Ka Ying Rising is scaring off rivals left and right, so much so that Satono Reve’s trainer Noriyuki Hori is in two minds about taking up the latest invitation to challenge the world’s best sprinter in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at the end of April.
Hori knows all about winning in Hong Kong: his mighty champion Maurice won there three times, and he has also scored major victories at Sha Tin with Neorealism, Satono Crown and Tastiera.
Maurice even defeated the brilliant Hong Kong champion of the time, Able Friend, when winning the G1 Hong Kong Mile 10 years ago, but Hori knows this would be a different task altogether.
“Ka Ying Rising is an extremely strong horse and having raced against him several times now, I have the impression that he is truly out of reach,” Hori said in the immediate aftermath of Satono Reve’s victory in Sunday’s G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo.
Hori’s words were those of a pragmatist, a meticulous planner who knows his own star would again have his work cut out against the horse that last October took his Hong Kong form into the deep hotbed of Australian sprinters and carried off the G1 The Everest, the world’s richest sprint race.
The David Hayes-trained Ka Ying Rising is now on an 18-race winning streak – one more than the great Silent Witness’s old record – and has defeated Satono Reve three times already, including when the latter was two and a quarter lengths second in last year’s Chairman’s Sprint Prize. In their most recent meeting, the Japanese horse was a below-par ninth, more than eight lengths behind, in December’s G1 Hong Kong Sprint.
Satono Reve’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen win confirmed his status as Japan’s best sprinter – his second in last June’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot stacks up well, too – but that still leaves him short of the imperious Ka Ying Rising.
Yet, with no Group 1 sprint in Japan until the G1 Sprinters Stakes in October, the Chairman’s Sprint Prize is again the obvious next race. If the seven-year-old does go for a fourth crack at Ka Ying Rising, Hori will take on the task with his sense of realism intact.
“We have received an invitation for the Chairman’s Sprint Prize,” the trainer said. “Nowadays, various priorities are assigned based on the order of early invitation, so while we would normally accept after checking the horse’s condition after the race, we have already accepted due to those circumstances.
“However, I want to carefully assess the horse’s condition after this and make a final decision on whether or not to go,” he added, noting that the horse had lost his near-hind shoe during the race. “It will depend on the horse’s condition and consultation with the owner.”
Should Satono Reve’s connections choose to duck out of the Ka Ying Rising clash, they would not be alone.
Ka Ying Rising is seen as nigh on unbeatable at Sha Tin: his predecessor as Hong Kong’s Champion Sprinter Lucky Sweynesse is going down the mile route to avoid him, and so too is Fast Network who in any other era would be seen as a rising star in the sprint ranks – Ka Ying Rising’s rider Zac Purton is locked in for the latter.
Satono Reve’s second victory in as many years in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen emphasised again the strength of Ka Ying Rising’s form. The seven-year-old is no mug, he is a top line Group 1 sprinter, and his rider last Sunday, Christophe Lemaire, noted as much, describing his mount as “a muscle car … He is like a Ford Mustang GT, he has that much power.”
But, sticking with the fast car analogy, as powerful, fast and impressive as a Mustang GT might be, it would not match a Ferrari SF90 for speed and power. As Hori might say, the Ferrari would be out of reach. ∎
