Ka Ying Rising took another confident step towards the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) as he dashed well clear of a batch of top-class operators in a barrier trial at Sha Tin on Friday (14 November).<\/p>
The world\u2019s top-rated sprinter broke well and ran keenly before surging down the 1200m dirt straight in a brisk 1m 10.19s under regular rider Zac Purton. The run provided a final tune-up before the HK$5.35 million G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on 23 November.<\/p>
It was a commanding display from the five-year-old, who has won 14 consecutive races. Ominously for rivals targeting his HK$28 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) crown on 14 December, handler David Hayes believes Ka Ying Rising has improved since conquering the AU$20 million (approx. HK$101 million) G1 The Everest (1200m) in October.<\/p>
\u201cIt was an upper-class trial with some of Hong Kong\u2019s best horses and he did what he does,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
\u201cA lot of horses \u2026 who have had these international trips come back better if they\u2019ve handled it well. I think he has, and I\u2019m actually confident that the trip has brought him on.\u201d<\/p>
The outing was the five-time Group 1-winner\u2019s first trial since his return from Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia, where he confirmed his credentials as racing\u2019s best sprinter with a convincing win in the world\u2019s most valuable turf race. Purton said his enthusiasm was obvious.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Ka Ying Rising stretches out on the Sha Tin dirt.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cHe\u2019s very fresh. He\u2019s very eager to get on with things \u2013 he\u2019s probably going 10 per cent keen,\u201d the 42-year-old said. \u201cHe trialled well, so that\u2019ll take the stuffing out of him a little bit and he can relax now until race day.\u201d<\/p>
As the Hong Kong season reaches a crucial phase, Purton holds a 20-win lead over nearest challenger Luke Ferraris in the jockey\u2019s championship. The eight-time champion jockey said the end-of-year period in Hong Kong racing \u2013 when new faces enter the jockeys\u2019 room ahead of the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship and the LONGINES HKIR \u2013 provides a challenge each season.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s always good to have (the world\u2019s best riders) here. I always learn something when I\u2019m riding with them and watching them more closely,\u201d Purton added. \u201cWe\u2019ve been riding against each other for a number of years now so it\u2019s good to catch up with them. Obviously, we have the rivalry on the track, but off the track, we all get along very well.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9015″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
At Saturday\u2019s (15 November) Sha Tin meeting, Purton has a full book of 10 rides and a leading chance is the Manfred Man-trained Patch Of Stars (124lb) in the card\u2019s feature contest, the HK$2.84 million Class 2 Lukfook Jewellery Cup Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
The four-year-old All Too Hard gelding is a last-start course and distance winner but steps up in class for that half-length victory, his fourth from 11 Hong Kong outings.<\/p>
The tough assignment became more difficult when he was handed barrier nine on his Class 2 debut.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit awkward because tactically he\u2019s a tricky horse,\u201d Purton said. \u201cYou can\u2019t hustle him to get a position and then expect him to relax; he needs to float into a position. So it\u2019s an awkward gate for him.\u201d<\/p>
Saturday\u2019s (15 November) 10-race fixture at Sha Tin starts at 1pm with the Class 4 Lukfook Jewellery Hexicon Handicap (1200m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9014″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ka Ying Rising took another confident step towards the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) as he dashed well clear of a batch of top-class operators in a barrier trial at Sha Tin on Friday (14 November).The world\u2019s top-rated sprinter broke well and ran keenly before surging down the 1200m dirt… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9017,"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-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9012"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9040,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9012\/revisions\/9040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}