Latest news with #HeliosExpress
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
John Hawkes: Ka Ying Rising still has a box to tick for The Everest
Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes has provided his expert endorsement of the sprinting talents of The Everest favourite Ka Ying Rising – but with one qualification. 'Ka Ying Rising looks a really, really good horse but he has got to travel from Hong Kong and settle in here,'' Hawkes said. 'Most probably he will be fine but it is never easy when you are travelling a horse overseas. 'At least he has a very good trainer (Hall of Famer David Hayes) and he's a mature horse now. 'He should be OK and if he gets here without a problem then he is going to be hard beat but you never really know until they do it.'' There's nearly five months to the $20 million The TAB Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on October 18 but Ka Ying Rising is the dominant $1.90 TAB Fixed Odds favourite ahead of Newcastle's unbeaten Private Harry at $6 and the Hawkes Racing -trained Briasa at $8. Ka Ying Rising is spelling after a perfect Hong Kong season where he won all his eight starts brilliantly, including four at Group 1 level culminating with his runaway win in the Chairman's Sprint Prize at Sha Tin in late April. The John Size-trained Helios Express, who was placed in seven races behind Ka Ying Rising this season, made the most of his formidable rival's absence with a fast-finishing win in the Group 3 Sha Tin Handicap on Saturday night, running a fast 1m 8.14s. But the very talented Helios Express is being called Hong Kong's version of Hay List, the outstanding sprinter who was unfortunately born in the same era as the unbeatable Black Caviar and often ran second, albeit well beaten, behind the great mare. Ka Ying Rising has not yet been locked in by a slot-holder for The Everest but this seems only a matter of time with Hong Kong Jockey Club in advanced talks with slot-holder Australian Turf Club. The Hawkes-trained Briasa is a confirmed Everest starter after being snapped up by slot-holders Max Whitby, Neil Werrett and Col Madden. Briasa is spelling after winning the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick during The Championships in April before finishing fourth to Jimmysstar in the All Aged Stakes. Hawkes, who trains in partnership with his sons Wayne and Michael, said Briasa and the stable's other autumn Group 1 winners, Nepotism (Champagne Stakes) and Devil Night (Blue Diamond Stakes) will return to light work this month. 'The good thing with Briasa is he's already qualified (slot) for The Everest, so it's great to get that out of the way,'' Hawkes said. 'The Everest is a very tough race, it won't be easy to win, but we are in with a chance. 'We are only planning to give Briasa one or two runs before The Everest. Horses like him won't have too many runs each preparation as that way they can keep racing for longer.'' The Hawkes stable also had success with Liberty State at Rosehill Gardens last Saturday with the smart mare overcoming a wide run to score an impressive first-up win. Liberty State, who helped boost the Hawkes stable's earnings for the 2024-25 season to a personal-best $10.87 million and counting, also earned praise from winning rider, Dylan Gibbons. 'Ideally I would have been happy with three deep, four deep wasn't part of the plan,'' Gibbons said. 'But when you are out there, there isn't much you can do so I was happy to leave her in her rhythm. 'She seemed to love that ground, there was no kickback in her face, and it gave her the chance to explode.'' Gibbons is hoping he can retain the ride on Liberty State as the mare has an unbeaten second-up record. 'Normally, I'm a big believer when horses go so well first-up they can taper off at their second runs back,'' Gibbons said. 'But I told Michael (Hawkes) and her owners I would not be surprised if that hasn't knocked the wind out of her at all. 'She seemed to pull up in good order and came back in like it was nothing. It will be interesting to see what sort of level she can get to now on the basis of that win.''
