David Hayes Ka Ying Rising is confident in its final test ahead of next month’s Longines Hong Kong International. The rising star will be looking for back-to-back wins in Sunday’s Jockey Club Sprint BOCHK Private Banking (1200m).
Ka Ying Rising, who has won his last six races, including last month’s Group 2 Premier Bowl (1200m), is looking to renew his footwork as he jumps from 10th place in this weekend’s race.
The four-year-old didn’t break a sweat and comfortably edged out his Premier Bowl rivals, beating his 2007 Holy Kingdom record of 1:07.50 by just seven-hundredths of a second.
Ka Ying Rising reacts on eight of his beaten opponents from his first Group 2 victory and is five pounds from top-level winners California Spangle, Victor The Winner and Invincible Sage.
HOW EASY WAS THAT!? 🚀
Ka Ying Rising is untested in the G2 Premier Bowl at Sha Tin, clocking 1m 07.57s, just outside of Sacred Kingdom’s course record (1m 07.50s) set in 2007… @zpurton #LoveRacing | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/gbImzRf4fe
“We worked him [on Wednesday] and he worked really well,” Hayes said. “We’ve just copied and pasted what we did going into the last race.
“I’m sure he’s keeping his form and they all need to improve their form a bit, they can do that, but I think he looks really good.”
“He will be hard to beat and will definitely be a favorite.”
Track work at Sha Tin was halted on Thursday due to Typhoon Signal 8, but Hayes was able to change his plans to allow Ka Ying Racing to complete the work ahead of Sunday’s race.
He is also up for the task this weekend, coming off an easy test win under Karis Titan at Conghua last week.
Show time! 🎬
Ka Ying hard at work ahead of Sunday’s G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint… 🔥@zpurton | #HKIR | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/vO28lrUOT0
“We’ve been thinking about it for a while and thought the track work might not happen [Thursday],” Hayes said. “Traditionally he works [Thursday] but we have the last day of work and he has eaten all the food and seems fine. “I thought his last Test was the best he’s ever done. But he will still win.
“He doesn’t really work like a superstar in the making, but he competes like a superstar and that’s the only thing I’m worried about. He’s a young horse that’s growing and I think what you see is what you get.”
Last December, Ka Ying Racing came out on a high, finishing a seven-race campaign with five wins, but the John Size-trained Wunderbar was denied both Grade 3 events.
After earning his second career win in February, he took it easy and went from 69 to 127 in eight months.
Ka Ying Rising will be 13 pounds better in Sunday’s second Premier Bowl Helios Express. Mugen, trained by Pierre Ng Pang-chi, is the four-year-old’s other main opponent.
Despite missing out on the record last time out, Hayes is optimistic he can break it if the conditions are right. “The weather is tough, but maybe one day we’ll get a chance to try,” Hayes said. “If Zach [Purton] had sent him on any other day, he would have blown it.”
