David Hayes calls the legendary Silent Witness \u201cthe first great sprinter\u201d and \u201cthe best he ever saw\u201d, and delights in having a horse that has equalled his incredible feat of 17 straight victories.<\/p>
The Australian Racing Hall of Fame trainer said it would be a \u201cgreat thrill\u201d to surpass the Hong Kong hero as his charge, Ka Ying Rising, enters final preparations in the bid to claim a Hong Kong record 18th consecutive win in the HK$13 million G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) on Sunday, 22 February.<\/p>
Between December 2002 and April 2005, the Archie da Silva-owned Silent Witness swept all before him during an extraordinary winning streak, which included two Hong Kong Sprint titles (2003 & 2004), two Centenary Sprint Cups (2004 & 2005), two Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize triumphs (2004 & 2005) and a Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (2005). He also captured Japan\u2019s 2005 G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) in his final career win.<\/p>
Silent Witness\u2019s success took on greater meaning to an adulating Hong Kong public, given the city\u2019s wider struggles during that period.<\/p>
\u201cHong Kong was going through very tough times back then \u2014 the SARS epidemic, economic difficulties,\u201d said Silent Witness\u2019s trainer Tony Cruz. \u201cHe became a symbol of hope. He showed people that great challenges could be overcome. That\u2019s why he was affectionately known as the \u2018Spirit of Hong Kong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8782″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
During the intervening years, several challengers have threatened to reach that \u201cmagic\u201d number of 17 victories, but none has managed to sustain a run, until now.<\/p>
\u201cI would say it\u2019s a real magic number,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cTo equal it was magic, and to beat it is even better, especially at a distance (1400m) where he\u2019s stretching out to show the diversity that he has.<\/p>
\u201cThe expectation is for him to win; you just want him to and not let everyone down. But he hasn\u2019t, and the way he trialled recently, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to,\u201d Hayes added.<\/p>
Comparisons between Silent Witness and Ka Ying Rising have only grown as Hayes\u2019 five-year-old has coasted toward equalling the record. But for connections of the former, nothing can compare to the \u201cSpirit of Hong Kong\u201d.<\/p>
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about Ka Ying Rising\u2019s natural talent. That\u2019s clear for everyone to see,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThere\u2019s no horse in Hong Kong that can compete with him right now. He\u2019s simply outstanding.<\/p>
\u201cSilent Witness\u2019s temperament and character were like no other horse I\u2019d trained. He was confident, relaxed, a true professional and an absolute pleasure to train.<\/p>
\u201cEven going to the start, we had to manage him carefully. If another horse tried to pass him, he\u2019d want to take them on. He refused to let anyone go past him,\u201d Cruz added.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8781″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Felix Coetzee was in the saddle for all 29 of Silent Witness\u2019s career starts. Despite a decorated career during which he was crowned South Africa\u2019s champion jockey three times and claimed multiple Group 1 victories, nothing compared to his association with Silent Witness.<\/p>
\u201cSilent Witness was something unique, something special. It\u2019s wonderful when horses like this come along,\u201d Coetzee said. \u201cHe had such a huge presence and gave us incredible memories. I learned a lot from him. Anyone could have won on him \u2014 I was just lucky to be there at the right time.\u201d<\/p>
Now aged 26 and enjoying his retirement at the Living Legends facility in Victoria, Australia, Silent Witness is still widely regarded as the greatest racehorse Hong Kong has ever showcased. Though it\u2019s a perception that could alter if another bumper crowd at Sha Tin gets to witness Ka Ying Rising, who was recently named the world\u2019s best sprinter, make Hong Kong racing history on Sunday week.<\/p>
Hayes is thankful that the best horse he\u2019s handled in his career came at \u201cthe back-end\u201d of his career.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be the trainer of the most consecutive winning horse in Hong Kong,\u201d the 63-year-old said. \u201cI keep pinching myself, and I\u2019m at an age where I really, really appreciate having a horse with this ability.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ve trained two of the highest-rated horses in the world in my life. One was at the start of my career, called Better Loosen Up, and then I have this horse. I\u2019ve had 107 Group 1 winners in between. But nothing like this horse.\u201d<\/p>
An 18th consecutive victory would resonate well beyond the Hayes stable.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8780″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]David Hayes calls the legendary Silent Witness \u201cthe first great sprinter\u201d and \u201cthe best he ever saw\u201d, and delights in having a horse that has equalled his incredible feat of 17 straight victories.The Australian Racing Hall of Fame trainer said it would be a \u201cgreat thrill\u201d to surpass the Hong Kong… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8783,"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-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8788,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions\/8788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}