David Hayes with the Sprinter Of The Year award

Timeform Awards: Ka Ying Rising trainer David Hayes honoured

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Sun January 18, 2026 · 2h ago

David Hayes, trainer of Ka Ying Rising, is considering where to place the plaque after his star sprinter was named Horse of the Year, as well as Sprinter of the Year, by Timeform.

Timeform has been assessing Hong Kong’s best horses for nearly thirty years now, with ratings for that part of the world first published in Racehorses of 1997, predating the first running of the Hong Kong Sprint therefore.

Ka Ying Rising’s rating of 135 makes him Hong Kong’s highest-rated horse over any distance in that time and among sprinters worldwide this century ranks him just behind Battaash, Timeform’s champion sprinter each year from 2017 to 2020, and the remarkable Australian mare Black Caviar who remained unbeaten in 25 starts, both of whom were rated 136.

"I've always used Timeform and really respected it," Hayes said on receiving the award. "And it's such a great honour to have a horse that could be rated this high, to be in the same breath as those horses (Black Caviar and Battaash)... and to have him based out of Hong Kong is a double pleasure.

"He got no penalty for winning the International Sprint the other day, I don't know what more he could have done, but I I think that 136 mark is just a matter of time.

"The Hong Kong sprinting ranks are wonderfully high, but then to go down to Australia and beat Australia's best in the richest turf race really put him on the list and hopefully we can do it all again in the next 12 months."

Ka Ying Rising bids for a record-equalling 17th straight success, something achieved in the past only by Silent Witness, in the HK$13 million (£1.24m/€1.43m) Group One Centenary Sprint Cup at Sha Tin next Sunday and Hayes is expecting more of the same from the five-year-old son of Shameexpress.

"It's very, very exciting," he said. "Silent Witness is a Hong Kong all time great, to equal his record in a pretty short time... he'll be favourite to do it and I'll be relieved when it's over. But track work and trial suggests he hasn't gone backwards from his brilliant win the other day."

As far as where the Timeform Sprinter of ohe Year plaque will sit, Hayes said: "It's a very nice one.

"We're tossing up whether it's going to be on Ka Ying's box, but we thought we might put it out the front of our stable. Because it's a rare award for Hong Kong and people walking past can can see it."

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