Ka Ying Rising's owner, Leung Shek-kong, was handed an omen at Canterbury Park on Thursday morning when a vivid rainbow arced over the track after the world's highest-rated horse completed his final Everest gallop.
The sign meant more to Leung than most, not just because his wife's name is Rainbow, but because it brought hope as blue sky broke through the grey clouds that swirled ominously over Sydney.
By the time the champion sprinter had galloped, the morning rain had eased to barely a mist, and he reassured connections with an effortless piece of work on Canterbury's course proper.
Leung, who rarely gives interviews, hammed it up and offered a "gai yau" – add oil. He joked that the next horse he buys may have to be named Ka Ying Rainbow.
The rainbow showed the full spectrum, turned into a double arch and then even the hint of a triple, but the trainer David Hayes only had eyes for the turquoise, orange and yellow of the Ka Ying silks.
"That's a great sign for sure," Hayes said. "It's even in Ka Ying Rising's colors."
The weather is the biggest question over Ka Ying Rising's title defense. He has never raced on a severely rain-affected surface.
"I liked the work and he's had a lovely roll, and now he's in there with his chiropractor and masseuse and we're all ready to go," Hayes said.
"He ran 13 seconds for the final 200, and Roy said if he didn't ease him, he would have run 12 with his eyes shut. He wants to go faster and he's sending the message that he's ready."
"His perfect weight is around 1,160," Hayes said of a gelding now weighing 1,163lb. "It couldn't be better.
"I think he's happier here than he is in Hong Kong. Now it's just a bit of a weather watch, hoping that the track is not worse than Slow. If it's Slow, I'm sure he'll be okay. If it's more than that, we'd be a little bit worried."
The morning showers mostly missed Randwick, but an afternoon downpour overflowed drains around the course, raising the prospect of a track worse than the Slow 7 he handled in last week's trial.
If the double rainbow was a sign, it may point to a second Everest. Victory in the A$20 million race he won last year would add A$7m to his earnings and lift him past Golden Sixty and Winx, Australia’s all-time leading earner, into third on the world list behind Romantic Warrior and Forever Young.
Saturday marks exactly 1,000 days since he was last beaten, a short-head second to Wunderbar on January 21, 2024. He has won 21 straight since.
