There is not a great deal more that David Hayes can say about Ka Ying Rising so he is taking another tack and pointing to the market where he could jump as short as $1.05 with Australian betting sites.
The world’s best sprinter did not make an appearance at trackwork at Sha Tin on Wednesday morning – he went swimming instead – in somewhat of an apt description of how his preparation towards his 16th-straight win and a second victory in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) on Sunday is going – swimmingly.
It might be hard to believe for some that the five-year-old has improved even further in the master trainer’s eyes even before his first-up win in the Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) on October 23.
“We thought leading into the lead-up race that he had improved after the trip to Australia and I think his form will prove that,” Hayes said.
“I thought that visually what was his best win and his work since has been good.
“He’s in great shape.”
Hayes added that the gelding’s gallop on the course proper earlier this week was the best he has seen him do not so much for the time run but more how well the horse went about it.
An improver or not in his opinion, Hayes references the even stronger betting market support in a line to how confident they are.
“There were a lot of people doubting him (in Sydney) and thinking that the Hong Kong form wouldn’t stack up,” Hayes said.
“I really wanted to have him perform well and get the ‘told you so’.
“This time is an unusual feeling. He will probably start $1.00 this weekend and the second favourite will probably be 25-1.
“In an international group one, I think the market tells you that he is very special and the market is a good guide when it is that extreme.”
Hayes will saddle up last-start beaten favourite Akashvani in the fourth leg of the International Jockeys’ Challenge at Happy Valley on Wednesday night with James McDonald aboard.
“He didn’t have the best of luck last start,” he said.
“He got squeezed out and got laid on in the straight and was only beaten a half-neck.”
