Horse racing: Two records in one remarkable race for champion Kiwi galloper

Ka Ying Rising on his way to smashing the 1400m track record at Sha Tin on Sunday. Photo /Alex Evers, HKJC

Trainer David Hayes believes Kiwi champion Ka Ying Rising’s extraordinary dominance can continue indefinitely after the world’s premier sprinter demolished quality opposition to post a Hong Kong record 18th successive victory at Sha Tin.

Stretching his unbeaten sequence beyond Silent Witness’ longstanding mark of 17 wins, Ka Ying Rising imperiously steamrolled his opposition in 1m 9.36s to smash the previous track record of 1m 19.9s.

Jockey Zac Purton confirmed Hayes had told him pre-race “to break the track record” after he had ridden Ka Ying Rising hands-and-heels to the finish, three-and-half-lengths clear of Helios Express with Lucky Sweynesse one-and-a-quarter lengths further astern.

Improving his overall record to 19 wins from 21 starts – after two narrow seconds as a 3-year-old – Ka Ying Rising jumped quickly from barrier three to sit second behind Copartner Prance, before putting his rivals to the sword over the final 800m in a blistering 43.96s, with respective 200m splits of 11.26s, 11.07s, 10.52s and 11.11s, to create history.

Unbeaten since February 2024, Ka Ying Rising’s unbeaten streak includes eight Group 1s – two Longines Hong Kong Sprint victories (2024 & 2025), two Centenary Sprint Cup titles (2025 & 2026), The Everest (2025), the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (2025) and now a pair of Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup trophies (2025 & 2026).

Silent Witness reigned from December 2002 to April 2005, snaring seven top-level features – the Hong Kong Sprint in 2003 and 2004, two Centenary Sprint Cups (2004 & 2005), two Chairman’s Sprint Prize triumphs (2004 & 2005) and the 2005 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

The stunning nature of Ka Ying Rising’s latest victory prompted Hayes to declare that the 5-year-old could sustain his current level of excellence for the next 18 months, fitness permitting.

The horse started his career in New Zealand but was sold after winning a jumpout.

“If we can place him conservatively, we hope to have him for another couple of seasons, that’s really exciting,” Hayes said.

“He loves a month between runs, so we’ll probably go for the Sprint Cup [Group 2, 1200m] next [April 6] and then we don’t have to train him too hard and babysit him into the Chairman’s Sprint Prize [1200m on April 26].

“Hopefully, we can get another clean sweep of the season again with The Everest in the middle.

“He’s more composed than ever, he’s changing legs and you can’t ask for much more than he’s doing. He’s breaking track records and his last three runs, he’d have broken the track record if Zac had let him go.

“He jumped so well [today] and cruised through the bend beautifully – at the 300m, I could really enjoy it. I could tell he had the race in command. Zac went for him a bit more than he normally does and rode to instructions, which was good.

“I’ve trained a lot of horses that have gone 742 days without winning, so to continuously win for 742 days is mind-numbing.

“It’s two-and-a-half years and the thing people don’t realise is that he was the [equal-]youngest horse in the race today. They always think he’s the big boy bashing them up, but he’s actually the baby.

“It’s a huge relief. I didn’t think the team could have had him better for today and I was confident that if the track was riding fast, he could break the [track] record. I didn’t want Zac sitting up in the last 100m, I said to him ‘let him run through the post and we’ll see how strong he is at 1400m’. He’s just a star.

“I just thought for his worldwide ratings, I wanted Zac to let him go today and hopefully he can keep climbing up that incredible ladder that he’s going up. When you’ve got a horse as good as him, he’s the one everyone will be comparing the next big horse too.”

Currently the second-highest rated horse in the world, Ka Ying Rising also holds the 1200m turf course record.

– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk