Hong Kong racing has lacked standout performers recently. Golden Sixty is retired. Romantic Warrior carries the flag not only as Hong Kong’s best, but as Hong Kong’s only horse anywhere near the top of international ratings. The jurisdiction could use a rising star – and has one named Ka Ying Rising.
Ka Ying Rising has won eight of 10, and what’s remarkable is that he twice went down to defeat. Winner in a pair of Group 2s this fall, Ka Ying Rising makes his Group 1 debut Sunday at Sha Tin in the $3.34 million Hong Kong Sprint.
Few expect him to find the water too deep. Ka Ying Rising might be the shortest-priced favorite on Sunday’s entire race card while facing 13 rivals. Not among them is the American horse Nobals, who shipped to Hong Kong but got sick and was withdrawn from the Sprint. Ka Ying Rising breaks from post 11 in the 1,200-meter Sprint, but Zac Purton ought to have plenty of time to take a position with Ka Ying Rising, and with a horse this talented, sacrificing some ground loss for a clean trip is the way to go.
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“It feels like he is only going three-quarter, half pace,” Purton said. “He is certainly a different horse to sit on than all the rest of them.”
Trained by David Hayes, Ka Ying Rising took two narrow losses last season to a horse named Wunderbar, a talent in his own right. In his last six wins, no one has come close to him.
In September, his first start after a break, Ka Ying Rising won a Class 1 handicap by 1 1/4 lengths, giving 20 pounds to runner-up Beauty Waves, a Hong Kong Sprint entrant.
In the Group 2 Premier Bowl Handicap in October, Ka Ying Rising gave 13 pounds to second-place Helios Express, beaten 1 1/2 lengths. Third that day under 135 pounds was multiple Group 1 winner Californiaspangle, who came back Nov. 17 in the Jockey Club Sprint with a flat eighth-place finish. Ka Ying Rising, Purton barely asking, won that race by 3 1/4 lengths, his 1,200-meter clocking of 1:07.43 a Sha Tin record.
Lugal, one of three Japan shippers, won the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes in his most recent outing, while Starlust scored a prominent victory capturing the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Based in England with trainer Ralph Beckett, Starlust had been second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint a year earlier, those California starts showing the 3-year-old suits firm-ground sprinting around a bend. That’s what he’ll get Sunday, but in Ka Ying Rising, Starlust – and everyone else – might be getting more than they can handle.
Mile
In many renewals of the Hong Kong International Races, the Hong Kong Mile has outclassed the supposed feature, the Hong Kong Cup. Golden Sixty won three Miles, most recently last year’s, the latest in a line of excellent milers following Beauty Generation and, further back, Good Ba Ba, another three-time Mile winner.
A year ago, Voyage Bubble ran what was, at the time, the best race of his career, finishing second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Golden Sixty, in the Mile. Sunday’s renewal lacks star power – to the extent that Voyage Bubble will vie for favoritism with 6-year-old Japan shipper Soul Rush, fourth in the 2023 Mile.
The $4.63 million Mile, technically 1,600 meters, is run around one turn and drew a full field of 14.
Voyage Bubble followed his second in the Mile with a win in the Group 1 Stewards Cup, then ended his campaign with four losses, including starts in Dubai and Japan. He makes his third start of the season and exits a workmanlike victory Nov. 17 in the Jockey Club Mile, where, despite breaking from the widest post in a nine-runner field, Voyage Bubble pulled a perfect pressing trip.
Six-year-old Soul Rush in his most recent race captured his first Group 1, the Championship Mile, and did so with a flourish, winning by 2 1/2 lengths.
From France comes Ramadan, a 3-year-old Christopher Head-trained miler who has improved throughout the season but only approached the Group 1 level. Ramadan, the mount of Ryan Moore, never has raced on turf firmer than good-to-soft.
Vase
Luxembourg would have a great chance to win the $3.08 million Hong Kong Vase over 2,400 meters if he ran back to his performance a year ago in Hong Kong, where he nearly upset Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup, but recent performances strongly suggest that won’t happen. Luxembourg followed up a pair of sixth-place finishes in Europe with a dull sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and there is much stronger form than that in the 13-runner Vase.
Without A Fight, a 7-year-old Australian warrior, beat 22 winning the 2023 Melbourne Cup over two miles, and in his first start since finished third Nov. 9 behind the excellent Via Sistina in the 1 1/2-mile Champions Stakes at Flemington.
Five-year-old Giavellotto, improving all season, is a Group 2 winner over 1 3/4 miles; Iresine comes out of a solid fourth in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot; and Dubai Honour should find the Vase more to his liking than last year’s Hong Kong Cup, where he checked in seventh.
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