Ka Ying Rising’s owner, Leung Shek-kong, was handed an omen at Canterbury Park on Thursday morning when a vivid rainbow arced over the track after the world’s highest-rated horse completed his final Everest gallop.
The sign meant more to Leung than most, not just because his wife’s name is Rainbow, but because it brought hope as blue sky broke through the grey clouds that swirled ominously over Sydney.
By the time the champion sprinter had galloped, the morning rain had eased to barely a mist, and he reassured connections with an effortless piece of work on the bowling-green surface of Canterbury’s course proper.
Leung, who rarely gives interviews, hammed it up for the photographers and offered a “gai yau” – add oil – for the cameras as the colours brightened above him. He joked with journalists that the next horse he buys may have to be named Ka Ying Rainbow.
The rainbow showed the full spectrum, turned into a double arch and then even the hint of a triple, but trainer David Hayes only had eyes for the turquoise, orange and yellow of the Ka Ying silks.
“That’s a great sign for sure,” Hayes said. “It’s even in Ka Ying Rising’s colours. If you look, it is the Ka Ying colour, so that’s part of the show.”
Leung keeps a close eye on his champion, and Hayes revealed earlier this week that the owner has had a camera installed in Ka Ying Rising’s box so he can watch the horse on his television at home.
The weather has become the biggest factor in Ka Ying Rising’s bid to defend his crown on Saturday. Sydney’s rain has been hard to predict all week, and the reigning champion has never raced on a severely rain-affected surface in 24 starts.
“I liked the work and he’s had a lovely roll, and now he’s in there with his chiropractor and masseuse and we’re all ready to go,” Hayes said of the gallop. “We’re looking forward to the weekend.
“He ran 13 seconds for the final 200, and Roy said if he didn’t ease him, he would have run 12 with his eyes shut. That’s a great sign. He wants to go faster and he’s sending the message that he’s ready.”
The gelding’s weight has also settled where Hayes wants it. He weighed 1,172lb for his trial, tightened to 1,155lb and is now back up to 1,163lb.
“His perfect weight is around 1,160, so I think he’ll probably race about that, which is ideal,” Hayes said. “It couldn’t be better – the weight’s just perfect.
“The way he’s come on since the trial, I think he’s happier here than he is in Hong Kong, actually. He’s really looking very good. Now it’s just a bit of a weather watch, hoping that the track is not worse than Slow. If it’s Slow, I’m sure he’ll be OK. If it’s more than that, we’d be a little bit worried.”
Hayes said the track could still come up well if the weather turned.
“The way it dried out after the massive rain yesterday, if we get nice weather and a little bit of wind, the track will be perfect for Ka Ying Rising,” he said.
The morning showers mostly missed Randwick, but the rain returned in the afternoon. A downpour heavy enough to overflow drains around the course raised the prospect of a track worse than the Slow 7 Ka Ying Rising handled in last week’s barrier trial.
If the double rainbow was a sign, it may point to a second Everest. Victory in the A$20 million race he won last year would add A$7m to his earnings and lift him past Golden Sixty and into third on Idol Horse’s list of racing’s highest earners, behind just Romantic Warrior and Forever Young.
Saturday marks exactly 1,000 days since Ka Ying Rising was last beaten, when Wunderbar edged him out by a short head at Sha Tin on January 21, 2024. He has won a Hong Kong record 21 straight since. ∎
