Ka Ying Rising shattered his own Sha Tin track record with a dominant victory in the Group 3 HKSAR Chief Executive's Cup on Sunday, stretching the Hong Kong record winning streak to 21 races at the opening meeting of the 2026-27 season.
Zac Purton let the six-year-old sprinter run all the way to the line for one of the few times in his career, and the response was emphatic: an official winning margin of 7 3/4 lengths and a clock reading of 1:06.11 for the 1,200 meters – 0.99 of a second inside the record he set in the Group 1 Chairman's Sprint Prize on Champions Day in April.
Trainer David Hayes said he sensed the record was under threat before the gates even opened.
"It really was extraordinary," Hayes told The Standard. "When the Class 5 horses went fast in the opening race I thought, 'Gee, the record is under threat here.'"
A big crowd turned out for the season opener, where Cantopop superstar Aaron Kwok Fu-shing performed in warm conditions – but it was out on the turf where Ka Ying Rising stole the show.
The win was his third straight in the Chief Executive's Cup, a race elevated to Group 3 status for the first time this year, and it confirmed what Hayes had been telling anyone who asked all week: that his sprinter was bigger and better than in previous preparations. Ka Ying Rising weighed 1,172 pounds before the race, 29 pounds more than his previous start.
"Last year Zac had a strong hold of him and didn't let him run to the line, but this year he let him run home," Hayes said. "Amazing, isn't it? He is getting better.
"He hasn't been let run to the line many times, and of course he smashed his own record. You don't see that very often, especially by a second."
Ka Ying Rising started at odds of 1.05, the minimum possible price, the guaranteed five percent return underwritten by the club. Such was his grip on the market that runner-up Copartner Prance was second favorite at 106-1.
The gelding went straight to the quarantine stables afterward, with a flight to Australia due in under two weeks ahead of a bid for a second consecutive win in The Everest at Randwick on October 17.
Purton's parting line will not comfort his rivals: "He will be better for the run."