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Helios Express digs deep to nail Invincible Sage in pulsating Sha Tin Vase finish
Helios Express (outside) rockets home to beat Invincible Sage in the Group Three Sha Tin Vase. Photos: Kenneth Chan After seven straight placings behind Ka Ying Rising, John Size's sprinter breaks through with narrow Group Three success Snapping a streak of seven consecutive placings behind Ka Ying Rising, Helios Express dug deep to chase down Invincible Sage for a heart-stopping victory in Saturday's Group Three Sha Tin Vase (1,200m). Sent off the $2.05 favourite in his bid for a breakthrough success, the John Size-trained gelding launched a withering burst from last to deny $20 shot Invincible Sage in a bob of the heads on the finishing post. Hugh Bowman took Helios Express back from the outside draw in the field of 11 and was still at the tail at the 200m, as Ben Thompson made his move on Invincible Sage from midfield to shoot to the lead. Helios Express arrived just in time for a deserved win after five seconds and two thirds behind the world's best sprinter, Ka Ying Rising, who was absent from Saturday's feature. Helios Express charges from the rear to overhaul Invincible Sage in the G3 Sha Tin Vase! 🏆 @HugeBowman #LoveRacing | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) May 31, 2025 'Only just,' Bowman said of the short-head margin. 'I've had a lot to do with the second horse, Invincible Sage, and they both got the soft track conditions which suited both horses and you've seen them both run to their premium. 'My horse had to overcome the [on-speed] bias. I knew that going out but I was reluctant to change [Helios Express'] pattern because with the handicap, I thought he was well in with the 123lb. 'He thoroughly deserved it. He's been chasing the champ all season and with his absence, he was the number one seed and he came out in front.' A brilliant winner of last year's Classic Mile and Classic Cup (1,800m), Helios Express delivered Size his second Sha Tin Vase triumph following the handler's success with Courier Wonder in 2021. Switched to sprinting after his four-year-old campaign, the son of Toronado was runner-up to Ka Ying Rising in Group One features the Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m), Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) and Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m). 'He certainly deserves this win. He's tried very hard all season to win a decent race and finally he got it done. He found a race that was suitable for him,' Size said. Patch Of Theta, who was brown-lamped late in betting from $9.1 to $3.7, ran on strongly from second last to grab third, almost two lengths behind Helios Express. Multiple Group One winner Lucky Sweynesse ran fourth under top weight of 135lb. Size said Helios Express might not be done for the season, with a crack at the Group Three Premier Cup (1,400m) on June 22 a possibility. 'I'll see what he's like at home. After his last start [when third in the Chairman's Sprint Prize], he showed me he really wasn't looking for a break so we'll see how he pulls up after this race,' Size said. After also winning Saturday's Class Three Tai Wai Handicap (1,200m) with Masterofmyuniverse, Size gained a bit of breathing room in his battle with David Hayes for the trainers' championship. With 60 wins, Size extended his lead to seven over Hayes, who struck in the Class Five Shing Mun River Channel Handicap (1,400m) with Lucky Man courtesy of a gun ride by Bowman. Trainer David Hall bounced back from Invincible Sage's narrow defeat to claim the following race with Ka Ying Attack, ending his long winning drought at 60. Mark Newnham and Lyle Hewitson also snared doubles, teaming up to win Saturday's two dirt races with New Forest and Talents Ambition, while Luke Ferraris chimed in with a brace of his own aboard Dazzling Fit and Tourbillon Prince.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Hugh Bowman bullish Helios Express can strike in absence of Ka Ying Rising in Sha Tin Vase
Helios Express (purple and gold silks) finishes close behind Ka Ying Rising and Satono Reve in the Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize. Photos: Kenneth Chan Hugh Bowman has supreme confidence in Helios Express capitalising on the absence of superstar Ka Ying Rising and a light weight when the talented sprinter chases a deserved win in Saturday's Group Three Sha Tin Vase (1,200m). A brilliant winner of last year's Classic Mile and Classic Cup (1,800m), Helios Express has had to settle for five seconds and two thirds behind Ka Ying Rising in his seven starts this season. That streak includes three Group One seconds and a last-start third in the Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) when he rocketed home from last. With Ka Ying Rising sent for a break, the Sha Tin Vase presents a golden opportunity for the John Size-trained Helios Express to break through at Group level. While Bowman conceded the outside draw in the field of 11 was far from ideal, Helios Express' top form and weight of 123lbs has the Australian bullish. HE DOES IT AGAIN! 🚀 Ka Ying Rising makes it 12 straight wins, four Group 1s and a HK$5 million Speed Series bonus with victory in the 2025 Chairman's Sprint Prize... @zpurton #FWDChampionsDay | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) April 27, 2025 'I think he's very well placed,' Bowman said. 'Barrier 11 isn't really what I was after. In saying that, he settles back and the more he settles and finds his feet, the better he runs anyway. 'He's been unreal this season. I thought his last run was his best and on his most recent trial, I think he's in the best form he's been in all season and he's got a very attractive set up, despite the wide draw. I'm sure he'll start a short-priced favourite and deservedly so. I hope he can get it done for us.' Multiple Group One winner Lucky Sweynesse, who carries top weight of 135lbs, and fellow Group One victors Invincible Sage and Victor The Winner are among Helios Express' rivals on Saturday. 