Shane Dye rates Ka Ying Rising behind only Frankel and Flightline, argues against racing’s snobbery toward sprinters, and weighs up whether the champ should be tested over a mile.
I’ve been watching horse racing for 56 years. I used to grab the ‘Best Bets’ form guide from the milk bar on the way to school when I was six – lucky I could ride, because I didn’t do much school. I was too busy tipping winners to the teachers. So when I tell you I’ve seen a lot of horses, I mean it. Where do I put Ka Ying Rising?
The two best horses I have ever seen are Frankel and Flightline – and I wouldn’t split them. They could be two of the best of all time – they both had a sustained speed that other horses just didn’t have. I’ve now got Ka Ying Rising right behind that top tier. He is the best horse to ever race in Hong Kong. Better than Romantic Warrior, Golden Sixty and Silent Witness – and that’s no disrespect to them, they were all champions.
Over the last five decades, in Australia, there was Kingston Town, Maybe Diva, Winx and Black Caviar. In Japan, Deep Impact and Equinox. In America the horses that come to mind for me are Cigar, Big Brown and Zenyatta.
In Europe there have been so many: Dubai Millennium and Baaeed. They were all champions but I have Ka Ying Rising ahead of them all. And it’s not just me saying it. Good judges – people whose opinions I respect – are telling me he could be the best horse they have ever seen race. I can see it for myself, and so can anybody who watches him. What makes him different?
He is abnormal. Ka Ying Rising is a freak. He can quicken off a fast pace, which is near-impossible. Most horses, when the speed is on and they’re already under pressure, can’t find more. They hang on or fade. Ka Ying Rising does the opposite – he accelerates when everything around him is slowing down. And he doesn’t do it once. He does it every time. That’s the part people need to understand. Many horses have a peak performance – one day when everything clicks and they produce something extraordinary.
Think of Via Sistina. Her run in the 2024 Cox Plate was unbelievable, one of the great individual performances you’ll ever see. But she never reproduced that level again. She won good races after it, but that was a clear peak – a moment in time.
Ka Ying Rising doesn’t have a peak performance. He peaks every time. That’s what separates him from the very good horses and puts him with the freaks. Consistency at that level is what makes a horse truly great – not one brilliant day, but the ability to reproduce it again and again and again.
The times back it up. He ran a new track record of 1.07.1 on Sunday – 0.4 seconds faster than Sacred Kingdom’s best-ever time. There is no doubt he can run under one minute and seven seconds for 1,200 meters if jockey Zac Purton wants to. That is extraordinary. You don’t fluke those numbers unless you’re doing something other horses simply cannot do.
Ka Ying Rising is doing things other horses can’t do. He’s not just the best in Hong Kong right now – he’s the best Hong Kong has ever had, and he belongs in the conversation about the greatest racehorses of all time.
This story first appeared in Idol Horse as "Ka Ying Rising: Hong Kong’s Best Ever – And One Of The Best I’ve Ever Seen"
𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓
