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Up until this century, Hong Kong used to be something of a racing backwater, taking in second-hand horses from Australia and pushing them around their two tracks.<\/p>\n
But now it\u2019s a racing powerhouse, sourcing some of the best gallopers from anywhere, though still mostly Australia, holding many very lucrative international races, and housing some of the finest jockeys and trainers in the world.<\/p>\n
David Hayes, from the middle generation of an esteemed Australian racing family, is now based there, and trains Ka Ying Rising, who\u2019s won most of his races in effortless style.<\/p>\n
While European stayers are superior to Australia\u2019s, meaning the Brits, Irish and French are all too happy to come and tackle the Melbourne Cup, it\u2019s a different story with sprinters, since this country breeds the best in the world.<\/p>\n
The Everest and King Charles III trophies for 2025Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Only two foreigners have had a crack at The Everest, and they finished ninth and 12th (which, since we\u2019re civil hosts, is a nice way of saying \u201clast\u201d).<\/p>\n
But this time, it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n
Every now and then a horse comes along – just like humans might produce a Usain Bolt or an Ian Thorpe – who\u2019s put together in such a way that they\u2019re just better than anything else around.<\/p>\n
Think of the unbeaten sprinter Black Caviar – oh how her owners wish The Everest was around back then! – or of course the mighty 33-wins-in-a-row Winx.<\/p>\n
Ka Ying Rising appears to be one of those.<\/p>\n
Given he\u2019s the highest-rated sprinter on the globe, he\u2019s at the short, short odds of about $1.70 to win the 12-horse scamper at Sydney\u2019s Randwick racecourse, and some rivals feel they\u2019re competing to become the first of the losers (a less nice way of saying \u201csecond\u201d).<\/p>\n
Still, one good thing about horse racing is contained in its very title. It\u2019s a horse race, as the old saying goes, and so anything can happen. There\u2019s no such thing as a certainty in racing. And in fact the only certainties, just to put a smile on a hard-bitten punter\u2019s face, are death and taxes.<\/p>\n
Ka Ying Rising might win by panels of fencing, and just like in the Black Caviar days, it\u2019ll probably be an awesome sight to behold.<\/p>\n
Or something weird might happen.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n
Everest favourite impresses in trial | 03:29<\/p>\n
WHAT IS IT?<\/p>\n
The Everest, a 1200-metre sprint for a maximum field of 12 horses, around Randwick.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s held under weight-for-age conditions, the acknowledged drawcard for top-class gallopers, in which weights are allocated according to age rather than on form, as in handicaps like the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Females carry two kilos less than males in the same age bracket.<\/p>\n
And so, we have five-year-old gelding Ka Ying Rising, and seven other males aged four or more, with 58.5kg, three mares with 56.5kg, and a three-year-old filly (Tempted) with 51kg.<\/p>\n
As of last year, the race also earned the elite Group 1 status its creators craved, under the time-honoured pattern of ranking the world\u2019s best races under four tiers, from Group 1, 2 and 3 and on down to Listed class.<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S IT WORTH?<\/p>\n
As mentioned, $20 million. It\u2019s the world\u2019s richest race on grass (but of course the Saudis have a richer one on dirt, the Saudi Cup, worth around $30m).<\/p>\n
The Everest winner earns $7m, second takes $2.9m, and all six horses in the second half of the field take home their slot fee, which is $700,000. That means you could say the race is only worth a measly $15.8m.<\/p>\n
In fact, given the 12 slot holders tip in $8.4m, you could also say the prizemoney being offered by the race club is $11.6m. But who\u2019s quibbling?<\/p>\n
This money-fest also contributes $100,000 to the Jockey Welfare Fund, and $150,000 to the Equine Welfare Fund, to help look after horses and riders when they\u2019re old or injured.<\/p>\n
HOW\u2019S IT WORK?<\/p>\n
Copied from the land of all things glitzy and showbiz, the USA, The Everest has an unusual \u201cslot race\u201d entry fee structure.<\/p>\n
A person, or entity, can decide to become a slot holder, buying said slot for $700,000, which helps fund the whole thing. So while $700,000 is a lot for running last, it still represents a loss for slot owners, because\u2026<\/p>\n
Having bought in, slot holders will then invite a horse for filling their slot, and work out with its owners what sort of deal they\u2019ll make for sharing any spoils, sometimes 50-50, but more usually weighted towards the slot holder, the squillionaires making this possible.<\/p>\n