'If Invincible Sage gets moisture in the ground like he did last time, he's just a different horse,' said Bowman, who guided the David Hall-trained sprinter to victory in last year's Chairman's Sprint Prize. 'There's some worthy opposition in the race so we won't discard them, but Helios is in good order, he trialled well last week and with Lucky Sweynesse in the race, he gets the weight advantage as well.' Bowman will chase a feature double for Size on Saturday when he rides last-start Group One Champions Mile winner Red Lion in the Group Three Lion Rock Trophy (1,600m). The consistent galloper caused a massive upset when narrowly beating subsequent Triple Crown hero, Voyage Bubble, at $90.8 on Champions Day. However, the elite-level success has thrust him into the role of Lion Rock Trophy top weight. 'That makes it very hard. You're giving good horses a lot of weight,' Bowman said. 'Barrier one will help him – he'll have less work to do in the early stages. But I would think he's probably going to have to run better than he ran last start to win with the weight. That's my honest opinion.' Second in the jockeys' premiership with 64 wins, Bowman will also ride Lucky Man, Straight To Glory, Prestige Hall, Precision Goal, Excel Wongchoy and Size's promising sprinter Crossborderpegasus at Sha Tin. 'Crossborderpegasus is an exciting young horse who's progressing well,' Bowman said of the winner at three of four starts. 'He continues to have a habit of laying in, which hasn't improved and is a little concerning. But if he can start to get his race sense going, he's got points in hand.'
South China Morning Post
29-04-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Voyage Bubble to target Triple Crown after shock defeat: ‘we're aiming to run him'
Voyage Bubble (right) and Red Lion fight out the finish of Sunday's Group One Champions Mile. Photo: Kenneth Chan Voyage Bubble is 'likely' to stake his claim for Hong Kong Horse of the Year honours by attempting to become only the second galloper to sweep the Triple Crown in next month's Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m). An agonising second behind $90 chance Red Lion in Sunday's Group One Champions Mile, Voyage Bubble will look to join River Verdon as a Triple Crown winner after earlier victories in the Group One Stewards' Cup (1,600m) and Group One Gold Cup (2,000m). 'It was a real shame but he still ran well,' said trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai of Voyage Bubble's short-head defeat. 'He will most likely head to the 2,400m – we're aiming to run him.' Ka Ying Rising surely heads the Horse of the Year running after four Group One victories this season and Romantic Warrior must also be in the conversation after elite-level victories at home and abroad. RED LION ROARS! 🦁 It's an 89/1 shocker in the FWD Champions Mile at Sha Tin for @HugeBowman and John Size as Red Lion lands his first Group 1 over Voyage Bubble... #FWDChampionsDay | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) April 27, 2025 But a Champions & Chater Cup success would put the perennially underrated Voyage Bubble right in the frame, with victory drawing him level with Ka Ying Rising on four Group One triumphs in 2024-25. And Yiu may have another genuine Group One contender on his hands after Sunlight Power flashed home for third in the Champions Mile in his first appearance at the top level. 'Sunlight Power was a bit of surprise but he keeps performing every time,' said Yiu, confirming the five-year-old would next be seen in the Group Three Lion Rock Trophy (1,600m) on May 31. Catch the Express It worked for Cape Of Good Hope and connections of Helios Express must seriously be considering their options abroad for a horse who has placed behind Ka Ying Rising seven times this season. After a prolonged period of playing second fiddle to the great Silent Witness, Cape Of Good Hope was sent on the road, bagging Group One victories in Australia and the United Kingdom from 12 races overseas. Hugh Bowman labelled Helios Express' effort in Sunday's Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) 'his best run of the preparation' but he was still two and a half lengths adrift of Ka Ying Rising. David Hayes declared second placegetter Satono Reve 'probably the second-best sprinter in the world at the moment' and Helios Express was only a quarter of a length off the Japanese galloper. 'Helios, what a great horse he's been this year,' said Hayes. 'He just keeps putting his run up. I think he would be a multiple Group One winner if he was back home in Australia.' HE DOES IT AGAIN! 🚀 Ka Ying Rising makes it 12 straight wins, four Group 1s and a HK$5 million Speed Series bonus with victory in the 2025 Chairman's Sprint Prize... @zpurton #FWDChampionsDay | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) April 27, 2025 While the HK$16.3 million Helios Express has bagged for connections this season is certainly not to be sneezed at, he's too good to finish his career without a Group One success on his CV. The challenge now is finding a race that Ka Ying Rising, and perhaps Satono Reve, aren't in. The Group One Sprinters Stakes (1,200m) in Japan in September is one of the more obvious options, but the chances of Satono Reve being there would seem high, while the Group One Manikato Stakes (1,200m) in Melbourne around the same time could be a nice fit with Ka Ying Rising expected to be first up in October's The Everest. Or perhaps connections wait and target the Group One Al Quoz Sprint (1,200m) in Dubai next March – a race in which Helios Express' trainer, John Size, has had runners in the past three years. Hayes pointed out on more than one occasion on Sunday that Ka Ying Rising is only a four-year-old and is just getting started. Hanging around in Hong Kong and hoping for the best seems a fruitless exercise for Helios Express.
