Ka Ying Rising is best of the best

World's top-ranked sprinter conquers The Everest; Half Yours prevails in Caulfield Cup

SYDNEY Ka Ying Rising, the Hong Kong superstar and world's highest-rated racehorse, underlined his champion status with an Everest victory for the ages on Oct 18.

After a build-up that included a controversial barrier trial defeat and injury rumours, the David Hayes-trained sprinter did his talking on the track.

He accounted for the elite field to the roar of a packed house of more than 50,000 at Randwick.

Winning jockey Zac Purton did much of his early riding in Sydney before becoming a legend in Hong Kong. The Australian jockey said Ka Ying Rising deserved similar status.

"It has been the biggest build-up to a race that I have ever been involved in," said Purton, who snared a double with the Robert Heathcote-trained Rothfire ($81) in the Group 3 Sydney Stakes (1,200m) one race earlier.

"He is a special horse. I wanted it for the horse's legacy more than mine.

"I've got my career and these things help to that, but this is his moment and his time and I wanted him to be respected for the ability I know he's got."

Purton, an eight-time Hong Kong champion jockey, has won more races than any other jockey in Hong Kong's history, but rated his triumph in the A$20 million (S$16.8) The Everest (1,200m) his greatest achievement.

"It is probably the pinnacle of my career to a certain degree, especially the stage that I'm at and on this type of horse. I appreciate the moment," he said.

Trainer David Hayes was thrilled to pull off the coup. He admitted he would have been devastated to go home without The Everest trophy.

He was concerned with how Ka Ying Rising would handle the occasion, but when the horse did not turn a hair, he knew he was on his game.

"I would have been shattered if he lost today, truth be known, when he was calm an hour before the race," said the Hong Kong-based Australian handler.

"There was no sweat between his legs. He was perfect and that made me feel quietly confident.

"There is more to come with this horse. This is certainly the biggest thrill in my life, and it has been the longest 10 days in my life."

It was a full circle moment for Hayes, who, in 1990, won the Japan Cup with Better Loosen Up when training in Australia. Now, he is writing history after Ka Ying Rising became the first overseas-trained horse to win the world's richest race on turf.

"He (Better Loosen Up) was the last world champion horse I trained, and this is the next one," he said. "A lot of good horses in between, but these are the two stars."

Sent off as the favourite at $7, the Shamexpress five-year-old camped off the speed and surged to the front halfway up the straight to beat trainer Ciaron Maher's two gallopers into minor placings.

Filly Tempted (Craig Williams) finished 1¼ lengths behind, while her stablemate Jimmysstar (Ethan Brown) ran a game third.

Owned by the Ka Ying Syndicate, Ka Ying Rising has now won 15 races from 17 starts, including eight Group races.

Trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy combined with Jamie Melham and Half Yours to take out one of the biggest races on the Australian racing calendar - the A$5 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2,400m) - on Oct 18.

When the St Jean five-year-old commenced his spring campaign, the father-and-son training team had aspirations of a Group 1 race in Sydney.

Half Yours was aimed at the Group 1 The Metropolitan (2,400m) at Randwick on Oct 4, after his Listed win in July and a spell in the warmer climate.

But, when he was made an emergency runner in the Group 3 Kingston Town Stakes (2,000m) in Sydney on Sept 20, the McEvoys' decided to put the stayer on the truck and send him to Melbourne to run in the Naturalism Stakes (2,000m) at Caulfield that same day.

Half Yours won that Group 3 event, and a subsequent fourth in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2,000m) on Oct 4 pushed the gelding to the top of the Caulfield Cup markets.

Ridden by Melham, the $11 favourite scored by a long neck from River Of Stars (Beau Mertens) with Valiant King (Jye McNeil) another length away in third.

Tony McEvoy said Half Yours matured after the trip away to Queensland in the middle of 2025.

"He's come a long way in six months, this fellow, hasn't he? And travelling really grows horses up, as he was a big raw horse," he said.

"I was so happy in the run, and then mid-race when that horse (Adelaide River) took off, I thought this is not ideal because if someone panics, it dishevels everything.

"But then he got into his rhythm and did the rest."

It was Melham's 17th win at Group 1 level, but her first in one of the major races.

"I just wanted to give him the best ride I could because I knew he was the best horse in the race," she said.

"Just saying Caulfield Cup is going to make me cry. I've had an incredible career and ridden 17 Group 1s now, but that major has obviously eluded me, and I just wanted to get one.

"Now I want more, maybe a Melbourne Cup and this horse is going to run that trip out." RACING AND SPORTS

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