This may be hard to believe, but Ka Ying Rising has been defeated for the first time after running up a 21-race winning streak.
The 6-year-old gelding, considered the world’s best sprinter and rated No. 1 in the Longine’s World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, came up a neck short against Tempted in the $13.9 million (AU$20 million) The Everest (G1) at Randwick in New South Wales, Australia.
The upset came in the world’s richest turf race -- run at 1,200 meters (about 7 ½ furlongs) -- and marked his first loss since February 2024 in Hong Kong.
It may have been an outside post 11 that hurt his chances as jockey Zac Purton was unable to get Ka Ying Rising into his comfort zone near the speedier horses closer to the front. Meanwhile, Tempted, under Chad Schofield, took advantage from the inside post, made the lead in the straight and barely held off Ka Ying Rising, who won this race last year by 1 ¼ lengths over Godolphin-owned Tempted.
“He settled a bit further back and wider than I hoped.The winner got a dream run and put five lengths on him, and he got beaten a head,” Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes said.
“Sometimes 11 can be a bonus, but he got caught wide. The first and third horses cut the corner and really had dream runs, and we had a horror [run] being six-wide, no cover. But he was brave, and I love the way he finished, but I hate the result.”
Ka Ying Rising will return to Hong Kong to run in next month’s Jockey Club Sprint (G2) and the Hong Kong Sprint (G1). Hayes added the nine-time Grade 1 winner “hopefully might come back next year” to avenge Saturday’s loss. Tempted, meanwhile, extended her winning streak to six in a row since last year’s loss to Ka Ying Rising.
Schofield, who used to ride in Hong Kong, said: “I normally just ride her to relax and trust her to be far too good late. But it was a different race today. We had the world’s best sprinter, the world’s best horse. I had eyes for him, and I knew he wasn’t up there, and I held my spot and kept him deep ... I hit the front very early, a long way out. But she’s such a good horse, she’s so brave and so game.”
Ka Ying Rising, a two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year, is now 24-22-2-0 with earnings of $22.5 million. The horse is owned by the Ka Ying Syndicate, headed by Hong Kong billionaire property developer Leung Shek-kong.
In other notable racing results: Godolphin struck more gold at the Champions Cup on Saturday at Ascot: Ombudsman pulled away for a 3 ¼-length win over Calandagan and Talk of New York won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G2).
Trainer John Gosden mentioned the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Keeneland in two weeks is a possibility for Ombudsman. Either that or retirement to stud following a sensation career of 10 wins (five Grade 1s) and three seconds in 14 career starts and earnings of $7.4 million.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
