Let's Run Park Yeongcheon (Yeongcheon Racecourse), set to officially open in September, is entering its final rehearsal. The Korea Racing Authority (KRA) said on the 7th that it will hold live-simulation mock races in Yeongcheon on the 18th and 25th under the same conditions as actual races.
The mock races will feature three races (3R) per day. The IT systems, broadcasting, betting, stewards, and photo finishes for racing operations will run exactly as in actual races. In particular, the authority will conduct intensive checks on a region-based traveling racing management system, the first of its kind in Korea.
Traveling racing refers to racehorses that usually train at Let's Run Park Busan-Gyeongnam moving to Yeongcheon on race day to compete on the road. The system is common in racing powerhouses such as the United States, Australia, and Japan, but it is unfamiliar in Korea. A KRA official said, "Traveling racing offers a variety of variables stemming from the characteristics of different tracks each time, maximizing the thrill of the race and further strengthening racehorses' adaptability to different environments."
The most important factor in traveling racing is the health of the "racehorses," the main players in racing. Some have raised concerns about horse transport. The authority fully incorporated the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) "horse transport welfare guidelines" and directly built 13 state-of-the-art, vibration-free, 13.5-ton dedicated transport trucks at 330 million won per vehicle, equivalent to "first-class" standards. Air conditioning and automatic ventilators are installed inside to maintain optimal temperatures at all times. Variable partitions tailored to horses' physiques and a real-time GPS tracking system strictly manage travel routes and the horses' conditions.
Let's Run Park Yeongcheon, which officially opens in September, will be the fourth racecourse park in Korea after Gwacheon, Jeju, and Busan-Gyeongnam. It was built on approximately 6.61 million square meters (200,000 pyeong) in Geumho-eup, Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. With the planned 2030 extension opening of Daegu Metro Line 1, observers say it is poised to become a comprehensive leisure and tourism landmark for the Yeongnam region.
Chair Woo Hee-jong of the KRA said, "Let's Run Park Yeongcheon will go beyond a simple racing facility to become a new growth engine that injects vitality into Yeongcheon and the broader regional economy," adding, "We will reproduce the proven economic ripple effects and our win-win expertise in Yeongcheon and work for regional development, including job creation."