David Hayes hailed Ka Ying Rising “one of the best horses I’ve ever seen” and “one of the all-time greats” after the champion sprinter smashed his own track record again in a 20th consecutive victory in Sunday’s Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m).

Extending his record win streak with consummate ease, Ka Ying Rising exploded clear to beat Japan’s top sprinter Satono Reve by four-and-a-quarter lengths in 1:07.10 – 0.02 seconds quicker than his track record set earlier this month.

“In the Year of the Horse, he’s one of the all-time greats now, I think,” Hayes said.

“A long time ago, I thought he might have been the horse I’ve trained and then about a year ago, I thought he’s definitely the best horse I’ve trained, and now I think he’s one of the best horses I’ve ever seen. So, you just pinch yourself to have a horse of this class.”

Settling third off a moderate early speed run 0.25 seconds slower than standard time, Ka Ying Rising took a few strides to gather in the leading pair Beauty Waves and Tomodachi Kokoroe in the straight.

But once he hit top gear and took the lead at the 250m, he put a margin on his rivals in the twinkling of an eye, prompting jockey Zac Purton to label the victory “pretty painless”.

“The speed was nice, he was in a good rhythm – it was just a matter of him turning up and doing what he’s been doing all season, and he did that,” Purton said.

“It was nice to break the track record again – albeit just slightly. When I let him go and he quickened, he took a couple of strides to balance up a little bit, but once he quickened, he quickened extremely well and a long way out, I felt very comfortable and very confident.

“The Japanese have sent their best sprinter over today and he’s handled him with a lot of authority. I think people can probably start giving him a bit more credit than they have, but he’s had a really good 18 months and he’s still five, so let’s hope we have him for another season or two.”

Ka Ying Rising completed his second straight unbeaten season and collected back-to-back Speed Series crowns – which carry a HK$5 million bonus – for winning the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m), Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) and Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

Hayes, whose overwhelming emotion after the success was relief, will give the five-year-old a break before turning his attention to defending his crown in the Group One The Everest (1,200m) at Randwick in October.

“It is a bit of a relief to win because the second favourite’s 90-1, you tend to worry that you’re going to let everyone down, but he doesn’t does he?,” the trainer said.

“I’m really looking forward to giving him a break at Conghua, let him get his head down in those day paddocks and then before it gets really hot, he’ll come back into work and we’ll get a bit of that Aussie cash again, which will be nice.”

Hayes celebrated his third Chairman’s Sprint Prize victory following his success with Ka Ying Rising last year and Charming City in 2002. Purton moved to within one win of Basil Marcus’ record of five in the race.

Satono Reve battled on gamely for second on Sunday in his third career placing behind Ka Ying Rising. Raging Blizzard ran on strongly from last to grab third.

“He ran fantastic. Unfortunately he bumped into the best sprinter in the world and I just couldn’t be any happier with the way he ran, to be honest,” Satono Reve’s jockey Joao Moreira said.

Comments