The name’s got a nice ring to it and the result was enough to broaden the smile of his connections.
Ka Ying Cheer completed a hat trick of wins when taking out a BM78 Handicap over 1200m at Caulfield, continuing his unbeaten run of success since returning to Australia from Hong Kong in his first taste of metropolitan action.
He is an interesting runner.
The son of Reward For Effort was originally in the Patrick Payne stable where, over a nine month period he participated in no less than seven jump-outs and five trials from May 2022 to January 2023 … without ever tasting race action.
He was then out in the wilderness for another nine months. He relocated to Hong Kong during that time and was ready to face the starter for the first time in October 2023 … which he did at Sha Tin … where he came back a winner on debut.
In thirteen further runs in Hong Kong, from October 2023 to June 2025, Ka Ying Cheer added three second places and three third places to his resume, but the next win was proving to be a bridge too far in that competitive racing precinct.
Then Australia beckoned but, at first, not quite in the way it looks on his form-line.
“He was actually Ka Ying Rising’s travelling-mate,” said Ben Hayes (The Hong Kong champion., Ka Ying Rising, came to Sydney and conquered The Everest). “He ended up staying here … and I think Ka Ying Rising rubbed off on him a little bit.
“He’s come out and won three in a row here in Australia, which is a very good effort.”
Starting out at the Ben, Will and JD Hayes stable, Ka Ying Cheer was allowed a patient build-up.
The Hayes team gave Ka Ying Cheer two jump-outs and a trial before sending him out in a Class 1 Handicap over 1100m at Pakenham … then to a BM66 Handicap over the same distance at Seymour … and then on to this Caulfield assignment, up in distance to 1200m and tackling a sterner test in metropolitan company.
He won all three of those races.
Not that that the Caulfield win was easy work.
In fact, it was only achieved by the narrowest of margins in the very last stride as the Hayes trained runner, who started favourite at $2.40, had to knuckle down to make up two lengths in the home straight to snare his market rival Immortal Star ($3.70) on the line.
He took a while to get there, but the important point is he got the job done … for the third time in a row.
While Ka Ying Cheer might not exactly be setting the town alight in terms of the quality of the races he is winning right now, or the general level of horses he is beating, his career is clearly now on a positive trajectory.
That should make it worth watching where he goes next.
