The Sha Tin crowd watches history as Ka Ying Rising and Zac Purton score an 18th consecutive win by taking out the G1 Queen’s Jubilee Cup. (Image: HKJC)
David Hayes believes Ka Ying Rising’s extraordinary dominance can continue indefinitely after the world’s premier sprinter demolished quality opposition to post a Hong Kong‑record 18th successive victory — and a course record — in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Stretching beyond Silent Witness’ longstanding mark of 17, Ka Ying Rising stopped the clock at 1:19.36 to slash the previous 1400m benchmark of 1:19.92. Sitting second from barrier three behind Copartner Prance, he cruised into the straight, put the race to bed at the 400m and surged clear to score by three and a half lengths from Helios Express, with Lucky Sweynesse another one and a quarter lengths away in third.
Improving his overall record to 19 wins from 21 starts, the five‑year‑old’s unbeaten run since February 2024 now features eight Group 1s — the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (2024 & 2025), Centenary Sprint Cup (2025 & 2026), The Everest (2025), Chairman’s Sprint Prize (2025) and now back‑to‑back Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cups (2025 & 2026).
The stunning nature of Ka Ying Rising’s latest victory prompted Hayes to declare that the five‑year‑old could sustain his current level of excellence for the next 18 months, fitness permitting.
“If we can place him conservatively, we hope to have him for another couple of seasons, that’s really exciting,” Hayes said.Â
“He loves a month between runs, so we’ll probably go for the (G2) Sprint Cup (1200m) next (on 6 April) and then we don’t have to train him too hard and babysit him into the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m on 26 April).
“Hopefully we can get another clean sweep of the season again with The Everest in the middle.
“He’s more composed than ever, he’s changing legs and you can’t ask for much more than he’s doing. He’s breaking track records and his last three runs; he’d have broken the track record if Zac had let him go.
“He jumped so well (today) and cruised through the bend beautifully – at the 300m, I could really enjoy it. I could tell he had the race in command. Zac went for him a bit more than he normally does and rode to instructions, which was good.
🗣️ “…a huge relief!”Â
David Hayes chats following the smashing win of Ka Ying Rising in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup at Sha Tin… 🏆@WorldPool | #SpeedSeries | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/A7VtoCxDMy
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) February 22, 2026
“I’ve trained a lot of horses that have gone 742 days without winning, so to continuously win for 742 days is mind‑numbing. It’s two and a half years and the thing people don’t realise is that he was the (equal) youngest horse in the race today. They always think he’s the big boy bashing them up, but he’s actually the baby.
“It’s a huge relief. I didn’t think the team could have had him better for today and I was confident that if the track was riding fast, he could break the (track) record. I didn’t want Zac sitting up in the last 100m, I said to him ‘let him run through the post and we’ll see how strong he is at 1400m’. He’s just a star.
“I just thought for his worldwide ratings, I wanted Zac to let him go today and hopefully he can keep climbing up that incredible ladder that he’s going up. When you’ve got a horse as good as him, he’s the one everyone will be comparing the next big horse too.”