If we are being honest, to the majority of racegoers, Ka Ying Rising’s unofficial jump-out was hardly anything to get excited about.
To the untrained eye there was little indication Ka Ying Rising would go on to become the fastest horse on the planet, a winner of $30 million in prizemoney, a Hong Kong hero – an international racing rock star – and the raging favourite for Saturday’s Everest at Royal Randwick.
Just before Christmas in 2022, a young Ka Ying Rising, then two years of age, went for a spin against four rivals in rural New Zealand.
The Levin track had seen better days, and the cows now living on the inside of the course almost outnumbered the locals.
On this gloomy morning, in the deep south on the north island, Ka Ying Rising was slow out of the gates. Local jockey Madan Singh, spotted in the video wearing a black and an orange cap, gets the gelding’s mind on the job down the back straight, before they coast to victory.
The 600m heats were designed to help educate horses before they progressed to barrier trials. Ka Ying Rising had plenty to learn, and ran with a “daisy-cutter” action, where the front feet barely come off the ground.
Bloodstock agent Michael Marais saw something in the horse, so he sent a clip to David Hayes, the champion Australian trainer who now calls Hong Kong home.
Little did Haynes know that the WhatsApp message was about to change his life.
“I just loved what I saw, and the ease in which he won,” Hayes said. “Michael recommended I buy the horse and told me he was worth taking a chance on, so I did. “I never get sick of talking about him.
“I’m 64 in a couple of weeks. I’m closer to the end than I am the start of my career. But at this stage of my life, I can appreciate what a champion is.
“To get one of the all-time greats, it’s fantastic; to have a horse at this level, he’s the gift that keeps giving.”
Ka Ying Rising was bred by New Zealander Fraser Auret, who trained the horse’s mother, Missy Moo, a $500 purchase and winner of five races.
Auret gets interviewed every time Ka Ying Rising prepares to race. He will tune into Randwick this weekend from a pub called The Rathole in a town named Bulls. True story.
“You’ll think I’m making that up, but I’m not,” Auret said.
Ka Ying Rising is chasing a 22nd consecutive win on Saturday when he starts favourite in the $20m Everest. It will be 1000 days since his last defeat.
There are a few untold stories about Ka Ying Rising during those early days when he arrived in Australia to be trained by Hayes’ sons, Will, Ben and JD.
Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed a syndicate bought the horse for about $150,000.
Within days of winning his first and only trial, gun jockey Blake Shinn was so impressed by what he had witnessed that he phoned Hayes, asking him to ride Ka Ying Rising whenever he debuted.
“Jockeys know which horses stand out – Ka Ying Rising was a bit like watching Andrew Johns play against the under-14s,” Hayes said.
The horse joined David in Hong Kong, and after a few impressive wins, was sold to billionaire property tycoon Leung Shek-kong.
The deal, according to the same sources, was worth about $500,000, including clauses that made sure those who were along for the journey early did not go without.
Hayes has been everywhere promoting the Everest, wearing Ka Ying Rising jackets and caps, and answering countless questions about the champ. The main query: can the horse handle the wet.
Had the rain stayed away, and the track remained dry, Hayes was eyeing a Randwick record.
“Had it been a ‘good four’, I was confident he could have broken the track record – that’s the kind of form he is in,” Hayes said.
Hayes sat down with this masthead at the Inglis Hotel in western Sydney this week to discuss all things racing and his life.
Like how he used to be a handy wingman for Central Districts in the South Australian Football League, and played with 1987 Brownlow Medallist John Platten.
How he would have happily moved into professional coaching or sports administration had racing not worked out.
How his late father, Hall of Fame trainer Colin Hayes, would be loving his son being in possession of such a fast horse, rather than jealous.
How his wife Prue was happy for their boys to pursue the horse caper, provided they completed their university studies first.
And how the couple plan to retire to the luxurious home they bought, courtesy of Ka Ying Rising, in the exclusive Sai Kung area in Hong Kong.
Hayes turns 64 in a few weeks, but feels younger. Maybe it is because he is always smiling and has had little reason to frown of late. He’s like a happy uncle. A rich, happy uncle.
He also felt no pressure to make sure Ka Ying Rising kept winning for the sake of appeasing the masses, including the thousands who had made the trek from Hong Kong to be trackside.
Legendary trainer Chris Waller would often feel physically ill and need a cup of green tea and a good lie-down whenever he thought about Winx, his mighty mare that won 33 races in a row, losing.
Hayes has enjoyed the wild ride since he won last year’s Everest.
“He’s been winning ‘exhibition gallops’ – there are group one races in Hong Kong where the second favourite will start at 50/1,” Hayes said.
“His first five wins were good, but not of a world champion. His last 15 wins have been that of a world champion. He’s broken five track records in five races without having the stick put on him.”
A superstitious Hayes will watch the Everest next to the Channel Seven commentary box, just as he did last year.
He will even wear the same brown suit he only dusts off each time Ka Ying Rising races. Prue is forever asking why her husband never wore navy, “or any other colour that was slimming”, before Ka Ying Rising went on his run.
Hayes saved his ultimate praise for jockey Zac Purton, the Sydneysider who has dominated the local riding ranks for a decade.
As Hayes says, “Zac absorbs pressure like no other jockey I’ve dealt with”.
Purton, like Hayes, was eager to put on a show had the rain stayed away from his old stomping ground.
“It hurts us a bit that Australia hasn’t seen the best of him,” Purton says.
“The quarantine has a large part to play in it. In Hong Kong, he marches around everywhere, he’s always on the go, there’s plenty happening, and it gets his adrenaline rushing through his body. By doing that, he’s doing a bit more work all the time.
“But you get to Australia, and every time I see him, it’s like he’s on a holiday. He’s so chilled and switched off, and he’s not getting the buzz every day he gets here.
“We really wanted him to go down there and do what he does here. We wanted people in Australia to properly appreciate what he’s capable of doing.”
Yes Yes Yes won the Everest in a sizzling 67.32 seconds, which remains the Randwick 1200m record. Ka Ying Rising ran 66.11 seconds at his last start.
No horse has broken 66 seconds over 1200m.
“His last run we opened him up at the top of the straight, then he eased down the final 75m,” Hayes said.
“It would be very hard to do, and you need the perfect conditions. If there is one horse that can do it, it’s him.
“I’d love him to keep going. And when it’s all over, he’ll have a holiday home, alongside Mr Brightside … the two of them will have a paddock together, and they can compare notes.”