Sprint sensation Ka Ying Rising had little concern justifying his unbackable quote on Sunday when making light work of his rivals in the Hong Kong International Sprint (1200m).
The shortest priced favourite ever at a HKIR meeting ($1.05), Ka Ying Rising joined Mr Stunning (’17 & ’18), Lord Kanaloa (’12 & ’13), Silent Witness (’03 & ’02) and Falvelon (’00 & ’01) as a back-to-back winner of the prestigious Group 1 short course highlight.
Bouncing out well from the inside draw, jockey Zac Purton always had the race in firm control when burrowing through to take it up.
Keeping him away from the fence, Ka Ying Rising travelled beautifully and when asked for his effort, he quickly put the race to bed, drawing away to score by 3¾ lengths over Raging Blizzard and Fast Network.
“It was what everyone was hoping to see, his last run told us that a win like that was on the cards today and he was just in a league of his own,” Purton said.
His 17th win from 19 starts and sixth Group 1 success, Ka Ying Rising is now only one win away from equalling Silent Witness’ record of 17 straight wins which trainer David Hayes expects to be in next year’s Centenary Sprint Cup.
“We are hoping he’s got another 20 races in him and to the eye today was arguably his best win,” Hayes said.
“Every time he runs there is something significant he has to do, but he handles it so well.
While not at his supreme best when winning The Everest earlier in October, Ka Ying Rising appears poised to go back-to-back.
“He’ll be set for the fantastic Hong Kong Triple Crown again, it’ll be fun to see him out at 1400m and then the International Sprint in April before heading back to Australia for the Everest,” Hayes said.
“If he’s in the form he was today, we’ll love to take those Aussies on again.”
The five-year-old’s victory brought up Purton’s fifth success in the Hong Kong Sprint having first won it with Aerovelocity in 2014 and 2016 and Lucky Sweynesse in 2023.
