Craig Kerry
Trainer David Hayes says Ka Ying Rising is “10 per cent better” than last year as the Hong Kong champion prepares to defend his Everest title in next month’s $20 million sprint.
Ka Ying Rising, rated the best horse in the world after chalking up his 21st consecutive win in a Sha Tin track record time earlier this month, arrived in Sydney on Monday to begin two weeks of quarantine at Canterbury Park, where he stretched his legs on the course proper for the first time on Tuesday.
Hayes, his Australian Hall of Fame trainer, will make the trip to Sydney next week in the build-up to Ka Ying Rising’s lone Randwick barrier trial on October 6 and the glamour slot race at Headquarters 11 days later.
Ka Ying Rising has won another five times at home since last year’s Everest, regularly lowering the Sha Tin track record, and Hayes is confident the $1.35 TAB favourite is in even better shape this year. His length-and-a-quarter Everest win last year followed a slightly underwhelming Randwick trial when third, a hit-out that sparked fake social media posts and fervour about his condition and future in the race.
This time, Hayes and jockey Zac Purton have asked more of Ka Ying Rising in the lead-up and the trainer expects the headline act to leave no one in doubt at the trial.
“I think he’s settled in better than the same time last year,” Hayes said. “It was obviously a little bit of a rocky road into the race [last year] with the dramas of getting beaten in the trial and then the rumours spreading around that he wasn’t quite right.
“I spent probably 10 days trying to reassure everyone that he was right. It’s just that he got a bit lost the first time he went to Randwick.
“Going into the trial, he won’t be as fresh. He won his race brilliantly [at home last year], and I thought I didn’t need to do much with him, and I probably had him a bit underdone going into the trial.
“He fizzed up, it was hard to put the saddle on, and I just want him to go down and be more his normal self for the trial, and the race.
“If he’s good in the trial, he’ll be good in the race. But the trial, I’m hoping with a few tinkerings, will have him a bit more friendly.”
Asked how much Ka Ying Rising had improved since last year’s Everest, Hayes said: “I’d say, conservatively, 10 per cent better. It’s always hard to judge, but I’d say 10 per cent or more.
“I watched his Everest win, which I thought was his least impressive win for the 12 months. But when I watched all the other Everest wins, I think his was probably the second-easiest Everest win, so it wasn’t that bad. But this year, I think he’s much better.”
Michael Freedman-trained Ninja and Matt Smith’s Headwall, which was announced later on Tuesday as the pick for Max Whitby and his partners, are the only other runners confirmed for the richest race on turf, as slot-holders weigh up the challenge of taking on the winner of almost $30 million.
Hayes has been impressed with Joliestar and last year’s runner-up, Tempted, but said Ka Ying Rising’s rivals have “probably got to improve a lot and he’s got to lose a bit of form … and I don’t think he has.”
“The confidence comes from the horse’s form and the bigger, more mature, stronger horse,” he said.
“He’s a heavy horse, and that’s a big positive. And it showed first up. He raced 28 pounds bigger than he ever has and he raced better than he ever has.”
He said last year’s Everest was “a spectacular day, apart from a little bit of booing”. He hoped for a better reception this time for the highest-rated horse ever to come to Australia.
“He had a big following when we were getting him ready down in the stalls and then when he went out on the track, I was a bit taken aback,” he said.
“They did boo him, and it was quite a big boo, and then when he won, they gave him a warm reception.
“I just think he’d been so talked about for so long, and he was a horse coming from China, Hong Kong, there was a bit of mixed reaction. Hopefully, he’ll be better received by the general public this year.”
From our partners
About the Author
