In a city like Sydney, it takes a real event to get a crowd.
If it’s not the suffocating traffic, then it’s the beer and food prices. It could be the fickle weather, the overbearing crowds, maybe just the accessibility of sitting on the lounge and getting a better picture of things on the television.
Melbourne’s different. Melbourne people go to everything. The running joke is that their residents are so desperate to go to any event, to be seen, they’ll go to the opening of an envelope. It’s not the self-titled sporting capital of the world for no reason.
On Tuesday, something strange happened. Sydney people turned up to something they wouldn’t ordinarily care about: a barrier trial. More than 1000 of them, lured by arguably the world’s best horse and a side of free bacon and egg rolls on the barbecue, and long blacks.
“They wouldn’t get anywhere near this many people for a midweek meeting,” one wag joked.
They’re right, but then again Ka Ying Rising doesn’t contest run-of-the-mill Wednesday races at Canterbury or Warwick Farm.
So, they filed through the gates, lined the tiered steps in Royal Randwick’s Theatre of the Horse to see him parade solo, then hung over the fence to watch him have his first – and only – peek at the track where he will contest the A$20 million The Everest on October 18.
It wasn’t just the crowd that was unusual about the morning.
The Hong Kong superstar waltzed solo around the paddock as quarantine restrictions are slowly lifted, his other rivals in the trial – including Everest combatants Joliestar, Overpass and Angel Capital – sticking to standard procedure in being kept in tie-up stalls on the other side of the track before meeting Ka Ying Rising behind the barriers.
It’s almost inconsequential how Ka Ying Rising fared in the actual trial, and more about the education of seeing a foreign track in a foreign land for the first time. It was also good for his handlers, too.
On the parade? He might have been better.
Under overcast skies, Ka Ying Rising noticeably sweated between his hind legs, not unfamiliar for a horse which can be buzzy in his parade. But how will he handle it when there’s 50,000 people crammed into a hot, sweaty mess which will be Royal Randwick for the big race?
He was swiftly away from the outside gate, jockey Zac Purton allowing him to coast wide on the track, and finding the line under little pressure in third behind Linebacker and Overpass, the latter under far more pressure than The Everest favourite. The margins were a half-head by a head. Did it really matter?
Maybe what mattered was what was said afterwards.
Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes seemingly has a perpetual smile on his face, Purton is more liable to straight shooting. He will tell you what he thinks, not what you want to hear.
As Purton marked Ka Ying Rising’s trial as “OK, a pass mark”, Hayes couldn’t help himself.
“It must be noted, Zac is often pessimistic,” Hayes interjected.
“I’m standing next to the eternal optimist,” Purton fired back.
So, what’s the real story?
Ka Ying Rising is 20 pounds above his usual race weight, and that’s not a bad thing given the quarantine restrictions and travelling imposed on him. Both trainer and jockey want him to tighten up before raceday, because taking on Australia’s best sprinters in their own backyard is no easy task, no matter how good you might be.
But the real concern has to be with Sydney’s softer ground compared to Ka Ying Rising’s Sha Tin sanctuary.
On Monday, Hayes was telling anyone who would listen he planned to give Ka Ying Rising a serious gallop in the trial. Rather, Purton kept him under wraps.
“We’ve had to travel down here to take them on, on a track that’s probably not really to our preference,” a candid Purton said.
“At Sha Tin, the track is a lot firmer and a lot faster. Today, it’s softer than what he’s used to. But that’s the challenge we want to take and we look forward to it.”
The good news for Ka Ying Rising is Sydney’s weather forecast for the next 11 days is sun, sun and more sun. He will likely get a track he wants, which makes for a departure from a number of close shaves already.
His only lead-up run at Hong Kong’s season opener was able to be squeezed in before an approaching typhoon, and it has largely escaped the racing public in Australia, but an indiscriminate shooting from a man at cars and passers by in Sydney’s inner west on Sunday night happened not far from Canterbury Park, where Ka Ying Rising is staying.
Police estimate up to 50 bullets were sprayed from an apartment above a small business to the road below. It was a miracle no one was killed. It happened about 2km from the quarantine centre, and when Hayes checked on his horse first thing Monday morning, he was as bright as ever.
Officials took Ka Ying Rising to the Royal Randwick raceday stalls where he’ll be stationed on The Everest day, but unlike on the big occasion, there were no spectators allowed to get up close and personal before the trial.
“It’s six weeks between drinks for him so he really needed a dress rehearsal,” Hayes said.
“At Sha Tin he gets very edgy going through the tunnels with all the other horses and when Zac, or whoever is riding him, drops over his neck he relaxes straight away. I think that was typical of Ka Ying today.
“He’ll be better on raceday, but he’ll have to be because there will be 50,000 people here. (Today) was very important for the horse, but even more important for his Chinese handlers. They know Sha Tin very well and they’re very professional, but to be here with him, it’s totally different pre race.”
The Australian Turf Club sold its last general admission tickets for The Everest on Monday night, no doubt fuelled by the Ka Ying Rising phenomenon.
“That’s two weeks in advance, which is quicker than ever before,” ATC interim chief executive Steve McMahon said. “You can see the energy just for a barrier trial.”
Ka Ying Rising remains a $1.50 favourite for The Everest, a price unlikely to budge before what will be the most anticipated Sydney race since Winx’s farewell in 2019.
Not even the great mare could pull a crowd for a barrier trial like Ka Ying Rising, which says a lot about a city as distracted as Sydney. This is a real horse getting ready for a real race, and they were happy to watch him go around for practice. ∎
