In the barely believable moments after Hong Kong legend Ka Ying Rising suffered his first defeat in 1000 days, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges looked around and just shrugged: “That’s horse racing”.
And who could have believed it?
The world’s best horse being toppled in the A$20m Everest? His Australian conqueror, Tempted, pulling off shock and awe tactics where she settled in front of her main rival in the run? Ka Ying Rising making one last desperate – and unsuccessful – surge in the final 50 metres to reel in Tempted, not the other way around?
It’s a horse race, after all.
Before the stunning boilover in The Everest, where Ka Ying Rising was sent out a $1.04 favourite on the World Pool thanks to his legion of Hong Kong supporters, the biggest win in Tempted’s jockey Chad Schofield’s career was the 2013 Cox Plate.
He was a 19-year-old apprentice riding a three-year-old maiden, Shamus Award. They could run the Cox Plate for another 100 years and not get another story like it.
But somehow, taking down King Ka Ying might be an even bigger shock.
So, how did Schofield plot the downfall of Zac Purton and Ka Ying Rising?
Don’t let anyone tell you horse racing is not a game of inches. Even millimetres can matter. Schofield saved every one of them to break Hong Kong’s collective heart.
Maybe the race was won on Tuesday night when, under the big top at Sydney’s Luna Park, an amusement park in the shadows of the Harbour Bridge, Australia’s best sprinter and The Everest’s second favourite Tempted drew barrier one. Ka Ying Rising was allocated 11 in a field of 12.
Logic would say it should have been advantage Ka Ying Rising, whose blistering gate speed is better suited to wide draws, where he can carve across the front of the field and allow Purton to control his rivals in behind.
Barrier one was a potential banana peel for Tempted, whose pattern is to settle in the second half of the field and unleash a finishing burst.
You could have drawn 100 speed maps up before the race and not envisaged what would eventually unfold.
The first key change was when Tempted’s trainer, Ciaron Maher, alerted Racing NSW stewards hours before the race he intended his four-year-old mare to settle further forward than in previous starts.
When the gates opened after a raucous crowd rendition of Sweet Caroline, Schofield was smartly away from the inside on Tempted, while Purton and Ka Ying Rising were also cleanly out of the barriers.
But instead of clearing the field like he can after 200 metres, Ka Ying Rising was caught wide as three of the race’s roughies drawn inside of him, Savvy Hallie (barrier seven), Blue Door (nine) and Spicy Martini (four), all hunted forward.
Incidentally, the trio would finish last, second last and third last respectively.
All great jockeys instinctively know where their main rivals are, and after 200 metres, Schofield afforded himself a momentary peek to see where Purton was. He quickly glanced over his left shoulder and felt Purton on Ka Ying Rising was wider than he forecast.
Drone footage showed the Hong Kong champion six horses abreast and Purton with a choice to make: push on and risk burning too much fuel, or slightly ease back and allow Tempted to gain a margin from the inside gate? Purton opted for the latter.
The Royal Randwick 1200m course is not a particularly taxing one: a long run into a single bend and then a small ascent over the course’s famous “rise” shortly after turning into the straight. But Ka Ying Rising was wide and sixth rounding the bend. Sixth!
As the two leaders, Savvy Hallie and Blue Door, predictably floundered upon turning for home, a dream gap opened for Schofield on Tempted. He pounced. The only problem was his mare had found the front 300 metres from the winning post, a long way to preserve the lead.
In the company of others watching a post-race replay, Purton bemoaned he thought Ka Ying Rising would finish closer to last at the same stage of the race as he wobbled around the corner, and initially failed to take ground off the leaders.
But running on heart and not much else, once Headwall (who would finish fourth) ghosted up on his outside, Ka Ying Rising seemed to find another gear, eventually wearing into the margin. He lunged late, but missed. Tempted held on by a half neck, one of the greatest big-race shocks in Australian history.
“When the draws came out, it did have some speed mapping and I think I overplayed every possible scenario in my head – as of Wednesday,” Schofield said. “But then I just decided I would ride her on feel. Ciaron was just happy for me to ride on feel, so I just rode the horse.”
Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes could only describe his horse as “very brave”.
“The first and third horse (Joliestar) cut the corner and really had dream runs, and we had a horror (run) being six-wide, no cover,” he said. “But he was brave, and I love the way he finished.
“But I hate the result.”
