Trainer David Hayes couldn’t hide his delight as the media scrum descended upon him after another impressive trial from Ka Ying Rising at Sha Tin on Saturday.
It wasn’t just how Ka Ying Rising performed on the track – the world’s highest-rated sprinter ran 56.45 seconds for 1000 metres with ease – but his temperament before and after the trial also showed a marked improvement on previous trials.
“The most important thing today was that, mentally, he is more mature this year,” Hayes said. “Last year, if you watch his trial (on this day), he was jumpy and out of his skin and a bit too fresh. This year, he was walking around exactly how you want them to walk around.”
The first turf trials of the Hong Kong term are the headline act of the traditional pre-season carnival, held a week before the start of the season each year. Even before he’d stepped onto the track, Ka Ying Rising was the star attraction, drawing a huge crowd as he was saddled up and champion rider Zac Purton was legged aboard.
Significantly, unlike Ka Ying Rising’s first trial in which he had Class 3 horses 14 lengths behind, Saturday’s trial field included Group 3 winner Patch Of Theta, Class 1 runner-up Gorgeous Win, Australian Group 3 winner Holmes A Court and highly touted import Stanley Express.
Hayes had instructed Purton to not win the trial by more than a length and in the early stages, that looked like it would be a tall order. Ka Ying Rising opened up a wide margin down the centre of the track while still under a firm hold from Purton.
Eventually, Ka Ying Rising was eased to the line to win by two lengths over Patch Of Theta and completed what will be his final hit out ahead of his return in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup next Sunday. The five-year-old will attempt to win the race for the second year in a row and will once again carry top weight of 135 pounds, although his rating is 23 points above what it was last year.
“To run that sort of time with his eyes shut is pretty impressive,” Hayes said. “Zac’s only criticism is that he never changes legs but when you don’t get under pressure, you don’t have to change legs. Otherwise, he was happy – he was thrilled with his manners behind the gates.
“He’s still a little above his racing weight but for where he is currently in his preparation, I couldn’t be happier. He’s about 25 pounds above where he raced last year, he should be as he is now that little bit older but I want a bit of wiggle room before travelling. He was about 1160lb before the trial today and I aim to have him at 1150lb on Everest Day.” ∎