South China Morning Post
26-04-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
David Hayes sounds ominous warning to Ka Ying Rising's rivals ahead of Chairman's Sprint Prize
In an ominous warning to Ka Ying Rising's rivals, David Hayes has declared the superstar sprinter is 'four or five lengths better' than in December ahead of Sunday's Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) at Sha Tin. During his extraordinary rise to become the world's best sprinter, Ka Ying Rising was at his most vulnerable in December's Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) when clinging on to a narrow triumph over Helios Express and Japan's Satono Reve. While Zac Purton argued the win was better than it looked after Ka Ying Rising jumped slowly and worked hard early from gate 11, it was the closest the son of Shamexpress has come to being beaten since the first of his 11 consecutive victories. Since that maiden elite-level success, Ka Ying Rising has returned to his explosive winning ways with dominant displays in the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m), Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) and Group Two Sprint Cup (1,200m). PERFECT tune-up for Ka Ying Rising! 🚀 David Hayes' sprinting superstar dazzles at Sha Tin this morning ahead of the Chairman's Sprint Prize... @zpurton 📍 Sha Tin, 27 Apr | #FWDChampionsDay | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) April 17, 2025 'I think we're probably four or five lengths better than he was won he won the [Hong Kong Sprint] and I think his form proves that,' Hayes said. 'I was very bullish in December, but the whole team feels he's a better horse now than he was. It must be remembered that he is only four years old and I think he is going into his golden year next year.' Hayes and Purton identified Satono Reve as the main threat in Sunday's HK$22 million feature, with the Noriyuki Hori-trained sprinter fresh from his first Group One win in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1,200m) at Chukyo last start. Satono Reve was only three-quarters of a length behind Ka Ying Rising in December when storming home late under Joao Moreira, who again takes the ride on Sunday. 'The Japanese horse was incredibly impressive in Japan and I think he's the obvious danger. I've got a lot of respect for him. I might be a bit biased, but I think we've got him covered,' Hayes said. Hayes and Purton were delighted when Ka Ying Rising drew barrier four – his best draw since February last year. 'I don't want a slowly run race to the first corner where a heap of horses are all in a bunch and I want to try to split the field up a little bit,' Purton said. 'I'll be using his speed early and make the other horses work a little bit if they want to try and cross him.' Purton will be bidding for his third Chairman's Sprint Prize triumph after booting home Lucky Sweynesse in 2023 and Ivictory in 2018. 'He's in good order and is ready to go,' Purton said of Ka Ying Rising. 'He's a pleasure to do anything with and if you could order a horse, you would order him. He's got the best attitude, he goes home and he eats and he recovers and he does everything you want. 'He cruises so comfortably on that fast speed and then he can accelerate and put them away off the back of it. And then he just gaps his rivals when he is placed in that scenario.' Danon McKinley, Lugal and A Shin Fencer join Satono Reve in Japan's three-pronged attack on Ka Ying Rising, while Helios Express is expected to figure in the finish again after five seconds and a third behind the superstar from six runs this term.
