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South China Morning Post
27-04-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Ka Ying Rising completes perfect season with scintillating Chairman's Sprint Prize success
Ka Ying Rising put the cherry on a perfect season with another blockbuster display at Sha Tin on Sunday, completing a clean sweep of the Hong Kong Speed Series with victory in the Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m). By landing his eighth success from as many starts this season, the world's best sprinter matched Hong Kong's single-season win record held by Beauty Generation and Lucky Sweynesse. 'What more can you say? Every time you come out here, he produces something special and he did that again today and he didn't even change his leg. He puts them away very quickly,' said jockey Zac Purton. 'The track has got a little bit of give in it today, so he's not going to run any faster if people are looking at the clock but he's run a lot quicker than the other horses today. 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 'Once again, he was brilliant. He's getting better and better. He's had a long season, he's been exceptional all the way through and it's a good way to finish it.' Nicely away from gate four, Purton opted to take a sit aboard Ka Ying Rising in a race with plenty of early speed. Unleashed down the outside, Ka Ying Rising rattled home with a final 400m of 21.78 seconds to beat Japanese raider Satono Reve by two and a quarter lengths and clock 1:07.88 eased down. The John Size-trained Helios Express ran third, placing behind Ka Ying Rising for the seventh time this season. 'It was a great ride by Zac. He took the sit and didn't want to get pocketed and went a bit early, but when you're on a [$1.05 chance] I think you take the luck out of it,' said trainer David Hayes after Ka Ying Rising bagged his 12th straight win and fourth Group One victory. 'He had a perfect prep and a perfect season. It's just nice nothing went wrong. 'He probably got to the front a bit early and stargazed today but he got the job done and he won by a decent margin. 'It's a good effort to do the [Speed Series] and he's only four, so I think we've got a lot to look forward to in the coming seasons. 'What he's starting to show is that he's not one dimensional. He can take it up or take a sit. He did pull slightly mid-race but I love the fact that he can take a sit.' Ka Ying Rising sent his career prize money past HK$60 million with victory in the HK$22 million Chairman's Sprint Prize, while he pocketed the HK$5 million Speed Series bonus by adding to his earlier victories in the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) and Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m). While he was red-hot favourite and never looked in any real danger, Hayes admitted he still felt the pinch. 'It is a different feeling saddling up a [$1.05] chance. It normally doesn't get to me but I get a bit stirred up. I'll be just pleased now to chill,' said Hayes before heaping praise on his stable staff. 'The team has been outstanding. [Assistant trainer] Jimmy [Wong Chi-hung] heads it but he's got a lot of people under him that just play their role and you wouldn't be here without them.' Ka Ying Rising will now have a breather before connections turn their attention to October's mega-rich The Everest in Sydney. Treble for @zpurton and Masterofmyuniverse marks 100 wins this season for the superstar jockey! 💯#FWDChampionsDay | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) April 27, 2025 'He's going to go straight up to Conghua, he loves it up there, and he'll have a month to himself going out in the beautiful day paddocks,' said Hayes. 'Then we'll start targeting to hopefully have him ready to race at the start of next season with The Everest in mind.' Ka Ying Rising's win was the middle leg of a treble for Purton, with the star Australian also saluting aboard Patch Of Stars and Masterofmyuniverse to move to 100 winners for the ninth straight season. 'It's a very good number to get to – most years it wins you a premiership. This year, we're about to go well beyond that but it means I've had a lot of support and a lot of luck,' he said.
South China Morning Post
30-03-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
‘Foolproof' Ka Ying Rising makes it 11 straight with Sprint Cup rout
Ka Ying Rising is one win away from a perfect season after coasting to victory in Sunday's Group Two Sprint Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin. Sent off the shortest price of his career at $1.05, Ka Ying Rising tracked leader California Spangle in the run before powering to his 11th win on the bounce and seventh success of the campaign. 'He runs those times with ease,' said trainer David Hayes after Ka Ying Rising stopped the clock at 1:08.18 – about a length inside standard but well short of his own track record of 1:07.2. 'He's just got this group of horses covered and I knew he was in peak form. 'The way he looks and the way he's behaving, he is improving his manners – clearly his ability has been there the whole time. UNSTOPPABLE! 🤯 11 straight wins for world's best sprinter Ka Ying Rising as David Hayes' star is an emphatic G2 Sprint Cup winner at Sha Tin... @zpurton #LoveRacing | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) March 30, 2025 'He's developing into a more foolproof horse. Today he took the sit. He doesn't have to lead – he's all right with a sit and he's all right leading, so he's a beauty.' Back in the saddle for the first time since fracturing his toe in a race fall on February 9, jockey Zac Purton let Ka Ying Rising go upon straightening before easing him to a three-length victory over Helios Express, who ran second to the sprint sensation for the fourth time running. 'It's nice to come back and ride a horse like him. He's a pleasure to do anything with, he's really relaxed going to the gates and behind the gates now. He just does everything you want him to do,' said Purton, who finished the afternoon with a treble after also saluting aboard La Forza for Jamie Richards and Another World for Benno Yung Tin-pang. 'The leader today didn't go as fast as I was hoping he would go. I travelled a bit stronger than I would have liked and with the extra weight on his back, I didn't want to sit around and wait for the others, so I sent him for home early and he just let him do what he does. 'He was always cruising and he didn't give us a moment of worry and that's the good thing about him.' Ka Ying Rising will chase a fourth Group One win in the Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) on April 27, while he can also complete a sweep of the Hong Kong Speed Series after victories in the Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) and Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m). 'Even Zac's starting to acknowledge the horse's ability now. He took a while but he's really starting to say that he's quite special, which he really is,' said Hayes. 'This was a stepping-stone race, where he had to give five pounds, and the next one is set weights and it's his grand final. 'There's a HK$5 million bonus for the [Speed Series] and, of course, it's an international sprint. 'It's what he's been set for the whole year and if he achieves it, it's the perfect season. Eight wins – not many horses have done that. 'He'll have an easy trial 10 days out from the race. Whether we have it at Conghua or Sha Tin will be decided, but he will certainly go up to Conghua and enjoy the facilities. He just recovers between runs so well.' Ka Ying Rising would draw level with Lucky Sweynesse and Beauty Generation on a record eight wins in a season should he snare the Chairman's Sprint Prize, where he is likely to face a rematch with Japanese speedster Satono Reve after that galloper, who finished third in December's Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m), took out Sunday's Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1,200m) under Joao Moreira at Chukyo.
