Harry Bentley knows exactly what he’s walking into on Sunday – and he isn’t pretending otherwise. The British rider describes the G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Sprint as “David and Goliath stuff,” with his sprinter Tomodachi Kokoroe squaring up to the monster in his own barn, the world-class Ka Ying Rising.
Ka Ying Rising is likely to start at the shortest possible price of 1.05. The David Hayes-trained champion hasn’t been beaten in more than a year and shattered Sacred Kingdom’s long-standing 1,200m Sha Tin track record in this race last season with a blistering 1:07.43. He broke it again this year. He’s fresh off a famous Everest win in Sydney, chasing 15 straight and is widely regarded as the best sprinter on the planet.
Bentley isn’t hiding from any of that – but he isn’t waving the white flag either.
“I’m fully aware I’m up against one of the, if not the best horse in the world at the moment,” Bentley said. “Managed expectations, but I’m certainly looking forward to the challenge of trying to knock him off his perch.”
Tomodachi Kokoroe gives him reason to dream. The gelding is three-from-three this season, twice breaking 68 seconds himself and smashing through his ratings ceiling like a horse who doesn’t know he’s supposed to slow down.
Bentley says he can’t afford to get sucked into riding the race around Ka Ying Rising, even if the favorite is the most dominant force in Hong Kong racing.
“You can’t go into any race trying to beat another horse,” he said. “You have to ride your horse on its own merits. He’s been running fantastic races and his last performance was brilliant. I’ll try to ride him exactly as I have been. If that’s good enough, fantastic.”
Bentley admits the time was helped by Tomodachi Kokoroe carrying just 115 pounds last start in the G2 Premier Bowl – “the clock doesn’t lie, but the weight matters” – yet there is something special in the way the sprinter has found a renewed spark at age seven.
If Tomodachi Kokoroe can cause the upset it would evoke memories of when Bullish Luck snapped the 17 race streak of stablemate Silent Witness in the 2005 G1 Champions Mile.
And there’s plenty riding on this for Bentley himself.
The jockey is tied for tenth in the ultra-tight ‘middle table’ of the jockeys’ championship, with three of his seven wins this season coming on Tomodachi Kokoroe. It’s getting even tougher: world No. 1 James McDonald is in town through to and beyond December’s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races, with British star Hollie Doyle already riding during that same stretch and French ace Maxime Guyon arriving next week.
“At any time in your career, you always need a flag-bearer,” Bentley said. “A horse that takes you into the big races with a chance. He’s that horse for me.”
On Sunday, he’ll need Tomodachi Kokoroe to be a giant-killer.
