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The mile at Seoul Racecourse, beginning on a spur with horses turning almost immediately after the start has its detractors, but it comes of age on Sunday with the distance being the stage for the Class 1 feature for the first time since January of 2020.

That minimal run before turning, means that the field size is capped at ten but while early races run over the trip tended to heavily favour front-runners drawn low, in recent weeks more and more have been winning from behind – three-year-old Nut Play's back-to-back victories over the distance perhaps the most striking examples.

Sunday's Class 1 Handicap (race 11) will see Class 1 horses tackle the distance for the first time in more than three years although four of the ten have experience of it at lower levels including the probable top two in the market in what looks a fiendishly difficult finale to predict.

JANGSAN LASER is the pick. He is one for one over the 1600M, having made all at class 3 level last July. Since then he has progressed through the grades, scoring a notable 4th place behind Raon First in the G1 President's Cup over 2000M in November.

Following up with a class 1 win over 1400M and then two runner-up finishes at 1200, one in the Listed Segye Ilbo Trophy, Jangsan Laser steps back up to a mile and he could be hard to beat. With Moon Se-young suspended, Antonio Da Silva, who boasts a 26%-win rate in March, climbs aboard the Choi Yong-geun-trained galloper.

A product of the "K-Nicks" program that also identified 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go, the similarly named VICS GO can be a big danger. Like Jangsan Laser, he won his only previous start at a mile, in his case at class 2 level last December.

VICS GO comes up to class 1 for the first time having won over 1800M four weeks ago and under a light weight and from a good gate, he can go close. Alan Munro, who has won on him three times, rides again.

LEGEND DAY is a winner of nine from nineteen and was successful over 1400M at class 1 level in February and tackles further than the seven furlongs for the first time with solid claims. SOUL MERIT and HEUNGROK DAEBU are others who will have plenty of backers, while LORD BAN tackles Class 1 for the first time after a quick win over 1400M in February and draws the plum gate 1 and carries a light weight.

Busan also hosts a class 1 event on Sunday afternoon with race 6 over 2000M. JESSIEUI KKUM netted his first elite level win over 2200M at the end of January and under Franco Da Silva, Bart Rice's five-year-old can continue on his merry way.

There are 10 races at Seoul on Saturday while Sunday sees 11 at Seoul and 6 at Busan.

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