Ka Ying Rising tops bill as Hong Kong gets rolling

The best racehorse in the world is the star attraction at Hong Kong’s first fixture of its new season at Sha Tin on Sunday 6 September.

Ka Ying Rising, trained in Hong Kong by David Hayes, will be trying for a record-extending 21st consecutive win in the Chief Executive’s Cup over 1200m.

The six-year-old gelding is coming off an off-season break, but he is unlikely to be opposed by many rational punters as he tackles the Group 3 term curtain raiser.

Last weekend, Ya King Rising effortlessly won a 1000m barrier trial at Sha Tin by two lengths, under a strong hold by regular pilot and Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton. The previous week he won a trial by 10 lengths, so there’ll not be much room for upset speculation come Sunday.

Still, Purton tried to quieten the overwhelming confidence just a little by complaining that the speed machine did not change his lead leg towards the end of his final warm-up.

“He was on one leg the whole way, which is frustrating. How does a horse go 1000m up the straight on one leg?” Purton said.

“Normal horses can’t do it, but he’s got to sort that out when he gets back to the races.”

Hayes wasn’t worried: “I feel pretty good. Zac said he didn’t change legs, but he was probably three or four seconds below course record time, so he was doing it very easily, and I just like the way he acted before the trial,” Hayes said.

“I think he’s in the right head space and ready to run a race.”

Ka Ying Rising is rated the equal best horse in the world – with UK-trained Ombudsman – on the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. He is the undisputed global sprint king after victories in The Everest in Australia and the Hong Kong Sprint back home.

The New Zealand-bred is likely to follow the same campaign route he did last season and is short-priced to notch the same victories – starting with The Everest at Randwick in October.

Racing is huge in Hong Kong – to the extent the even barrier trials (glorified exercise gallops) a week before the season opener are described as a “pre-season carnival”, draw an enthusiastic crowd and feature the popular annual jockeys’ sprint, a human foot race on the Sha Tin turf.

In a tight finish to the 100m relay, former South African champion jockey Lyle Hewitson and partner Derek Leung Ka-chun claimed victory from Harry Bentley and a fast-finishing Karis Teetan.

Hewitson and Leung were presented with a HK$5,000 (R10,330) cheque, medals and a trophy.