Expectations are high around Ka Ying Rising for Sunday’s G1 Hong Kong Sprint and that general confidence is spilling into planning around the gelding’s long-range target The Everest, so much so that his owner the Ka Ying Syndicate is keen to purchase one of the 12 slots for the A$20 million feature rather than take a share in one.
The brilliant four-year-old will go off short-odds favourite in the Hong Kong Sprint after setting a track record in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint last time, but Ka Ying Rising is also in the remarkable position of heading the futures market for The Everest, despite not yet having a Group 1 win to his name and that race being 10 months away.
“It’s quite incredible, so it means there’s no shortage of people wanting to do a deal for The Everest, but we’re holding out until probably August because there’s a lot can go wrong with horses between now and October, buying a slot is a big price to pay if your horse doesn’t make it there,” Hayes told Idol Horse during trackwork at Sha Tin.
Stakeholders buy slots for The Everest, each valued at about A$2.1 million, on a three-year basis, so buying a slot for one year would cost around A$700,000. Hong Kong owner Bon Ho paid A$600,000 for the Australian Turf Club slot so that his Classique Legend could contest the race in 2019.
“I’ll do negotiations on behalf of the ownership group and at this stage the group is probably wanting to buy, not share,” Hayes continued. “A share where it doesn’t cost any money is an option that is commonly done, but I think the Chinese group really would like to buy the slot, so they’ll be doing a deal with someone. If he’s in the form he’s in today he’ll be going.”
Ka Ying Rising will head to the Classic Mile after the Hong Kong Sprint and then revert to shorter distances, with Hayes confirming his last run of this campaign is likely to be the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at the end of April. The gelding would then rest before tuning up for The Everest and then possibly a tilt at the G1 Darley Champions Sprint in early November before returning to Hong Kong.
Ka Ying Rising races for the Ka Ying Syndicate, managed by Leung Wai Chuk, a strong supporter of the Hayes stable which has endured a bumpy ride since the trainer returned to Hong Kong to much fanfare in July 2020.
Hayes was Hong Kong’s champion trainer in 1997/98 and 1998/99 during his first spell in the city but left for Australia in 2005. He returned with high aims and said at the time that he would be challenging for the champion trainer’s title within a couple of seasons.
Instead, he struggled through four “frustrating” campaigns. But things are finally coming together: last season was his best since he returned, 47 wins and ninth in the premiership, and he currently sits fifth with 17 wins, five off the top spot.
“I had an unfortunate situation where there was a bit of a run on me,” he said. “I inherited a very big stable and I didn’t know my owners because one, it was Covid, with all the restrictions we had the owners didn’t go racing, and two because I couldn’t get out of my complex. They didn’t know me, so it was very easy to sack someone they didn’t know.
“I lost 40 horses in 18 months so that set me back two years. I got down to 48 horses, regrouped, worked hard and now I’m where I hoped to be three years ago.”
Hayes acknowledged that he underestimated how much the Hong Kong circuit changed in the years he was away, notably the local trainers.
“The strength of them surprised me, yes,” he said. “They work hard and they’re good trainers, it’s as simple as that. They improved a lot, they’re world class trainers and now the premiership is an even spread between expats and locals where that never happened in round one.
“The language wasn’t as big a factor either, back when I trained here the first time. It was Cantonese first, second English and third Mandarin. Now I think English is a distant third in importance, so there are so many owners that don’t speak English and I don’t speak Mandarin, so it’s not as easy as it was, you’re dealing with interpreters a lot, and that’s the difference.”
As for Ka Ying Rising’s Hong Kong Sprint test, Hayes seemed relaxed and confident as he looked out from the Sha Tin Owners’ Box balcony over the international raiders going through their preparations.
“He’s done it now: he’s caught the imagination … I just keep saying, ‘wow, you’re better than I think,’ every time he runs.”
Talk of The Everest caught on after Ka Ying Rising broke the great Sacred Kingdom’s longstanding track record eased down, with jockey Zac Purton waving to the in-field tracking camera.
“I don’t think that was his best performance,” Hayes said. “That was the eye-catching run, but the first-up run in the The HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup was so dominant, carrying 135lb giving the whole field 20lb, and those horses are in the race this weekend meeting him at set weights.
“That win had to be seen to be believed: everything was against him, big weight, wide barrier, against the best horses in Hong Kong giving them weight. That win has been forgotten a little bit, and some good judges have said that was as good as they’ve seen.”
There is more than a sense that Ka Ying Rising is the real deal and that kind of expectation brings pressure, but “excited” is how Hayes described his feelings.
“He’s incredibly relaxed: he’s very easy on slow mornings, which is a sign of a good horse, and he doesn’t overdo it on fast mornings. And I’m a bit of a sucker for the faster they go, the more I like them.
“You always hope you can get one but he’s the absolute lottery ticket,” Hayes added. “He’s the bullseye.” ∎
