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Ka Ying Rising continued a meteoric rise to clinch the biggest win of his career with victory in the HK$26 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (8 December).
Overcoming difficulties at the start and pressure throughout, the gelding responded courageously for Zac Purton and David Hayes to record his eighth successive victory.
Slowly away, the four-year-old eventually triumphed by half a length from Hong Kong's Helios Express , with Japanese raider Satono Reve a short head further away in third place, triumphing at 1.1 – the shortest-priced favourite in the history of the race.
The overall time of 1m .08.15s was outside Ka Ying Rising's course record of 1m 07.43s, set at his previous start.
Purton, who has now won the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint four times, claiming his 12th LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) win, said there were reasons for the Shamexpress gelding being short of his best and described the win as better than it looked.
"Something lunged at the gate just before he went and it took his mind off it and he turned his head, so he was a little bit slow to step," Purton said.
"And then Victor The Winner just bored my neck the whole way and he never quite relaxed the way he has. He was working the whole way and never had time to relax."
Purton also said Ka Ying Rising jumped something in the straight which distracted the four-year-old, who improved his overall record to nine wins from 11 starts.
"He wasn't at his best today and is better than this and still got the job done," Purton said.
It was Hayes first Group 1 victory since his return to the Hong Kong training ranks four years ago – and his first since All Thrills Too in 2002.
Hayes said he was proud because Purton said everything went wrong really.
"The start wasn't perfect and he got pressure when he normally gets a bit of cover, so I think it was a better win than it looked," he said.
"You're never confident going into international Group 1s because there's so many unknowns, but I was as confident as you could be.
"Probably not as confident as the market, but in market terms I thought $1.80, not $1.10."
Hayes will wait to see how his rising star recovers before deciding on his next assignment.
"We'll see how he pulls up, but the initial one will be the Group 1 sprint in late January, six weeks between the runs and then after that, we'll make a decision whether we go to the (Hong Kong Classic) mile (1600m) or not," Hayes said.
Hayes said it had been the first time in his past three runs that Ka Ying Rising didn't get everything his own way and didn't relax.
"He was going to relax, Victor (The Winner) came up to him and really eyeballed him," he said
"So, I think when he relaxes, we all know he's more explosive. That was probably the least exciting to the eye, but I know that was a great win because he did pull."
Hyped for weeks as closing in on the title of the world's leading sprinter, Ka Ying Rising will continue his path to the world's richest turf race, the HK$100 million G1 The Everest (1200m) at Randwick next October.
Such was the dominance of Ka Ying Rising's lead-up races to the sprint that opposition trainers and jockeys had all but conceded defeat and were hoping at best to share some of the minor money in the HK$26 million prize pool.
Drawn in barrier 11 in the 14-horse field, the only pre-race worry for Hayes was whether the gelding could be caught wide.
Japan's three-pronged attack of Toshin Macau, Satono Reve and Lugal was aiming to break Hong Kong's stranglehold on the race.
They had hoped to emulate Japanese horses Lord Kanaloa (2012 and 2013) and Danon Smash (2020) as the only internationals to stop the local horses from saluting in the past 12 editions of the race.
Britain, was also hoping to break the trend with Ralph Beckett's Starlust.
Coming off a last start win in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (1000m) but he finished second last, in front of Victor The Winner.
The other international in the field, Australia's Recommendation finished 12th.
LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint - Post-race jockey/trainer quotes
1st: KA YING RISING - Zac Purton
"Something lunged at the gate just before he went and it took his mind off it and he turned his head, so he was a little bit slow to step and then Victor The Winner just bore my neck the whole way and he never quite relaxed the way he has.
"He was working the whole way and never had time to relax. He wasn't at his best today and is better than this and still go the job done."
2nd: HELIOS EXPRESS - Hugh Bowman
"He ran up to expectations. I was delighted with him."
3rd: SATONO REVE - Joao Moreira
"He ran fantastic. He got beaten by just two good local horses. He hit the line very strongly but he just wasn't good enough to beat them but I was very happy with the run."
4th: CALIFORNIA SPANGLE - Brenton Avdulla
"He ran honestly and tried hard. He probably finds a 1200m Group 1 around here too sharp, so he'd be better up to 1400m."
5th: HOWDEEPISYOURLOVE - James McDonald
"He got back and couldn't run on."
6th: BEAUTY WAVES - Alexis Badel
"He ran very well. He was caught in traffic a bit, but he ran on well."
7th: FLYING ACE - Matthew Poon
"He ran very well. I'm lucky enough to be just behind the winner and he took me through the race. My horse had every chance and he ran his race."
8th: LUCKY WITH YOU - Andrea Atzeni
"He ran well. I had to wait a little bit longer than I'd have liked to get a gap, but he finished off quite nicely."
9th: TOSHIN MACAU - Akira Sugawara
"He didn't break well and had to run wide. The ground wasn't great. He showed his turn of foot, but I couldn't go how we planned."
10th: INVINCIBLE SAGE - Blake Shinn
"He ran well. I would have liked a bit better draw to give him a softer run but he's running well."
11th: LUGAL - Trainer Haruki Sugiyama
"He began slowly and that was everything, but the jockey did not want to give up and took the wide route heading into the stretch. He did not reserve his energy until the finish."
12th: RECOMMENDATION - Mark Zahra
"He just struggled to cover the pressure today over 1200m."
13th: STARLUST - Rossa Ryan
"He's used to five furlongs where they blaze away and he'll probably go back to that trip. They didn't go mad on his terms, so back at shorter he'll be a happier horse."
14th: VICTOR THE WINNER - Derek Leung
"Coming three wide from the outside draw was tough."