When an achieved outcome of athletic brilliance is expected, yet still exceeds expectations, you know you’ve probably seen something the cliché book might call “once in a lifetime”. That was the case with Ka Ying Rising in the G1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin on the second Sunday in December.
The horse deemed to be the best at 1200 metres that Hong Kong has ever witnessed – perhaps the best ever, regardless – was sensational. He and the mighty Romantic Warrior – winning a record fourth G1 Hong Kong Cup – reinforced the reality that Hong Kong is in the rare territory of having not one but two world standard champions in its midst. With another Hong Kong-trained horse Voyage Bubble taking the Mile and France’s Sosie winning the Vase, the Hong Kong International Races went more or less as the betting market and the marketing promos predicted.
Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes had said several times in the week-long build-up that the next in the betting would be $25 but the expectation resting on Ka Ying Rising before the G1 Hong Kong Sprint was so great that the next in betting was Helios Express at $27 ahead of Japan’s star sprinter Satono Reve at $33.
A win, an impressive win, was expected, but Ka Ying Rising’s exhibition of power and speed, which left talented sprinters toiling almost four lengths behind – even when Zac Purton put down his hands and let him freewheel the final 50 metres – was incredible.
“He’s in a league of his own now,” Purton said.
Trainer David Hayes was more rustic in his assessment: “Boy, he made a mess of them,” he said after the superstar won Hong Kong’s big sprint for the second year in a row and moved to within one of Silent Witness’s Hong Kong record of 17 consecutive wins.
Silent Witness, Sacred Kingdom, and Japan’s finest sprinter, Lord Kanaloa: all three put up immortalised speed performances at Sha Tin, and Ka Ying Rising’s three and three-quarter lengths demolition from the front, clocking 1m 07.70s on a day when, as Hayes said, “they’re not running time, but he did,” was one to add to that all-time list. But it was more than that: this was a performance so dominant that it was in the Black Caviar/Frankel league.
“He just toys with them really,” Purton said. “I mean in all due respect to those behind him, they’re very good horses. I mean, they just couldn’t land a glove on him today.”
Hayes said Ka Ying Rising will now aim for the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup at 1200m, the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup at 1400m, and then back to 1200m for the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize before a planned return to Sydney to attempt a second win in The Everest.
“If he’s in the form he was today, he’ll love to take those Aussies on again,” Hayes smiled.
“He didn’t let our expectations down or the public’s expectations,” the trainer continued. “He just was superb today and the messages he was sending the week of the race suggested he’d do something like that.
“We’re hoping he’s got another 20 races in him, so you know you can only win once and I think that, on the eye, that was as spectacular a win as he’s done … they’re probably the best sprinters around and he’s making them look ordinary and I can assure you they’re not.”
Ka Ying Rising returned at the short odds of $1.05, making Romantic Warrior’s odds of $1.10 for the Hong Kong Cup feel like a bit of value. Danny Shum’s stable star was the standout in the field of seven and did not disappoint, winning by a dominant length and three quarters under James McDonald from Japan’s two-time G1 Osaka Hai victor Bellagio Opera.
But just when all was going as expected, with Romantic Warrior revving up for a charge to victory down the Sha Tin straight, the unexpected occurred: a man entered the turf track and unfurled a banner showing Chinese characters, a protest against the government’s handling of the tragic December 9 Tai Po fire that killed at least 160 people.
The intervention of the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s assistant starter Chris McMullen, aided by vet Dr Amy Kelly, ensured that was the extent of the drama, pinning the protestor to the ground as the seven runners hurtled past just a few yards from them.
Beyond the danger, Romantic Warrior had his 11th Group 1 win and Shum confirmed the team’s intention to press on to a hoped-for rematch in the G1 Saudi Cup with Forever Young, the horse who beat him in Riyadh last February.
“I love him,” Shum said. “Hong Kong people all love him. I feel so proud … he can win in Australia, Japan, Dubai, and be second in the biggest prizemoney race in Saudi, and second also in the Dubai Turf. Now he has a fourth Hong Kong Cup, a record: he’s amazing.”
Spare a thought, then, for Voyage Bubble. Ricky Yiu’s stable star lives in the shadow of Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior, but the seven-year-old has his own claims to greatness that are as strong as his granite-like constitution.
Voyage Bubble took the G1 Hong Kong Mile for the second time – Purton in the saddle this time around – to complement a record that features being just the second Hong Kong Triple Crown hero. He also has two G1 Stewards’ Cups, the Hong Kong Classic Mile, and the Hong Kong Derby to his name.
“It’s sort of a shame in a way that he’s been overshadowed, but it just shows the depth of horses we have here at the moment,” Purton said after Voyage Bubble had rallied to overhaul Japan’s Soul Rush close to home.
“He never puts up that ‘wow’ performance, he just gets the job done. He’s incredible. The other horse had him, but when it started to labour just a little bit, I felt him coming up underneath me and I thought, hang on …”
Europeans usually dominate the Hong Kong Vase and that was the case again. The Andre Fabre-trained Sosie and last year’s Vase winner Giavellotto placed third and fourth in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October. That was the best form on show and sure enough they were first and second this time.
But for all the expected outcomes, the afternoon will long be remembered for Ka Ying Rising’s exhilarating display of sprinting that took him a step closer to being recognised the world over as one of the greatest sprinters the sport has ever seen. ∎
