From Penguins To The Everest: The Quiet Men Behind Ka Ying Rising
Hao Chan, Ka Ying Rising’s mafoo, once looked after sea lions and penguins at Ocean Park. Track rider Roy Ip was once too heavy to become a jockey. Now they spend more time with the world’s best racehorse than anyone else, and David Hayes says he is lucky to have them.
From Penguins To The Everest: The Quiet Men Behind Ka Ying Rising
Hao Chan, Ka Ying Rising’s mafoo, once looked after sea lions and penguins at Ocean Park. Track rider Roy Ip was once too heavy to become a jockey. Now they spend more time with the world’s best racehorse than anyone else, and David Hayes says he is lucky to have them.
12 October, 2026WHEN IT COMES to the world’s best racehorse, you know about trainer David Hayes, you know all about record-setting jockey Zac Purton and you know all about the fastidiously superstitious owner Leung Shek-kong.
But what about the “Golden Eagle”?
“That’s his mafoo,” Hayes says when talking about Ka Ying Rising.
Excuse me? You mean the A$10 million race run in Sydney each year?
I’m sure Hayes would love to win it, but he’s not talking about the race.
The Hall of Fame trainer turns his head and nods at a man wearing a crisp white Ka Ying Rising jacket, perhaps the only thing slicker than the jet-heeled Hong Kong sprinter himself.
He’s the Golden Eagle. The one who spends more time with Ka Ying Rising than any other person.
“He handles the pressure of handling the horse every day,” Hayes says.
He might be known to everyone as the Golden Eagle at Hayes’ Sha Tin yard, but Hao Chan is much more than that. He’s the engine of the team behind Ka Ying Rising. One who has been on a decades-long path to being the legendary horse’s personal minder, starting in a Hong Kong theme park.
It’s a surreal morning at Canterbury Park just a week out from Ka Ying Rising’s date with destiny and a second straight tilt at the A$20 million The Everest, the world’s richest turf race.
The racetrack is Ka Ying Rising’s personal playground – literally. Not another horse works on the cushioned grass because no other has travelled for Sydney’s spring carnival – apart from his retired companion, Ka Ying Glory.
Hayes walks from the quarantine barn to behind the Canterbury winning post as he watches Ka Ying Rising’s regular trackwork rider, Roy Ip, nurse the horse through some controlled stride work. Idol Horse is the only other onlooker.
As Ka Ying Rising gradually pulls up in the back straight and wheels around to return to his barn, a weathered face emerges to lead Ip back in. It’s easy to tell he’s done this many times before. “Extremely experienced,” Hayes says. It’s probably because he’s been working with animals longer than he cares to remember.
Chan had never been to Australia until Ka Ying Rising came – and conquered – The Everest last year. Despite the race week drama and laughable social media scuttlebutt Ka Ying Rising wasn’t fit, the horse won comfortably under Purton. Chan was there to lead him back in, a scene so far removed from his previous life.
“I’ve always loved animals,” Chan says through a translator. “I used to work at Ocean Park, it’s like a theme park (in Hong Kong’s southern district), and there are many animals there.
“I used to look after a lot of them: sea lions, penguins, all sorts of animals.”
His favourite?
“Penguins,” he smiles, his eyes widening as he reverts to broken English. “I love them.”
Chan had always wanted to work with animals, perhaps fate after he was nicknamed the Golden Eagle as a teenager. His friends wanted to find monikers that resembled strength. Chan ended up with an eagle. It developed from there, and now Hayes only has to call out Golden Eagle and everyone knows who he’s talking about.
Chan has got to know Ka Ying Rising better than anyone. He has carried out the relentless routine which has vaulted the horse to the top of racing’s summit.
The organised chaos of a trackwork morning at Sha Tin – where more than 1000 horses are stabled – is stressful compared to the VIP treatment at Canterbury Park, 12km south west of Sydney’s central business district.
Ka Ying Rising has made it his second home, too. Upon walking into the quarantine complex after his gruelling flight from Hong Kong last month, the horse tried to pull Chan to one side. Hayes, who stayed in Hong Kong while the horse travelled, just laughed when he watched the vision.
“The horse saw the grass and went straight for it,” Hayes says. “He was like a kid in a lolly shop.
“He doesn’t get to do that in Hong Kong. We give him 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. He’d stay out there for four hours all day doing it (if we let him). But you’ve got to keep a balance.”
Says Chan: “The special thing is he always puts his head up and has a look around first. Then, he will remember. The next time he comes back he recognises where he is. He’s a very smart horse.”
