Ka Ying Rising is so good that it was almost an anticlimax, a foregone conclusion, when he romped to a Hong Kong-record 18th straight victory Feb. 22 in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (G1) at Sha Tin Racecourse.
In course-record time.
By 3 1/2 lengths and never really pushed by jockey Zac Purton.
The victory moved Ka Ying Rising past Hong Kong legend Silent Witness, whose record of 17 consecutive wins was set from 2002 into 2005. And his trainer, David Hayes, said he feels the 5-year-old could have at least another season.
The Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup wasn't much of a challenge. After sitting behind one ambitious rival down the riverside backstretch, Purton gave Ka Ying Rising the all-clear signal and he was home free with 300 meters to go in the 1,400-meter (about 7-furlong) race.
"He jumped so well and cruised through the bend beautifully," Hayes said. "At the 300 meters, I could really enjoy it. I could tell he had the race in command. Zac went for him a bit more than he normally does and rode to instructions, which was good."
Hayes said he had told Purton to let the gelding run to show what he could do at 1,400 meters, 200 more than his customary 1,200 (about 6 furlongs), to bolster his international ratings.
The course record was 1:19.92. When Ka Ying Rising flashed past the winning post, the timer said 1:19.36. He also has lowered the record for 1,200 meters on the Sha Tin grass—twice.
Undefeated since February 2024, Ka Ying Rising's streak includes eight group 1 events. Along the way, he successfully defended home turf twice in the Hong Kong Sprint (G1) and demolished Australia's best sprinters last October in The Everest (G1), the world's richest turf race.
"He's just different. He's in a league of his own," Purton said. "They're very good horses that he's racing against and he just does it like he's having a barrier trial. Let's hope he can stay in this form for another 12 or 18 months.
"I think he's reached his level and it's just a matter of managing him now and try to preserve that for as long as we can."
Hayes agreed and laid out a tentative plan for Ka Ying Rising, who shares global superstar status with another Hong Kong celebrity, Romantic Warrior.
"If we can place him conservatively, we hope to have him for another couple of seasons. That's really exciting," Hayes said.
"He loves a month between runs, so we'll probably go for the Sprint Cup (G2) next (April 6) and then we don't have to train him too hard and babysit him into the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1) on April 26.
"Hopefully we can get another clean sweep of the season again with The Everest in the middle."
The veteran conditioner said Ka Ying Rising is the opposite to much of any trainer's experience, including his.
"I've trained a lot of horses that have gone 742 days without winning, so to continuously win for 742 days is mind-numbing," Hayes said.
If there's a downside for Hong Kong racing, it might be difficult to attract foreign horses to the grade 1 sprints and miles for the next season or so.
Video
