By Jack Dawling
David Hayes' "freak of nature" Ka Ying Rising completed his perfect season in dominant fashion when he once again blazed the Sha Tin turf to collect the Group 1 Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200 meters) yesterday afternoon.
While his starting price of $1.05 may have suggested defeat was out of the question for Ka Ying Rising, that didn't stop Hayes from letting out a huge sigh of relief as his stable star claimed his 12th consecutive victory.
"Thank God that's over," Hayes told The Standard. "My heart rate watching a race is usually at about 68 but it got to over 100 then.
"I've never saddled up $1.05 chances in Group Ones before and, don't get me wrong, it's a great feeling, but it's also nerve-wracking at the same time."
After Ka Ying Rising jumped sharply from barrier four, Zac Purton decided to track the pace in fifth, one off the rail.
Traveling with ominous authority around the home turn, Hong Kong's seven-time champion rider urged the world's highest-rated sprinter to hit the front, which he did thanks to his mesmerizing ability to quicken from the 400m marker.
Ka Ying Rising continued to pile on the pressure in the closing stages before being eased down by Purton in the final strides. Two and a quarter-lengths in behind, Japanese raider Satono Reve managed to hold off Helios Express for second.
"He had a perfect prep and a perfect season so it's just nice that nothing went wrong," Hayes said. "He probably got to the front a little bit early and stargazed today, but he got the job done and won by a decent margin.
"Satono Reve is probably the second-best sprinter in the world at the moment and what a horse Helios Express has been this year."
For Purton, it was also a sweet win over his former nemesis Joao Moreira, who partnered the Noriyuki Hori-trained Satono Reve.
"I applaud the Japanese," Purton said. "They're willing to travel and willing to take anyone around the world on, so you've got to give them credit for doing that, but they were only second fiddle against Ka Ying Rising today.
"He's getting better and better. Every time you come out here, he produces something special and he did that again today."
With victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize, Ka Ying Rising completed his sweep of Hong Kong's Speed Series, which consists of January's G1 The Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m), the G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) and Sunday's HK$22 million contest.
After enjoying a break at the Hong Kong Jockey Club's training facility in Conghua, Hayes' superstar will begin his preparations for the world's richest turf race, The Everest, worth nearly HK$100 million, in October.
Hayes confirmed to The Standard that Ka Ying Rising will return to work in June and begin the quarantine process to travel to Australia in mid-September.
"He'll go into quarantine here six days after the first meeting of next season, be there for two weeks and then go down to Australia," Hayes said. "Before then, we can relax a bit though."
