There’s a new head honcho in town – and he’s Hong Kong sprint superstar Ka Ying Rising, who is the new world #1 on Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s Global Rankings.
In taking his winning streak to 12 with another dominant victory over a world-class field of 12 rivals in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin on Sunday [April 27], the brilliant four-year-old takes over from his HK compatriot Romantic Warrior at the top of the charts.
Ka Ying Rising (#1 from #2, +133pt) duly becomes the 25th individual horse to top the list since we started compiling racehorse rankings in 2014. He is the third HK-based horse to reach #1 after Golden Sixty, who had ten weeks at the summit altogether, and Romantic Warrior, whose extended and deserved stint at the top comes to an end after a total of 40 weeks.
World #1s since 2014
Ka Ying Rising is a thoroughly worthy world leader. His best TRC Computer Race Rating of 132 (now achieved three times) puts him in a tie for eighth place for the highest such marks ever achieved – a list in which the great Frankel leads the way with 143 ahead of Flightline (141).
Ka Ying’s Rising current portfolio of 2243pt gives him a comfortable margin ahead of Romantic Warrior (2146pt), whose status has been compromised by a couple of luckless defeats in Saudi and Dubai.
Ka Ying Rising gets to the top after a scintillating performance that left Sha Tin race caller Tom Wood exclaiming: “He’s the Usain Bolt of the equine world!”
Always in control in the HK$22m ($2.8m/£2.1m) contest, Ka Ying Rising completed a clean sweep of the Hong Kong Speed Series to claim a HK$5m bonus for his connections.
Having stalked the speed, the NZ-bred gelding went on to score in effortless style, winning eased down under a motionless Zac Purton by 2¼ lengths from Japanese visitor Satono Reve (#13 from #23, +61pt), who holds a Royal Ascot entry.
It was a fourth G1 win for the David Hayes trainee, who clocked 1m7.88s for the 1,200 metres. So certain were punters of Ka Ying Rising’s supremacy that he was sent off a 1-20 shot. He also equalled the HK record of eight wins in a single season, joining Beauty Generation (2018-19) and Lucky Sweynesse (2022-23).
Highest TRC Race Ratings
“What more can you say?” commented seven-time HK champion Zac Purton (#7 from #8, + 43pt). “Every time you come out here, he produces something special and he did that again today and he didn't even change his leg. He puts them away very quickly.”
Next up for Ka Ying Rising is another world to conquer as he will target the Everest, the world’s richest turf race at Randwick in Sydney on October 18. “He's getting better and better,” added Purton. “He can have a break now and the next one is the big one. He's had a long season, he's been exceptional all the way through and it's a good way to finish it.”
Elsewhere on the FWD Champions Day card at Sha Tin, unheralded 90-1 longshot Red Lion (#107 from #699, +302pt) touched off odds-on favourite Voyage Bubble (#9 from #6, -17pt) in the Champions Mile. The winner was originally trained in Ireland, where he ran as Fiach McHugh for trainer Andrew Slattery, winning a Dundalk maiden and a handicap at the Curragh.
The carded highlight at Sha Tin, the FWD QEII Cup, went to Japan as Tastiera (returns at #40) led home a one-two for the nation ahead of favoured Prognosis. The winner is yet another feather in the cap for the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), which must surely now rate as the world’s premier middle-distance Classic in terms of pure quality.
Now five, Tastiera won the Yushun in 2023, with impressive Dubai Sheema Classic winner Danon Decile scoring in 2024. Other winners since 2020 are former world #1 Contrail, multiple G1 winner Shahryar and Do Deuce, who beat the great Equinox three years ago before landing back-to-back wins in the prestigious Arima Kinen. Not a bad list by anyone’s reckoning.
Meanwhile, King George winner Goliath (returns at #21) was an outpaced disappointment in the QEII Cup, albeit short of room and hampered in the straight before weakening to ninth. He wants further if he is to make his mark on the global stage.
Several more big European names can be expected to return to the rankings in the coming weeks after their winter break. This week their number is headed by the fabulous Kyprios (returns at #6), who began his seven-year-old campaign in typical fashion with a workmanlike victory in the Vintage Crop Stakes, a Listed race over a mile and six at Navan.
Frankly, he always wins this race (also scored in 2022 and 2024), and if a two-length verdict over staying-on Enfranchise isn’t going to make any headlines, it has been the springboard to unblemished seasons in the past. “He only does what he has to do,” said Aidan O’Brien.
Kyprios will now follow his usual path to Royal Ascot – where he will bid for a third Gold Cup – via the Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown. He is simply untouchable in the stayers’ division, having won eight in a row; such is his overall record that he had a four-week stint as world #1 last autumn. The prospect of a tilt at the Arc this year remains a tantalising possibility.
Also back for more is French star Sosie (returns at #29), who held off fast-finishing Map Of Stars in the Prix Ganay, the first G1 event of the European season at Longchamp on Sunday [April 27]. This was a fine effort after a 203-day absence, dropping back in trip versus a talented rival with race-fitness advantage. The King George beckons.
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• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.