Zac Purton’s often cool tone is threatening outright excitement as he talks warmly about Ka Ying Rising’s track record victory in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint at Sha Tin, a performance that obliterated any last doubts as to the gelding’s brilliant ability. Next up, the G1 Hong Kong Sprint, all-comers welcome.
“He’s just got to turn up in the same form he’s been in, he doesn’t need to be any better, he’s shown us how good he is,” Purton tells Idol Horse the day after the 1200m exhibition. “And the fact that on the weekend he put three Group 1 winners to bed pretty easily tells us where we’re at.
“He’s in a really good frame of mind, he seems to be improving all the time, he went home and ate up. We might not have even seen the best of him yet, which is the really scary part.”
December’s big feature still lies before him but such was the ease of Ka Ying Rising’s latest win that it is difficult not to start looking past that already. Will trainer David Hayes step his four-year-old up to a mile in the new year? What about a Hong Kong Derby? And next year’s The Everest? Purton has answers and fragments of answers, but Hong Kong’s seven-time champion jockey has been around too long to make any careless assertions.
“The Classic Mile in January is part of the plan, that’s where David wants to go, so he’ll be going there and then it’s up to David to work out,” Purton says.
“I wouldn’t think the mile would be a problem because he’s got so much class and he’s going to be so far ahead of them, that in itself is an advantage against his own age. The fact that his mother was a 2000-metre winner and raced in a Wellington Cup over 3200 metres suggests that he might have a little bit of stamina there as well, but it’s his class that is going to take him so far.”
Then there’s the Hong Kong Derby. Attacking that 2000m distance with a young horse that just wiped out the great Sacred Kingdom’s 1200m track record might seem an outrageous notion to anyone outside of Hong Kong, but not to those who know the city’s racing.
The four-year-old series carries huge kudos and there are plenty of precedents. Lucky Nine, for example, won a Classic Mile before he was a world-class sprinter, and Able Friend stretched out to be a duelling second in the Hong Kong Derby before developing into a great champion at a mile, as well as ranking as the world’s top-rated sprinter.
“I think it’ll be just one step at a time for now,” Purton says, cautiously. “Get the Classic Mile and then assess from there. He still needs to go and do it all, so we’ll let him do his thing for the next two months, up until the Classic Mile, then after that he’ll tell us where he needs to go.”
One race that is already under consideration, albeit a long way down the line, is next October’s The Everest in Sydney. The world’s richest turf sprint, worth AU$20 million total, is alluring to Ka Ying Rising’s Australian trainer and jockey, as well as his owner the Ka Ying Syndicate.
“If he measures up and he’s of that class, David would love to take a horse back there for The Everest, I’d love to go back and ride him in it, and his owner has also expressed an interest to go and race the horse there as well, so we’re happy to go, he’s just got to show us that’s where he belongs,” Purton says.
Right now, Ka Ying Rising belongs on his pedestal as a horse of brilliant talent on the cusp of becoming Hong Kong’s next big star. The gelding’s character is a massive element in his success so far, and bodes well for whatever is to come.
“He’s a real sweetheart, he’s a horse that just wants to please you all the time, a bit cuddly, he’s just got a really nice nature about him,” Purton says.
But the son of Shamexpress also has a champion’s keenness to run.
“He can get a little bit eager,” Purton says. “For instance, if I get on him in the stable, he can’t get out to the track fast enough: he walks incredibly fast; he’s walking that fast he’s nearly trotting because he can’t wait to get out there. He’s just in a hurry to get round the trotting ring, to get through the sand yard, to get down the tunnel, to get on the track to do his work, because he can’t wait to get out there.
“Once he does his work, he’s like a doll coming back, he walks back like nothing in the world would worry him.”
That eagerness manifested itself in jig-jogging parade ring displays earlier in his career, but Purton says the rising star has already calmed with maturity.
“He was a little bit eager on race days to start with,” the rider says. “He was a nervous type and jig-jogged the whole time, you couldn’t get him to just walk; he’d always be sweating. He’d get in the gates and couldn’t stand still, he’d dance from one foot to the other, he couldn’t wait for the gates to open. He wasn’t exhausting himself, but he was draining himself of some energy because he couldn’t wait to get out and race.
“Now, as he’s had more racing and more experience, he’s a lot better pre-race. In the parade ring he’s not dragging the mafoos around, he’s on the bit wanting to walk but he’s not jig-jogging like he used to. When he gets behind the gates, he’ll walk around and then stand in the gates calmly, so his demeanour in that sense has changed a bit, and I think it’s because he’s so intelligent.”
Ka Ying Rising’s athletic talent, mixed with his personality and brain power make him a potent package.
“He’s a really smart horse and he shows that in his races,” Purton continues. “He begins well and you want him to relax, well, he’ll come straight back underneath you and he knows what to do. I think he’s just got a really good brain.
“He makes it easy because he does everything right. If you need to use him to get a position, he’s got the speed to do it; if you need him to come back to slot in, he’ll happily come back and come underneath you; he can lead, he can sit outside the leader, he can take a sit, he’s versatile in that sense as well, so he’s got a lot of really good attributes.”
The most obvious though is his blistering acceleration and Purton highlights that the inside tracking camera did a great job of capturing the gelding’s sensational burst of speed in the Jockey Club Sprint, from an angle not usually seen.
“That camera shows it better, you see it between the 400 (metres) when he comes into the straight and the 300 (metres), how I’m just sitting there cruising and everything else is flat out trying to keep up with him at that stage of the race, and then I just pressed the button and let him go and he just … he leaves them for dead. He puts them away quickly, and that’s why he gets to cruise to the line, because he’s done his job.
“He feels comfortable at the end because he explodes. He let’s down and just, you know … his turn-of-foot is incredible, he’s like a jet, he just takes off. He’s gliding across the ground, so you can tell you’re clear of the field.
“These fast-run races have been great for him because he travels so well off the fast pace and he can accelerate off it, which is a really rare thing to have. In a slowly-run race it would give the other horses a bit of a chance to be closer because they can all sprint at the same speed and they’re not going to be as far off him. It doesn’t matter what happens though, he’s going to be well-equipped to handle it.”
Check this out for an angle! 🔥
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) November 18, 2024
Soon to be renamed “Kiss Cam”… brought to you by our leading rider @zpurton aboard Ka Ying Rising… 😘#LoveRacing | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/FjlTrQHXaA
It is pointed out to Purton how it seems that riding a horse as good as this can quieten questions about retirement, which is something the 41-year-old has mulled over plenty in the last couple of seasons.
“I’ve had to stop thinking about it as well,” he says in amusement. “Anyway, it is what it is, we take it a race at a time and I’ve been in the game too long, so I know you don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
“I’ll just enjoy the ride for now, see where it takes me, and, at the end of the day,” he adds, “it’ll also depend on whether I’m physically able to keep going.”
So long as the body holds up, the mind and ambition will certainly be willing. With only 34 wins to go until Purton reaches Douglas Whyte’s record haul of 1,813 wins in Hong Kong, Ka Ying Rising could be the hook that keeps one of the all-time greats in the saddle that bit longer ∎
