1 week Ago By Jack Dawling
David Hayes is confident Ka Ying Rising can pass his final test before next month’s Longines Hong Kong International Races, with the budding star aiming to extend his winning streak in Sunday’s Group Two BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m). A superb winner of his past six starts including last month’s Group Two Premier Bowl (1,200m), Ka Ying Rising will bid to reproduce his blistering turn of foot when he jumps from stall 10 in this weekend’s contest. The four-year-old failed to break a sweat when he comfortably dismissed his Premier Bowl rivals, stopping the clock just seven-hundredths of a second outside Sacred Kingdom’s track record of 1:07.
50 set in 2007. Ka Ying Rising reopposes eight of his vanquished opponents from his maiden Group Two win and receives five pounds from top-level victors California Spangle, Victor The Winner and Invincible Sage. HOW EASY WAS THAT!? 🚀 Ka Ying Rising is untested in the G2 Premier Bowl at Sha Tin, clocking 1m 07.
57s, just outside of Sacred Kingdom's course record (1m 07.50s) set in 2007..
. @zpurton #LoveRacing | #HKracing pic.twitter.
com/gbImzRf4fe “We worked him [on Wednesday] and he worked really well,” Hayes said. “We’ve just copied and pasted what we did going into the last race. “I’m very confident he’s held his form and they’ve all got to improve their form a bit – which they might – but I think he’s looking pretty good.
” “He’ll be hard to beat and he’ll be favourite, which he deserves to be.” While trackwork at Sha Tin was cancelled on Thursday due to the No 8 typhoon signal, Hayes managed to alter plans to ensure Ka Ying Rising could complete his final piece of work before Sunday’s race. He also prepared for this weekend’s assignment with an easy trial win at Conghua under Karis Teetan last week.
Showtime! 🎬 Ka Ying Rising works sharply ahead of Sunday’s G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint at Sha Tin...
🔥 @zpurton | #HKIR | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/vO28lrUOT0 “We put some thought into it and thought there might be no trackwork [on Thursday],” Hayes said.
“Traditionally, he works [on Thursday] but we got his final piece of work in and he’s eaten all his feed and looks fine. “I thought his latest trial was the best trial he’s done. He doesn’t try in his trials but he still wins them.
“He doesn’t really work like a budding superstar but he races like a superstar and that’s all I’m worried about. He’s a developing young horse and I think what you see is what you get.” Ka Ying Rising burst onto the scene with a dominant success in December last year and ended his seven-race campaign with five victories, denied only by the John Size-trained Wunderbar in a pair of Class Three events in January.
After his second career win at start four in February, he has brushed everything aside with ease to rise from a rating of 69 to 127 in just over eight months. On Sunday, Ka Ying Rising will meet Premier Bowl second Helios Express 13 pounds better off, while the Pierre Ng Pang-chi-trained Mugen is another of the four-year-old’s main rivals. While he narrowly missed out on the track record last time out, Hayes is optimistic he can break it given the right conditions.
“It might be hard with the weather but he’ll get his chance at some stage to have a crack at it,” Hayes said. “I think if Zac [Purton] let him go the other day he would have broken it.”.
