Photo: Hong Kong Jockey Club
New Zealand has been synonymous with producing quality middle-distance and staying thoroughbreds, but now it can lay claim to the best sprinter on the planet after Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) took out the Gr.1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The Kiwi-bred gelding has been a dominant force since making his debut in Hong Kong in December last year, posting eight wins from his 10 prior starts, including three at Group level, and he was duly backed into $1.10 favouritism for Sunday’s sprint feature.
However, things didn’t go to script for the son of Windsor Park Stud stallion Shamexpress, who was slow away and jockey Zac Purton had to get busy on the four-year-old early to make up the deficit, urging him forward to sit outside California Spangle.
He was quickly met on the outside by Victor The Winner, who continued to apply pressure throughout, but Purton kept a cool head and sat quietly on Ka Ying Rising until the 300m mark where he asked his charge for his best, and he quickly responded.
The David Hayes-trained gelding put several lengths on his rivals in a few bounds, but the pressure from the middle stages began to tell and Helios Express and Satono Reve began to close late. However, Ka Ying Rising was able to call on his brilliance to hold on for a half-length victory, much to the delight of his adoring Hong Kong fans.
While they were in full voice as Ka Ying Rising thundered down the Sha Tin straight, back in Marton, New Zealand, his breeder Fraser Auret was also at full volume when cheering him home.
Group One success is nothing new to Auret, who has posted multiple elite-level victories as a trainer, but he was over the moon to add Group One-winning breeder to his name on Sunday.
“It was a massive thrill,” he said. “It is just one of those joys and it has been a fairytale.”
That fairytale began five years ago when Auret decided to head into the breeding game and he struck gold at this first attempt, resulting in the now Group One sprinting sensation.
Fresh off the victory, Auret said winning a Group One as breeder gave him the same rush as his Group One victories as a trainer.
“It gives you the same euphoria,” he said. “It was the same sort of pride there as when we trained our first Group One winner.
“At that elite-level, we all know how hard it is to get there and the journey that is involved.
“It seems like it was just the other day that we turned up in the truck at Windsor Park to pick him up as a foal. It has been really fantastic all the way through.”
While proud of producing the world’s best sprinter, the ever-humble Auret said he is delighted to continue New Zealand’s proud breeding record on the global stage and help change the narrative that it can also produce world-class sprinters.
“We (New Zealand) have always punched well above our weight in terms of results, and we haven’t necessarily been looked at as producers of top sprinters, but there you go,” he said.
Auret is also hoping Ka Ying Rising’s success can entice more Kiwis to enter the thoroughbred breeding industry and help bolster the foal crop.
“Our foal crop has dwindled a fair bit in recent years here in New Zealand. I just hope that this is a good advertisement (to breed),” he said.
“With the smaller foal crop, I think it is actually a wonderful time for anyone to get involved in our industry.”
Ka Ying Rising was raised and educated at Auret’s Marton property, and he is proud that a product of provincial New Zealand has made it to the peak of world racing.
“From Marton to the big smoke, it is really that pinch yourself moment,” he said.
Ka Ying Rising left a strong impression on Auret from the moment he laid eyes on him as a foal when picking him up from Windsor Park Stud, near Cambridge, with his family, and their initial impression of the horse has now come to fruition.
“We still laugh with the kids because the day that we went to pick him up he was running around the paddock like a mad thing and our middle son, Oscar, said ‘Dad, we better call him Rocket because he is running around the paddock so fast’. As it turns out, he really is a rocket,” Auret said.
While Auret lost Ka Ying Rising’s dam Missy Moo a couple of seasons ago, he still has plenty to look forward to with her only other progeny, Ka Ying Glory, who is making an early impression on trainer David Hayes in Hong Kong.
“He (Ka Ying Glory) was a magnificent horse, and it is such a shame that we lost the mare so early in the piece,” he said.
“In saying that, I have always said that horse welfare is first and foremost and as she got more and more pregnant with Ka Ying Glory, she was getting lamer and lamer with the arthritis that she had in her back leg (and ultimately had to be euthanised).
“Obviously, he (Ka Ying Glory) has got big shoes to fill but he will certainly leave his mark because he never put a foot wrong and showed a tremendous amount of ability as well.”
The son of Letham Stud principals Nigel and Adaire Auret, thoroughbred breeding was a focal point of Auret’s formative years, and while he elected to go down the training path, he said he has now well and truly caught the breeding bug, and his broodmare band has quickly grown.
“I have watched Mum and Dad be quite successful in the breeding arena over a 40-year span. One of their earlier bred horses (Pompeii Pearl) went on to win a Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, so I have certainly seen the better side of breeding,” he said.
“It (breeding) is a long timeframe and investment before you know what you have got. In saying that, it is safe to say that I am being converted pretty quickly.
“We have got five mares that have gone to stud this year, so we have certainly gone on from the one mare we started with.”
Auret is hoping Ka Ying Rising can continue on his upward trajectory and quickly add to his elite-level tally, with his trainer David Hayes now eyeing the Gr.1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) at Sha Tin next month before possibly looking to extend his charge over a mile.
“We will see how he pulls up, but the initial one (target) will be the Group One sprint in late January, six weeks between runs, and after that we will make the decision on whether we go for the mile or not,” Hayes said
