Ka Ying Rising versus the Australian super mares is the race everyone wants – but who pays for it?

Everybody wants to see the best race the best, and for once the people who matter seem to agree.

David Hayes says he would "love" a showdown next March between Ka Ying Rising and Australia's super mares, Autumn Glow and Sheza Alibi. Autumn Glow's managing owner, John Messara – a staunch traditionalist – is supportive, while Peter Moody and Sheza Alibi's owners are up for just about anything.

Sydney wants 1,500 meters at Rosehill on Golden Slipper Day. Melbourne wants 1,400 meters at Flemington a week later. But the race needs Ka Ying Rising more than he needs it. Owner Leung Shek Kong is, in Hayes' words, "half-half," and the Jockey Club has yet to show its hand.

Then there is the money. One proposal has each set of connections putting up A$1 million, topped up by a corporate backer, with the first home taking the lot.

There is a better answer, and World Pool provides it. But it has to be an actual race with a full field, and the George Ryder Stakes is sitting right there.

The Jockey Club would probably prefer its precious star at home. But was any official keen on Romantic Warrior's months-long sojourns to Australia, Japan and the Middle East? No horse did more for Hong Kong racing's standing in the world, and none of it would have happened had common sense prevailed. Owner Peter Lau Pak-fai had the sporting spirit to dream an absurd idea, and Danny Shum Chap-shing the conviction to execute it.

Does Ka Ying Rising's strangulation of Sha Tin markets make officials more amenable to a mid-season trip Down Under? There are 1.05 favorites, and then there are Ka Ying Rising 1.05 favorites.

Romantic Warrior started at the minimum dividend in March, with 78.12 percent of the win pool on him, roughly what a genuine 1.05 shot attracts. Ka Ying Rising's last five minimum dividend starts have drawn between 92.66 and 97.52 percent.

On Champions Day, HK$94.44 million of a HK$97.15 million-win pool was on him – almost HK$35 for every HK$1 on his seven rivals combined, or 244 times the average rival. On September 6, it was more than HK$39 to HK$1 against five rivals, or 196 times the average.

At those levels the pool can't even return punters their stake, so the club tops it up to pay the minimum – about HK$19 million in April and roughly HK$18 million this month.

That's not a betting market – it's a subscription.

It’s also parochial money: put him on foreign soil against genuine rivals over an unproven distance and the equation flips. Australians would back their mares and Hong Kong its hero. That multinational tug of war is exactly what the World Pool machine was built for.

World competition is part of the Jockey Club's vision, but commingled pools pay for it, and that engine only runs at full throttle with a full field.

Seven starters is the minimum for quinella place, Hong Kong punters' second-favorite bet behind quinella. When Ka Ying Rising faced five rivals this month, it wasn't offered at all. On the days he goes around at Sha Tin with his own personal best as the only real rival, the exotics are the only real action.

A three-horse race is also vulnerable to a form slump or late scratching. Lose one and the race of the century becomes a match race. Lose two and it's a gallop.

Build it around the stars, by all means – but let’s make sure it's a real race.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