Sunday’s Group 2 Premier Bowl (1,200m) offers Hong Kong’s second tier of sprinters a chance to step out of the shadow of greatness.
Ka Ying Rising, the world’s highest-rated horse, had his 21-race winning streak ended by Tempted in The Everest at Randwick last Saturday, his first defeat in 1,000 days. The champion is back in quarantine at Sha Tin and will be absent on Sunday, leaving the next rank to show they belong at the top level.
Among them is a horse who shares more than a prefix with the champion. Ka Ying Attack is also owned by Wong Choi Ha, a member of the syndicate that races Ka Ying Rising, and has won three straight for David Hall, the latest bringing up the trainer’s 700th Hong Kong winner, and the five-year-old makes his Group debut off a career-high rating of 97 with just 119 pounds.
“Without Ka Ying Rising around, it is going to be a little bit shallow, and it’s a bit of an open opportunity at handicap conditions,” Hall told The Standard.
Twenty years ago, Hall’s Absolute Champion won the race at 34-1 before claiming the Hong Kong Sprint, a double since completed by Aerovelocity (2014), Mr Stunning (2017), Wellington (2022) and Ka Ying Rising (2024).
Last year’s winner Tomodachi Kokoroe has history of his own to chase as he bids to become the first horse to win consecutive Premier Bowls.
Colourful King is another Sunday runner with bigger ambitions. Trainer David Eustace has the Group 3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy down the Sha Tin straight in January before a possible trip to Royal Ascot, where Australian sprinters have been competitive in recent seasons.
“The owner’s keen, and I believe he’s up to it,” Eustace said. “It’s a division that’s not necessarily strong in Europe. If everything went his way, he could always be in the mix.”
The Premier Bowl has also produced one of Sha Tin’s greatest ever sprint performances, when Able Friend came from last on the turn to win under top weight in 2015, the final victory of his career and his highest-rated performance.
Whoever wins on Sunday will find the champion waiting, with Ka Ying Rising returning in the Group 2 BOCHK Jockey Club Sprint on November 22 before defending his Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint crown on December 13.
