Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising confirmed his status as the world’s #1 racehorse with a devastating display on Saturday [Oct 18] as he took his triumphant show on the road to Australia in the world’s richest turf race, the Everest.
Dismissing suggestions that he was only a hometown hero, the five-year-old extended his winning streak to 14 races with a consummate effort in the A$20m ($13m/£9.72m) contest to score eased down by a length and a quarter over Tempted.
In the process, he extended his stint at #1 on Thoroughbred Racehorse Commentary’s Global Rankings to a 26th week with a 46pt boost.
Both trainer David Hayes (#16 from #22, +49pt) and jockey Zac Purton (#8 from #10, +41pt) declared the Randwick success as the highlight of their decorated careers.
“He’s a special horse,” said eight-time Hong Kong champ Purton. “I don’t think we saw him at his best today but even not at his best, he’s still good enough.”
Indeed he is, for this was a remarkable display away from home. Remember, the doubters were out in force when Ka Ying Rising posted a downbeat barrier trial on his arrive in Sydney, and there were even rumours – admittedly, dismissed as “fake news” by connections – that he might not even run.
Well, they certainly looked like fake news on Saturday as Ka Ying Rising dismantled the cream of the Aussie sprinting crop. Sent off even-money – the first time since March 2024 that he wasn’t odds-on – the gelding was imperious as he became the first overseas horse to win the Everest.
After sitting third, he claimed the lead inside the final furlong before comfortably holding off pursuers. “He got a little edgy in the gates but to his credit he still began well and we had a beautiful run in the race,” reported Purton, who said it was the “biggest moment” of his career.
“Overpass skipped clear but to my horse’s credit he got moving and chased him down and we just coasted to the line after that,” he added.
Ka Ying Rising’s career record now stands at 15 wins from 17 starts, while his 14-race win streak isn’t far off the Hong Kong record of fellow champions Silent Witness (17) and Golden Sixty (16).
“It was an absolute thrill and I can’t wait to watch the replay and enjoy it,” said Hayes. “It’s a long straight, Randwick, when you hit the front, but I think he held on pretty well.”
Plans were immediately nominated to return in 12 months’ time, but the Hong Kong Sprint on Decmeber 14 offers a more adjacent target. As might be imagined, Royal Ascot are also making noises.
On a massive weekend in Australia, Ceolwulf (#50 from #131, +164pt) completed back-to-back successes as he beat ten-time G1 winner Mr Brightside in the G1 King Charles III Stakes (ex-George Main) on the Everest card at Randwick. Trainer Joseph Pride (#46 from #69, +64pt) moves in the Top 50 for trainers.
Although the Melbourne Spring Carnival is now in full swing, the Caulfield Cup was to a degree overshadowed by events in Sydney. Only to a degree, however, as the winner Half Yours (#47 from #199, +164pt) is vying for Melbourne Cup favouritism after a well-backed success under Jamie Melham (née Kah), the world’s highest-rated female rider at #33 (from #38, +26pt).
The annual QIPCO-sponsored British Champions Day card at Ascot produced more than its share of shock results across five G1s. However, the ‘right’ horses were to the fore in the main event, the Champion Stakes, as King George winner Calandagan (#2 from #4, +180pt) proved himself the top dog in the middle-distance division in no uncertain terms with an emphatic verdict over top-class rival Ombudsman (#8 from #9, +76pt).
This was a blockbuster renewal, also featuring Irish Champion Stakes winner Delacroix and his predecessor in landing Ireland’s most prestigious race in the shape of Economics.
In short, this is likely to be regarded as the strongest race of the year in Europe – and Calandagan looks a future world #1 after completing a G1 hat-trick with a clear-cut victory by 2¼ lengths to put the cherry on the cake of a golden season for Arc-winning trainer Francis-Henri Graffard (stays at #7, +31pt) and the Aga Khan Studs operation (stays at #4, +48pt).
Graffard commented: “Calandagan is a fantastic horse and we're lucky to have very nice horses this year who can compete at the top level, so I was able to give him a break before preparing him for this. He arrived in top form and is a real champion.
“I was thinking of the Japan Cup for him next, but that's a tough race to win so we will see how he is and discuss it with the team.”
Either way, great things can be expected in 2026, given that the son of Gleneagles is a gelding who has now shown his aptitude at the top level at both a mile and a quarter as well as a mile and a half. It feels almost embarrassing to remind ourselves that it wasn’t all that long ago that his resolution was under question after a string of second places.
Ombudsman, who had a wide trip around the home turn, is also set to stay in training. Good news all round for those of us who like racehorses to race rather than pro-create prematurely.
John & Thady Gosden (stays at #8, +11) may have suffered a reverse as the training duo behind Ombudsman but earlier they had few worries with leading stayer Trawlerman (#9 from #24, +165pt), who gave odds-on supporters little to worry about in the British Champions Long-Distance Cup.
Star filly Kalpana (#21 from #85, +205pt) erased the memory of a below-par Arc run when scoring for the first time in almost precisely 12 months in the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes but that is where the logical results end.
And we can’t even blame the ground for the 200-1 success of Powerful Glory (new at #318)in the G1 British Champions Sprint as the going at Ascot was officially described as ‘good’ for this end-of-season shindig – and it was clearly better than it usually is.
The three-year-old winner, trained by the estimable Richard Fahey (#172) under Ascot straight-track specialist Jamie Spencer (#202), had finished last of five on his previous outing following a wind operation in a Beverley conditions race. With hindsight, I think we can probbaly regard that as a ‘pipe-opener’!
For the record, in a season in which 150-1 shot Qirat had stolen the Sussex Stakes, this was the biggest-priced winner of a G1 race in racing history. “I’m lost for words,” said the winning jockey, and he wasn’t the only one.
As such, the 100-1 success of Cicero’s Gift (#162) in a 16-runner Queen Elizabeth II Stakes about 80 minutes later under Jason Watson (#229) could almost be regarded as predictable.
But not really – as his popular trainer Charlie Hills (#263pt) admitted. “It's amazing,” he said. “I'm speechless to be honest with you. We were hoping for some rain but that obviously didn't come!”
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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.