Chan prefers to be the silent cog in the Ka Ying Rising wheel, which is why the relative anonymity of Sydney suits. But even he hasn’t been able to avoid Ka Ying Rising mania, asked to sign autographs by fans hanging over the fence at Sha Tin.
In another life, Roy Ip might have been riding in races against Ka Ying Rising. Who knows, he could have even been riding him?
His jet black shoulder length hair is unmistakable under a skull cap as he swivels in the saddle and listens to Hayes’ final instructions before light exercise on the track.
“I tried to be a jockey, but my weight was a little bit heavy so they suggested I become a track rider,” he says. “The nutritionist said your fat is nothing anymore. You can’t do anything else. If you want to lose weight, you need to lose the muscle.”
He’s not the first, and won’t be the last, aspiring jockey who wallows in a weight battle. But after trying to follow the lead of his father, Louis, who became a professional jockey, Ip has found the next best pursuit: a front row seat to greatness.
He’s been riding trackwork in Hong Kong for 16 years, but has never had a chance to partner a horse like this.
It’s not his first time in Australia either, having travelled to the country during his secondary education to help grasp the English language. His communication with the Australian-born Hayes is all done in English.
Hayes estimates Ip, 35, rides Ka Ying Rising in 90 per cent of his work. Purton will do some fast gallops, as well as trial and raceday duties. No one spends as much time on the back of Ka Ying Rising as Ip, and according to him, the sprinter has “switched on” after his trial defeat to Everest rival Ninja at Royal Randwick. It was a performance some Australian pundits labelled underwhelming.
“The idea of that trial was not to see how good he is,” Hayes says. “He’s won 21 in a row.
“The idea of the trial was to show him the track, show my boys the routine before saddling because Hong Kong is very different.”
So, how does being responsible for Hong Kong’s most feted horse sit with Ip?
“Now, he’s the world’s best horse, so that means pressure,” Ip shrugs. “Here (at Canterbury) is fine because it’s just us by ourselves. But at Sha Tin, there’s a lot of pressure because there are many horses. Some come close, some too close and you’re worried they will kick. It’s very busy of a morning.
“But after the trial he’s woken up. He knows what he’s doing much better now.”
Defending his title in The Everest hasn’t been a matter of just turning up for Team Ka Ying Rising. Every minor detail has been planned for months.
The horse’s Hong Kong vet, Dr Natasha Lean, travelled to Sydney with Ka Ying Rising before returning to Sha Tin. Last year, Ka Ying Rising sustained a minor cut on his face in transit, but this year had no such problems.
Hayes’ assistant trainer stayed for the trial to familiarise himself with the saddling areas, and will return for the race on October 17. Even his food routine has been carefully constructed with Ka Ying Glory his partner for the trip. Ka Ying Glory even has his own mafoo.
“(Ka Ying Glory) is a very good eater – and not much good at anything else,” Hayes chuckles. “He eats well so they chow down together. That keeps them calm and eating.”
There won’t be anything calm about the pandemonium of The Everest day, when hundreds of onlookers will mill around Ka Ying Rising’s raceday stall two hours before the main event.
At Sha Tin, he’s largely shielded from the public before the race. Under Australian protocol, he will be floated to the track and spend ample time waiting for the race.
Two men will be doing their best to ensure there are no hiccups with a horse seeking to write another chapter of Hong Kong racing history.
“They handle the pressure, but they’ll tell you if they feel the pressure,” Hayes says of Chan and Ip.
“My biggest mission is when you’ve got the best horse in the world, you don’t want a silly accident. Horses do have accidents. These boys have managed to keep the horse accident free for three-and-a-half years, which is quite a good effort. They’re basically undefeated.
“I’ve got incredible trust in them and they’re very thorough. To be able to replicate a routine we’ve been doing for three years, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of people putting in a lot of time. These guys never miss a beat.
“I’m very, very lucky to have them.”
But maybe not as lucky as they are to be up close and personal with Ka Ying Rising every day.
As the horse canters to the gates before The Everest, Ip admits he will have already started sweating with anxiety. It’s only when he passes the finish line does relief become the overwhelming emotion.
The man dubbed the Golden Eagle is a little calmer, because he has to be. Horses react to the humans who work with them. A nervous twitch or sudden jerk and an intelligent animal like Ka Ying Rising will respond to it.
But Hayes knows few come as calm or composed as Chan, the one-time penguin attendant now riding shotgun with the world’s best racehorse in his hands.
“When you see a horse you take care of get to this performance level, I feel very proud,” he says. ∎
