Ka Ying Rising puts New Zealand flag on top of Everest again

Ka Ying Rising and Zac Purton bolt away with the Everest at Randwick.

Another Kiwi has conquered Everest.

This time it was champion Kiwi-bred racehorse Ka Ying Rising who bolted away with the A$20 million ($22.68m) slot race in Sydney named after the mountain most famously bested for the first time by the late great New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.

The thoroughbred sprinting machine, who was sold to Chinese-based owners after winning a trial as a youngster in New Zealand, was far too good for the Australians in the 1200m dash-for-mega-cash at Randwick.

Beautifully ridden by Zac Purton, he sat in the one-one and loomed up at the top of the famous Randwick rise, then held his rivals at bay in a win that will have sent the parochial Hong Kong racing scene into raptures.

Ka Ying Rising was racing in a slot owned by the all-powerful Hong Kong Jockey Club, who bought the slot specifically to showcase Ka Ying Rising on the world stage.

But make no mistake, this was a win for the New Zealand racing and breeding industry.

The old rules of racing used to be that Kiwi horses were good milers and great stayers but the Aussie-breds were the kings of the sprinting.

But Ka Ying Rising is now clearly the world’s best sprinter and that title and his performances in 14 straight wins are the best possible advertisement for New Zealand horse breeders, owners and trainers selling into our two biggest export markets, Australia and Hong Kong.

Ka Ying Rising is by stallion Shamexpress, who stands at Windsor Park Stud outside Cambridge and out of the mare Missy Moo, who was a stayer who actually ran second-last in a Wellington Cup over 3200m in her final race.

He is the first New Zealand-bred horse to win the Everest, the world’s richest race on turf.

Remarkably, Purton said after the historic victory that Ka Ying Rising may not have been at his best after some issues settling in in Sydney and a moderate trial 11 days ago.

“But he is that good he just keeps winning,” says Purton.

He wasn’t the only Kiwi horse to cover himself in glory in the Everest, as Jimmysstar held on for third after being three wide for the entire trip and the first horse to move.

But this will be remembered as a great Kiwi victory, a special moment for Hong Kong racing and a dream result for thoroughbred racing worldwide.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.