Ka Ying Rising’s campaign toward defending his Everest crown began in earnest at Sha Tin on Friday, the champion sprinter cruising to a nine-length trial win – though Zac Purton came away with the same nagging concern that dogged him a year ago: he didn’t change lead legs.
For the uninitiated: a horse’s ‘lead leg’ is the foreleg that reaches furthest forward in each stride of the gallop – essentially the leg the horse is ‘leading’ with. Horses typically lead with the inside leg around a turn for balance, then switch to the opposite leg once they straighten for the run home, so fresh muscles can drive the finishing burst. A horse that fails to make that change is effectively finishing a race on the same side it turned into the straight with – which can shorten its stride, cause it to hang or drift under pressure and blunt the explosive turn of foot that has made Ka Ying Rising so hard to beat.
“He’s done it again,” Purton told Idol Horse. “Once he got out and got into his stride, once again he wasn’t really interested in changing his (lead) leg, which is a bit frustrating. So whether he just needs to get back into the groove of things and get going, we’ll find out.
“But it’s frustrating because last year he was so good from The Everest on. He changed his leg all the time, he knew exactly what he was doing: he was beautiful. So for him to come out and be like that again this morning is bloody frustrating.”
Preparing for his return in the now-Group 3 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup on the opening day of the season on September 6, where he will carry top weight of 135-pounds, Ka Ying Rising jumped from barrier six in the 1050-metre all-weather trial and quickly took control before drawing clear.
The margin was decisive, but the trial was slower than the same lead-up heat last year, when he won by 14¼ lengths in 59.26 seconds. Friday’s trial was run in 1:01.65 on a sloppy, rain-affected track.
“He was going to be rusty, you know, he lacks a bit of fitness and he was a bit rusty,” Purton said. “But he trialled okay. He was on the best part of the track. It was much better on the rail there than it was off the rail, so he did have a bit of a fast lane.”
Purton voiced a similar concern after Ka Ying Rising’s corresponding trial last year, when the sprinter cornered on the wrong leg and failed to switch in the straight despite otherwise pleasing his rider.
“All it means is, you know, he got better and better as the season went on last season, and part of that was because he was changing his leg,” Purton said. “He was getting onto his fresh leg, and that’s when he was explosive, winning with ease and putting them all away.
“So, you know, at the level that he’s at, with the expectation that everyone has of him, he needs to be changing his leg.”
Trainer David Hayes said Ka Ying Rising had “a good, healthy blow, which you expect coming back from a long layoff,” as he builds towards his Everest defence in October.
Hayes said the preparation will continue with another trial at the Jockey Club’s pre-season carnival day on Saturday August 30 at Sha Tin and stay the same as last year through to the Everest, although he wants Ka Ying Rising less fresh when he trials in Sydney this year.
“Going into his first international trip, he won his lead-in race so brilliantly in nearly course-record time, I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got you where I want you,’ so I didn’t work him very hard,” Hayes said. “He actually did extremely well and arrived in Sydney a bit on the fresh side.
“He trialled a bit fresh and was a bit upset before the trial. So this year, we’ll just do a little bit more slow work and tinker with his fast work a little bit, so he’s not as fresh in the Sydney trial.
“This year, he’ll probably just be a little bit better prepared for the trial, simply because I just don’t need the aftermath. It was all fine, except the fact that he didn’t win the trial caused such a stir.”
Friday’s trial was the first, low-key step in a campaign set around The Everest at Royal Randwick in October. The horse is then expected to race at the Jockey Club’s mainland base, Conghua Racecourse in November ahead of a shot at a third consecutive victory in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint.
Recently turned six, Ka Ying Rising enters the new season unbeaten in 20 consecutive starts, a Hong Kong record that surpassed the mark long held by Silent Witness, and hasn’t been beaten in well over two years – a run that has carried him to the top of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings as the world’s highest-rated sprinter. ∎