South China Morning Post
24-02-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
‘Terms race' needed for Ka Ying Rising to run in Hong Kong before The Everest: David Hayes
Trainer to push Jockey Club to put on a set-weights contest for his gun speedster early in the 2025-26 season While the all-conquering Ka Ying Rising has April's Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) in his immediate sights, trainer David Hayes has suggested the galloper is unlikely to race on home soil in the lead up to the mega-rich The Everest (1,200m) in October unless the Jockey Club puts on a suitable race for him. After stringing together his 10th straight win with his third Group One success in Sunday's Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m), Ka Ying Rising will look to complete a sweep of the Hong Kong Speed Series with victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize on April 27, while he may also line-up in the Group Two Sprint Cup (1,200m) on March 30. Wins in those two races coupled with the HK$5 million Speed Series bonus would push Ka Ying Rising's prize money past HK$65 million even before connections turn their attention to the world's richest turf race – the A$20 million (HKD$99 million) The Everest in Sydney. While Hayes has suggested Ka Ying Rising could embark on a multi-race Australian campaign, potentially also taking in the Group One Champions Sprint (1,200m) down the Flemington straight, he confirmed on Sunday that he won't be looking at racing his superstar Down Under before The Everest. Instead, he wants the Jockey Club to consider putting on a special race at set weights early in the 2025-26 season. GO ON, @KarisTeetan! 🔥 The Mauritian ace guides superstar Ka Ying Rising to a third Group 1 win in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup at Sha Tin ahead of Helios Express and Howdeepisyourlove... 🏆#LoveRacing | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) February 23, 2025 'I would love the club to consider putting a terms race on early in the season, not only because it would be great for Ka Ying [Rising], but because going forward I think Hong Kong sprinters will target The Everest because it's a logical race for them,' Hayes said after Ka Ying Rising's victory on Sunday. 'If they didn't put a terms race on I'd have to exhibition gallop him during one of the early meetings.' While Ka Ying Rising won the Class One HKSAR Chief Executive's Cup (1,200m) under top weight on the opening day of this season, Hayes isn't keen on the prospect of a potential gut buster under 135 pounds before popping his gun speedster on a flight to Australia. At a time when the city's most decorated galloper, Romantic Warrior, is spending an extended stint in the Middle East and will race more times abroad than on home soil this season, the prospect of the world's best sprinter not racing in Hong Kong for the best part of eight months between the Chairman's Sprint Prize and December's Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) will surely not sit well with administrators. While Hong Kong's programme is nothing if not cookie cutter and changes of any note are rare, Hayes' call should be seriously considered by officials. If they do embrace the chance to innovate, Hong Kong racing fans could be in for a nice early-season treat. No Al Quoz defence for Spangle While Howdeepisyourlove and Sword Point are expected to join Romantic Warrior in Dubai, Tony Cruz has confirmed that California Spangle will not defend his Group One Al Quoz Sprint (1,200m) crown at Meydan in early April. A fading sixth behind Ka Ying Rising in Sunday's Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup, Cruz said connections will meet regarding the three-time Group One winner's future. 'California Spangle won't be going to Dubai. The result wasn't so good and he's got a bit of wear and tear. I'll consult my owners and we'll see what our plans are,' said Cruz. Frankie Lor Fu-chuen confirmed Sword Point will tackle the Group Two Godolphin Mile on dirt despite his last behind Voyage Bubble in the weekend's Group One Gold Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin. 'The dirt will be much better for him – he's just not as good on the turf,' said Lor. Howdeepisyourlove will fly the Hong Kong flag in the Al Quoz Sprint after his impressive third behind Ka Ying Rising, while another of the city's entries for the race, Flying Ace, was retired last week.
