racing Carnival over the winter, finishing a good second in a 2000-metre handicap in January before running down the field in his next three, including an 11th in the G2 Godolphin Mile. The 5-year-old has since returned to be second in a pair of starts leading up to this, most recently going down by a length to Power Blade as the long odds-on favourite in the Busan Owners' Cup Aug. 13 (video). Triple Nine will be joined in the 11-strong field by Champ Line (Kor) (Curlin), also an 11-time winner, but had a five-race winning streak snapped as the beaten chalk in the Busan Mayor's Cup (1800m) in July.
Despite his sweep of the 2016 Triple Crown and a fourth in last year's Korea Cup, Power Blade cuts back to the metric six furlongs for the first time in nearly two years. The hard-trying 4-year-old gave a good account of himself at Meydan with a pair of third-place efforts, including the G3 Maktoum Challenge R2 (1900m) in February. The champion 2- and 3-year-old of his generation was fifth in Round 3 of the Maktoum Challenge, dashing any hopes of an appearance in the G1 Dubai World Cup, and his lone run since resulted in the Mayor's Cup success. Power Blade won his maiden over Sunday's trip.
Also in the Sprint field, which attracted 15 short-trackers, are champion local sprinter Perdido Pomeroy (Pomeroy) and Haeya (Flatter), winner of four from seven and second to Silver Wolf (Aus) (Oratorio {Ire}) in the Ttukseom Cup (1400m) (video) at Seoul this past June.
Post positions for the Keeneland Korea Cup and Keeneland Korea Sprint will be drawn Thursday morning at 10.30 a.m. local time.
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