Zac Purton is adamant that Sunday’s G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize isn’t a one-horse race but odds would indicate that the biggest contest for Ka Ying Rising is against the clock.
If, as expected, Ka Ying Rising wins his 12th straight race on Sunday, all eyes will quickly shift to the giant Longines digital timer on the infield to see if the horse has broken his own track record.
Ka Ying Rising first broke Sha Tin’s 1200m track record back in November when he ran 1:07.43 in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint – shading former champion Sacred Kingdom’s 17-year-old record – before setting a new mark of 1:07.20 in the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup.
Last Sunday at Sha Tin the track was running fast and a couple of class records were broken, raising the possibility that Ka Ying Rising could break his own record again.
So could Ka Ying Rising run even faster time on Sunday?
“You can’t really expect horses to go faster than what they have broken track records,” Purton told Idol Horse. “Can he run 1.06 one day? Well, it is possible, we may not have seen the best of him yet.”
The fastest time for a traditional 1200m – beginning from when the gates open – is 1:06.18, set by New Zealand Group 1 winner Levante over Trentham’s downhill dog-leg track. Timing in some jurisdictions is taken from a running start.
Purton said he wasn’t concerned with what time Ka Ying Rising runs and will focus on ensuring the four-year-old feels comfortable in the run.
“I will find my way, he will tell me what he wants to do, he is the type of horse that gives you a feel, and if he seems comfortable rolling at a certain speed then I am not going to disappoint him,” Purton said.
The race represents a renewal of the rivalry between Purton and Joao Moreira, who will ride Japanese contender Satono Reve. Moreira is bullish about Satono Reve’s chances of an upset on Sunday, despite Ka Ying Rising’s recent dominance.
Ka Ying Rising has started at odds of 1.1 or shorter in four of his last five wins. He was 1.2 when he successfully stepped up to 1400m for the first time in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and he jumped 1.3 in the G2 Premier Bowl.
Satono Reve finished three-quarters of a length behind Ka Ying Rising in third in the Hong Kong Sprint in December and was then an impressive winner of the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen last time out.
“Everybody has to have hope, it’s a horse race and you have to go into the race with some amount of confidence otherwise there is no point being there,” Purton said of Moreira’s confidence, adding of the jockey: “It is good to have him back, he bases himself in Brazil these days so we don’t get to see too much of him but he has done well in Japan in recent weeks and comes here with a decent ride.” ∎
