Ka Ying Rising has been almost unbeatable in Hong Kong since starting his career in New Zealand. Photo / Alex Evers
Hong Kong’s superstar jockey Zac Purton is flying more than 15,000km for one trial ride in Sydney today.
But this is no normal trial and could have a huge impact on the market for the world’s richest turf race, the A$20million ($22.65m) TAB Everest on Saturday week.
Purton has made the trip from Hong Kong to Sydney to partner New Zealand-bred sprinting hero Ka Ying Rising in a 1000m trial at Randwick at 11am (NZ time) and the trial is hotter than most Group 1 races.
Ka Ying Rising meets Cambridge Stud’s Joliestar, Mr Brightside, Fangirl, Angel Capital and Overpass in what is a mini Everest and the first chance most punters will get to see Ka Ying Rising on Australian soil.
The giant sprinter started his career in NZ when trained by Fraser Auret but was sold after a trial win and spent time with Team Hayes in Australia before heading to Hong Kong where he has been unstoppable.
He is now rated the best sprinter in the world and motivated the all-powerful Hong Kong Jockey Club to purchase a slot in The Everest to get him into the race flying their flag.
As mammoth as the Sydney super sprint has become since its inception in 2017, it will go to a new level next week with the focus of the enormous Hong Kong punting base firmly on their local hero, with turnover records expected to be broken.
But first Ka Ying Rising heads to Randwick this morning to spin his wheels and familiarise himself with Sydney’s glamour track, albeit with about 45,000 less people than it will have crammed in on Everest Day.
Ka Ying Rising is already rated a staggeringly short $1.70 to win the Everest and while trials are only what their name suggests, today’s 1000m scurry could become one of the most analysed rehearsals in recent Australian racing history.
If Ka Ying Rising cruises along then changes gear atop the Randwick rise and wins in a jog the mania will reach fever pitch.
But, if he comes off the bridle and one of his rivals runs past him there could be dramatic over-reaction in the market and especially in the shoot-first-ask-questions-later media.
None of which fazes Purton, who doesn’t really seem the type to get fazed by much.
“I suppose it is unusual in that so many people down there [Australia] wouldn’t have seen much of him or know how to rate his form because they may not know any of the horses he has been beating,” Purton told the Herald.
“Obviously the interest in him has been massive, you can see that online. I have friends from down there [Sydney] texting me saying they are coming to just watch him trial.”
But Purton says Ka Ying Rising doesn’t need to be making any statements on Tuesday morning.
Purton knows trainer David Hayes well these days and says the Australian horseman is relaxed about trials.
“I will have a chat to David before obviously but he doesn’t tend to get carried away,” says Purton.
“We will see how he travels in the trial and if I think he needs a bit more [effort] I might ask him for some late.
“But he is a very kind horse, he isn’t the type who will want to get up and going and take off.”
Purton will not take any other rides at Tuesday’s 13-strong trial meeting and flies back to Hong Kong on Tuesday night to ride at Sha Tin on Wednesday night.
That means he is undertaking a more than 15,000km return trip for a few minutes in the saddle, possibly only a few seconds of it at full speed.
Ka Ying Rising’s record-breaking form over the last 12 months coupled with the HKJC’s involvement and the huge gelding’s New Zealand heritage could all combine to land a knockout blow for the Everest in its battle with the Caulfield Cup for attention on what will be one of racing’s biggest days of the year.
A few years ago the Caulfield Cup, which is run less than an hour after the Everest, would have dwarfed the Sydney sprint for interest in Australia and on this side of the Tasman.
That has changed and will reach new heights next week as the Everest will dominate the punting landscape in the same way the mountain it was named after does.
The 18-hour period starting around noon on October 18 will be one of the biggest days of feature racing international action of the year.
It will start for Kiwis with Livamol Day at Ellerslie, rolling into Everest and the Caulfield Cup meetings, harness fans can watch Leap To Fame in the Victoria Cup that night then and in the early hours of Sunday morning it will be the flat-season ending Qipco Champions Day at Ascot in England.
What: World’s richest race on turf.
Where: Randwick, Sydney.
When: October 18.
Who: Australia’s best sprinters defending their national pride against Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising.
Kiwi angles: Ka Ying Rising started his career here, as did Jimmysstar and War Machine, while Cambridge Stud own Joliestar.
The market: Ka Ying Rising is the $1.70 favourite with the TAB.
Next steps: Ka Ying Rising will trial at Randwick on Tuesday morning against Joliestar, Overpass and Mr Brightside.
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.