Just lately, Zac Purton has started doing his homework in case someone emerges as a legitimate threat to Ka Ying Rising.
The understandable reaction from racing fans worldwide right now would be to laugh.
Who is legitimately going to challenge Ka Ying Rising?
But Purton wants to stay ahead of the game, and like all elite jockeys, has begun studying the nuances of emerging sprinters in Australia. He watched the G1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington last month, and particularly Godolphin’s star three-year-old Tentyris.
Purton didn’t just tune in for Tentyris thundering down the Flemington straight to victory in less than 60 seconds, he wanted to watch everything: how Tentyris entered the mounting yard, his demeanour in the parade, what he was like when jockey Damian Lane hopped on him, how much energy he was expending as he cantered to the gates.
He knew every detail, like an elite Premier League manager or NBA coach poring over video of a rival team or player.
“He was very quiet – I think that was just precautionary – I watched him closely and he walked around like a lamb,” Purton tells Idol Horse about Tentyris.
“He went to the gates on the buckle, was standing quiet behind the gates and they put the stallion chain on him. Apparently, the rule down there is that when you put a stallion chain on him, you have to get off.”
He’s right. Lane was required to dismount as they loaded Tentyris into the gates under the Australian rules.
“He stood there like a dairy cow and then just walked into the gates on his own,” Purton says.
“Horses just don’t do what he did at Flemington – he was very impressive – to just walk out of the gates over 1000 metres, still be last at the 200 and put them away in a matter of strides.”
So, is Ka Ying Rising v Tentyris going to be a thing? Will the Hong Kong champion, who smashes track records for fun and has now bettered Silent Witness’ incredible 17-race winning streak, actually have some competition when he heads to Australia to defend his A$20 million The Everest crown later this year?
Australian bookmakers have already rushed to make Tentyris the second pick behind Ka Ying Rising for the world’s richest race on turf. It’s not hard to see why.
Having enjoyed an outstanding two-year-old season which was only soured when a minor injury forced him to miss the A$5 million Golden Slipper, Tentyris has emerged as the gun sprinter of his generation. He will try to complete the famed Lightning Stakes-Newmarket Handicap double at Flemington this Saturday. If successful, it would be his third G1 win in Australia.
Regular hoop Mark Zahra is poised to retake the ride after being sidelined with a broken leg, but Lane only knows too well what type of engine Tentyris can muster.
“I think what usually makes a good sprinter is their ability to sustain very quick sectionals, but his ability to sustain them and then finish the race off with better sectionals is probably what makes him so good,” Lane says.
“His trademark is how strong he is between the 400 (metres) and the winning post, and when other horses are getting tired, he’s running fast splits. He can just finish over the top of them.
“That’s become his trademark.”
It’s unusual for a horse so young in his career to have as much exposure to the Flemington straight as Tentyris.
It’s often an electric exhibition to watch a horde of horses thundering down the course, but for the uninitiated, young horses often need a compass they can get so lost. Most Australian thoroughbreds are trained on racetracks and educated to race around a bend.
Tentyris has already had four starts down the Flemington straight for three wins.
“The horses that can jump on the bridle and get on speed, around a bend they often have an eight, nine or 10-length advantage when they straighten,” Godolphin Australia boss Andy Makiv says.
“Up the straight, those horses often only have a three-length advantage. If you’ve got a line of four, a line of four behind, then a line of four behind them, in a field of 12 you can be last and potentially only three lengths off the lead.
“So, those that have a dynamic turn of foot like Tentyris, they can be on top of the leaders very quickly.”
It might only be in the space of a minute a colt like Tentyris can secure a lifetime in the breeding barn, but in reality, it takes more than a decade of planning and preparation for a horse like him to be produced.
It wasn’t until Divine Madonna, a well-performed mare on the track who ran her last start in 2008, had the sixth of her seven foals, Deity, did she produce progeny which would shape Godolphin’s future.
Deity was mated with Street Boss, an outstanding Godolphin stallion stalwart, and the second foal produced Tentyris.
“He was a lovely foal, a lovely yearling and very much in the mould of his father,” Makiv says. “In our eyes, he always looked like Street Boss reincarnated.
“Divine Madonna’s career as a broodmare had a little bit of success and a lot of hard work and toil. They are 10 and 15 years in the making. It’s not an overnight success.”
Godolphin have shelved any idea of travelling Tentyris overseas in 2026. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global empire have shown sporting ambition with star colts in recent seasons, most notably Anamoe, who won six Group 1s including a Cox Plate in his four-year-old season.
Makiv says it’s more likely Tentyris could campaign in the Middle East and the United Kingdom in 2027.
For now, Godolphin are enjoying a remarkable Australian-based three-year-old crop including Tentyris, Tempted, Attica, Observer and Beiwacht. All of them have won Group 1s, mostly stallion-making races. Maybe Tentyris is the pick of the bunch.
Nothing is ever certain in racing, but given how trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman have prepared the colt, it’s likely Tentyris will be spotting Ka Ying Rising several lengths climbing the Royal Randwick rise after they turn for home in The Everest.
Would he be good enough to run him down? Can anyone run him down?
“Every time a horse wins a sprint race in Australia they want to claim it as the world’s best sprinter,” Purton says. “Naturally, they are going to call out whoever the highest rated horse is at that time, that is just the nature of Australian racing and global racing.
“If we can both meet in October at Randwick, that would suit both of us.” ∎
