David Hayes expects Ka Ying Rising to improve significantly ahead of G1 The Everest on 18 October after the world’s highest-rated sprinter finished third under Zac Purton in a 1000m barrier trial at Royal Randwick in Sydney on Tuesday morning.
Pitted against potential The Everest rivals Overpass, Joliestar and Angel Capital as well as G1 King Charles III Stakes contenders Fangirl and Mr Brightside and The Golden Eagle entrant Linebacker, Ka Ying Rising was kept under restraint by Purton throughout as the pair coursed wide.
The four-time Group 1 winner jumped smartly from barrier seven and cruised up Randwick’s straight on the outside of Linebacker (Zac Lloyd), who beat Overpass (Josh Parr) by half a head with Ka Ying Rising third, a head further away, in 58.39s.
Mr Brightside was a distant fourth, almost five lengths from the winner.
Hayes believes Ka Ya Rising will benefit from the trial, which featured the winners collectively of 71 races in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, including 24 at Group 1 level, and combined prizemoney haul of more than HK$300 million (approx. £29m).
“It was a good, solid trial but he did need it,” Hayes said. “He blew a few cobwebs out and he’ll really come on a lot for that and he’ll have a nice gallop on Monday (13 October) and he’ll be right for the big one,” Hayes said.
“He’s about 20 pounds above his racing weight (about 1,150lb) and I’ll expect it (his weight) to come down a bit in the next week.”
Purton echoed Hayes’ thoughts: “Pass mark, but he needs to improve. He hasn’t had a run for about a month and he hasn’t done too much serious work in that amount of time, so it was the first time he’s done anything competitive in a while.
“The track was a little bit soft for him. He’s not totally at home on that ground. But I thought he trialled well enough. I think he’ll come on a bit from that. Obviously, it’s going to be a competitive race. The horses in Australia are peaking at the right time, so hopefully we can draw a good gate, get a dry track and I’m sure he’ll improve a bit off that.
“He had a big blow after the trial and he’ll have another 200 metres to run in The Everest, he’s got 10 days to do a bit more work and improve – hopefully he can.”
The winner of his past 13 starts, Ka Ying Rising has not started since triumphing in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on 7 September.
Hayes arranged for Ka Ying Rising to have a “full dress rehearsal” at Royal Randwick with the five-year-old spending time in the raceday tie-up stalls and the Theatre of the Horse, where he completed several laps and appeared slightly agitated.
“Hopefully he’ll improve from the experience,” Hayes said of Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of the Year.
“He’s had a look at Randwick now. He hasn’t been away Sha Tin for a long time – that’s his only track – so to have a look around here was very, very good for him.”
The field for the Everest, which is the richest turf race in the world with a purse of approximately HK$103 million (approx. £9.8m), will be confirmed on Monday, 13 October.
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