David Hayes has put his lucky suit away now that Ka Ying Rising’s winning streak is over. The bigger change could come later in the season though, when the trainer says he may step the champion sprinter up to 1600m in the G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin.
Hayes told Idol Horse the move hinges on one run: a third straight G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) on February 21. If Ka Ying Rising wins it the way he did this year, when he broke the Sha Tin track record, the world’s top-rated sprinter could chase a different kind of legacy.
“That’s to be discussed, but you’ve got to give up the Speed Series to do it,” Hayes said.
Champions Day on April 25 pairs the Champions Mile with the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m), the final leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series. Ka Ying Rising has swept the three-race series in each of the past two seasons, and a third clean sweep would again earn his owner the HK$5 million bonus that goes to any horse winning all three legs.
“If he happened to have another undefeated season (in Hong Kong), which he’s probably favourite to do, and he won emphatically over 1400, it might be the time to try and win the Champions Mile instead of the 1200,” Hayes said.
“It’s at home, it’s his home track, and if he runs a 1400 in record time like he did this year, why not give it a go? It sounds a bit cavalier, but he’ll have won all the sprints three times, and I just think it would be good for the horse’s legacy.”
Hayes sent Zac Purton out in this year’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup with one instruction: break the track record. Ka Ying Rising stopped the clock at 1m 19.36s and won by three and a half lengths. That run is now the benchmark for the decision. His first win in the race, under Karis Teetan in 2025, came by a length and a half.
“After the 1400 there’ll be a call,” Hayes said. “If he ran it like he did the first year, I’d say no. But if he won like he did this year, I’d say it’s a possibility. I wouldn’t talk the owner out of it.
“If he’s dominating the 1400 division, track record, three years in a row, then instead of going back 200 metres, you go up 200.”
The state of Hong Kong’s mile division is also a consideration. No horse in the current ranks carries the aura of Beauty Generation, who won the Champions Mile twice, or Golden Sixty, who won it three years running.
“There’s not a Romantic Warrior at the moment and there’s not a Golden Sixty,” Hayes said. “The opposition sways you a little bit too. If there’s a big dominating miler, you’d stick to the 1200. But that division is up in the air.”
The idea of a mile isn’t new for Hayes. He told Idol Horse in a 2025 feature that he thought Ka Ying Rising was a miler when the horse first arrived in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the suit is getting the treatment Hayes would give any horse at the end of a long, hard campaign: a break.
“I’ve given it a spell,” Hayes said. “The streak’s broken, so the whole ensemble’s having a freshen up. It will be nice to wear a blue suit.”
The faded brown two-piece has been on Hayes’ back for Ka Ying Rising’s racedays since the winning run began in early 2024, and the trainer vowed to keep it on until the horse was beaten. As he told Idol Horse last year, navy was always his preference, but the owner wanted the suit to stay.
Tempted finally ended the run at 21 in The Everest at Randwick on October 17, holding off Ka Ying Rising by half a neck after he jumped from barrier 11.
Hayes hasn’t ruled out bringing the brown suit back if the need arises. For now, after two and a half years and 21 straight wins, the blue suit finally gets its turn.
Its first outing could be at the G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) on November 22. Ka Ying Rising has won the race the past two years, and it serves as his lead-up to the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) on December 13, where he goes for a third straight win. He trials at Sha Tin on Friday, and Hayes said the horse may have benefitted from his trip to Sydney.
“He’s improved, he looks fantastic, you’ll see it on Friday,” Hayes said. “It just can’t be better. If he’d won that race and come back the way he’s come back, you’d be blown away.” ∎