Ka Ying Rising was in front a couple of bounds after the post.
So, how good was Schofield’s ride?
The data told the story. According to Punter’s Intelligence, no horse covered less ground than Tempted and none more than Ka Ying Rising.
Thanks to small microchips added to the saddlecloth of each Everest runner, Tempted was found to have trekked just 1200.4 metres over The Everest course. Conversely, no horse worked harder than Ka Ying Rising, who was recorded at 1207.7 metres owing to his circuitous route.
If racing is a game of inches, even millimetres, there were many metres which were the difference this time – 7.3 in fact.
“I’m proud that he knuckled down, but it’s harder on this ground compared to firm,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “Normally he’d put three, four, five, six lengths on horses. Two more strides and he wins.”
But what about the tempo?
Naturally with the enormous stakes and pressure which comes with it, The Everest is typically a fast run race. But on Saturday, it was a brutal tempo, perhaps endorsing Purton’s choice not to inject Ka Ying Rising into the speed fray.
The overall time was 1:08.21 seconds, a slick gallop on a Soft (5) track which kept improving after the deluge of rain that hit Randwick during the week. But the sectionals were telling.
Tempted ran her fastest 200-metre split between the 1000-800 metre mark in 10.41 seconds. Every subsequent 200 metre split was slower: 10.59, 10.84, 11.00 and a lung-busting 12.08 in the scramble to the line.
The race was won by the buffer she cultivated at the start and in the middle stages: Tempted’s 200m split to the 400m was the fastest of any horse in that section. She had burned energy to do it, but had just enough fuel to hold on from Ka Ying Rising, whose sectionals were a mirror in that he slowed down in every 200 metre split from the 1000 metres. His last furlong was clocked at 11.88 seconds.
In the minutes after the emotional defeat, Australian Turf Club boss Steve McMahon began lobbying Engelbrecht-Bresges, who has a lease for a 2027 slot in The Everest, to bring Ka Ying Rising back for a third attempt at The Everest, and potentially write a new chapter into the Tempted rivalry. The scoreboard reads 1-1.
“We would love to have him back next year,” McMahon told Idol Horse.
But will Hayes, Purton and Ka Ying Rising’s owner Leung Shek‑kong want to come back?
Ka Ying Rising has been a promoter’s dream for The Everest, and horse racing needs sporting people like his connections who are willing to push the boundaries.
How easy would it have been for them to stay in Hong Kong and keep beating the same opposition time and time again? But they didn’t, and horse racing is better for it.
Hayes and Purton have also been endlessly giving of their time in promotional appearances and media interviews before The Everest.
Ka Ying Rising’s Everest presence also creates a fascinating clash of the Australian and Hong Kong wagering worlds, one which gravitates to an underdog, and another which loves a “sure win”.
Ka Ying Rising’s official starting price in Australia was $1.35, but he jumped at $1.04 on the World Pool after Hong Kong market support for their hero was added. Tempted’s SP was $6.50 but she was 8.8 on the World Pool. There were other wild discrepancies like third-placegetter Joliestar (19 and 29.10) and Headwall (51 and 121.40) in fourth.
There are reasons for Ka Ying Rising not to be back.
Despite winning last year’s Everest, a performance Hayes and Purton agreed was his “worst of the season”, it’s clear Ka Ying Rising is not as explosive in Australia compared to his dominance at Sha Tin.
He quarantined at the magnificent Canterbury Park facility by himself with a travelling companion to help him eat. Purton worries he’s a busy horse who thrives on the bustling surrounds of Sha Tin. He reasons his demeanour changes at Canterbury where he’s in “holiday mode” with no one else around and acres of lush green grass to pick. It’s hard to argue.
Maybe Maher could be, ahem, tempted to have a crack at Ka Ying Rising in his own backyard. The Jockey Club would love to have her for April’s Chairman’s Sprint Prize if December’s international meeting is too soon.
“I’d love to come back next year, but it’s up to Hayesy though,” Purton said of a third crack at The Everest. “He’ll make that call, but I’m pretty sure he’ll want to come back. If they want to bring (Tempted) to Hong Kong that would be good.”
Of the motivation to return for Round 3 in Sydney, Purton summed it up in one word: “redemption.”
If it happens, Schofield will no doubt have another plan.
Yet it will almost be impossible to top his tactics for one of the greatest Group 1 shocks on an Australian racecourse in the sport’s history. ∎
