David Hayes is confident Ka Ying Rising remains in peak form as the world\u2019s highest-rated sprinter chases history in the HK$13 million G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (25 January).<\/p>
Unbeaten in 16 starts since 12 February, 2024, Ka Ying Rising will equal Silent Witness\u2019 record for a Hong Kong-trained horse of 17 victories in a row if he eclipses six rivals in this weekend\u2019s Group 1 double-header, which also features Romantic Warrior\u2019s clash with Voyage Bubble in the HK$13 million G1 Stewards\u2019 Cup (1600m).<\/p>
Acclaimed last week as Timeform Horse of the Year (2025) as well as being acknowledged this week as both the world\u2019s premier sprinter and joint second-best horse in the 2025 LONGINES World\u2019s Best Racehorse Rankings, Ka Ying Rising has won 17 of 19 starts, including six at Group 1 level.<\/p>
Hayes is adamant Ka Ying Rising, who broke his own Sha Tin 1200m track record in the 2025 Centenary Sprint Cup with a winning time of 1m 07.20s, has not regressed since his devastating G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) triumph in December.<\/p>
\u201cLast start was probably his best win and he seems no worse and what\u2019s so special about him is that he just keeps putting up consistent ratings that are exceptional. Everything tells me that he\u2019s the same,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
\u201cI would say (his form is) very similar. It\u2019s hard to say better, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Ka Ying Rising wins the 2025 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
A dual Hong Kong champion trainer, Hayes said he never expected to have a horse capable of threatening Silent Witness\u2019 record, which has stood since 2005.<\/p>
\u201cI never thought that would happen but it\u2019s looking very realistic and if trackwork and trials are any guide, he\u2019s (Ka Ying Rising) held his form and it\u2019s exciting for the weekend,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
Ka Ying Rising will jump from barrier four under Zac Purton, while Hayes will also be represented by Tomodachi Kokoroe (Harry Bentley) against Helios Express (Hugh Bowman), Fast Network (James McDonald), Raging Blizzard (Brenton Avdulla), Beauty Waves (Matthew Chadwick) and Lucky With You (Luke Ferraris).<\/p>
\u201cTomodachi Kokoroe needs to improve. He was fantastic until he got up to the upper class and then when he got into the Group 1s, he struggled. But he\u2019s healthy and well and I\u2019m hoping he can run a place,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”13208″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Thirteen-time Hong Kong champion trainer John Size is represented in the Centenary Sprint Cup by Raging Blizzard, who ran second to Ka Ying Rising in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, while Helios Express was fifth in the same race.<\/p>
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s much between them at this stage of their careers; it just depends on the circumstances of the race, the tempo and the track conditions of the day to split them,\u201d Size said.<\/p>
\u201cRaging Blizzard ran a big race on international day to finish second and Helios Express has been consistent, too.\u201d<\/p>
Size will pit 2025 G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) winner Red Lion against Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble in the Stewards\u2019 Cup, which is the first leg of the Triple Crown.<\/p>
To jump from barrier one under Hugh Bowman, Red Lion ran third to Voyage Bubble and Soul Rush in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) on 14 December.<\/p>
\u201cYou never know what can happen on a racetrack and that\u2019s how we live but, as we know, he\u2019s beaten the great horse (Voyage Bubble) once and that was a good example that on any given day, something can work in your favour,\u201d Size said.<\/p>
\u201cHis run on international day was near his best and he\u2019s fit and well.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”13207″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Last season\u2019s Triple Crown winner Voyage Bubble will start from barrier six in his bid to win a third consecutive Stewards\u2019 Cup, while Romantic Warrior will jump from gate seven. Apart from fellow Group 1 winners Red Lion and Lucky Sweynesse, the decorated pair will also face Beauty Joy, Galaxy Patch, Straight Arron, My Wish and Sunlight Power.<\/p>
\u201cThe horses are fine and I\u2019m expecting them all to run their usual races. They\u2019ve been in very good shape and they\u2019ve been racing well on the track, too,\u201d Size said.<\/p>
\u201cThey all ran well on international day and now they\u2019ve had some time to recuperate, I think they\u2019re ready to run very well again.<\/p>
\u201cI can\u2019t ask for anything more from them in their preparation, but you also can\u2019t expect too much when you\u2019re racing three champions like Ka Ying Rising, Voyage Bubble and Romantic Warrior. It could all go according to plan, or there could be an upset \u2013 you never know until they cross the line.\u201d<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (25 January) 11-race Sha Tin meeting starts with the Class 4 Peniaphobia Handicap (1000m) at 12.30pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”13206″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]David Hayes is confident Ka Ying Rising remains in peak form as the world\u2019s highest-rated sprinter chases history in the HK$13 million G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (25 January).Unbeaten in 16 starts since 12 February, 2024, Ka Ying Rising will equal Silent Witness\u2019 record for a… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":13210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13203"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13230,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13203\/revisions\/13230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-gentlemens-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}