Ka Ying Rising clears Sha Tin trackwork test ahead of Australian trip

Before dawn on Saturday, Ka Ying Rising produced the kind of work that gave trainer David Hayes confidence his unbeaten sprinter is ready for the biggest challenge of his career.

At 3:43 a.m., under lights on the course proper at Sha Tin, Ka Ying Rising left the quarantine stables and cantered down the 1,000-meter chute before gradually quickening through the back straight and sprinting home over the last 400 meters in 23.6 seconds with a trackwork rider aboard. 

“He was asked just to increase down the straight, run home in about 23 [seconds], and take his time pulling up,” Hayes said. “He was trotting really well when he went past, he looked sound, relaxed, his recovery was really good. It ticked all the boxes — he didn’t even raise a sweat. And the really pleasing thing for me was that he changed legs — one of Zac’s bugbears is that he never changes leg, but he did today.”

The early hour workout was required because horses in quarantine must train either before or after the main population. Hayes noted Ka Ying Rising has handled the environment well and shown a calmer temperament away from the bustle of morning trackwork.

On Sunday, Ka Ying Rising will fly to Sydney and begin quarantine at Canterbury Racecourse before lining up in the Everest at Randwick on October 18. He will be joined on the trip by stablemate Ka Ying Cheers, retired from Hong Kong racing but bound for Lindsay Park in Australia to be retrained by Hayes’ sons.

“My assistant trainer Jimmy Wong is going down initially because he’ll just do slow work for the week,” Hayes said. “Then I’ll go down with Zac [Purton] for the trial, come back for two meetings here, and return for the week of the race.”