The said slot holders include breeding and racing industry giants such as Godolphin, Coolmore Stud, the TAB, and smaller concerns and individuals such as trainer Chris Waller. This year, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has teamed with the host Australian Turf Club to own the slot containing Ka Ying Rising.<\/p>\n
Since The Everest\u2019s 2017 inception, slot races have sprung up all over the place, across the three racing codes and of various descriptions and wacky names that make The Everest sound plain. They include The Quokka, The Sandgroper, The Nullarbor, The Race By Grins and The Go You Good Thing.<\/p>\n
No, I made that last one up. Sadly, not the others.<\/p>\n
WHEN\u2019S IT ON?<\/p>\n
Race 7 of 10 on the Randwick card, on Saturday at 4:15pm AEDT.<\/p>\n
WHERE CAN YOU WATCH IT?<\/p>\n
At the course of course, in Sydney\u2019s east, or on Channel 7, or Sky Racing. Foxsports.com.au will have and updates, including video soon after the race.<\/p>\n
MAIN PLOTLINES<\/p>\n
This is a great field of sprinters, and might be hailed as the most open Everest yet, but for the presence of Ka Ying Rising.<\/p>\n
But this is not really a case of Johnny Foreigner coming to take our jobs, err, our twenty million dollar races.<\/p>\n
He was bred in New Zealand, from pretty humble stock, and after a practice race or two was sold privately to Australia\u2019s esteemed Lindsay Park training stable.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s run in Victoria by three brothers in Ben, JD and Will Hayes, grandsons of the great Colin Hayes, who won literally dozens of trainers\u2019 premierships in Melbourne and Adelaide over a few decades starting in the 1950s.<\/p>\n
The three brothers gave their new young horse – then known as Mr Express – a couple of practice races in Victoria. They said words to the effect of \u2018Gee whiz – this thing goes alright\u2019, and then rang their dad, David, saying he\u2019d be well suited to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The horse went, got a name change to Ka Ying Rising, won his first race, ran second in his next two by the barest of margins, and has won all 13 since.<\/p>\n
People will flock to Randwick to see this very special horse gallop. And some rivals will be thrilled if they can run second to him. But it is in the corridor of glorious uncertainty that racing does some of its best work.<\/p>\n
Of KYR\u2019s 11 rivals, eight have won Group 1s, and they\u2019re headed by $7 chance Joliestar, an outstanding five-year-old mare who\u2019s won thrice at the top level.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s trained by the mighty Waller, and races in the slot he owns, while Waller also trains two other gun chances in the race. Lady Shenandoah, at $13, runs in the slot owned by poultry baron and big-time breeder John Camilleri, the man who bred Winx. And four-year-old stallion Angel Capital, at $17, is an up-and-comer who\u2019s in the slot of James Harron, a heavyweight player in the worlds of owning and breeding horses.<\/p>\n
Briasa, at $13, runs for a quartet of breeders and is a powerful sprinter and the hope of those who like greys, while $15 shot Tempted, the only three-year-old in the race, runs for her owners – the Godolphin racing conglomerate of Dubai\u2019s ruler Sheikh Mohammed. She gets in on the tiny weight of 51kg, and has drawn the coveted inside starting gate.<\/p>\n
And those Hayes brothers have a $15 shot with a chance of toppling their old man in War Machine, who runs in the slot of breeding giants Coolmore and has won his past four starts, and very impressively.<\/p>\n
FIRST WINNER<\/p>\n
Redzel, in 2017<\/p>\n
LAST WINNER<\/p>\n
Bella Nipotina, in 2023<\/p>\n
FASTEST WINNER<\/p>\n
Yes Yes Yes, 2019 1:07.32 (still Randwick\u2019s 1200m track record)<\/p>\n
FORECAST: Sunny and partly cloudy, with a top of 21 degrees. The track was a soft 5 on Wednesday but should get into the good range on Saturday.<\/p>\n
OTHER MAJOR RACES ON THE UNDERCARD (all times AEDT)<\/p>\n
The King Charles III Stakes – Race 9, 5.35pm. A weight-for-age Group 1 worth $5 million. It\u2019s actually the time-honoured George Main Stakes, now named after the King. This year, it\u2019s to be run over the true mile – 1609m – instead of the metrics standard 1600m, for some reason of quirkiness and gimmickry, and to give contestants no hope of breaking the more standard 1600m record. Anyway, it\u2019s a beauty. Top chances include British raider Lake Forest, who came here to raid our $10m second-richest race, the Golden Eagle, last spring. There\u2019s also Chris Waller\u2019s Fangirl, his second-best mare after Winx, and a winner of four G1s, plus crowd favourites Pride Of Jenni – the one that gets out to huge leads and often hangs on – and the enduring Mr Brightside, still winning Group 1s aged eight. There\u2019s also Tom Kitten (his dad\u2019s called Harry Angel), and Gringotts, which sounds like an affliction of the ear, but is also a very good six-year-old gelding.<\/p>\n
The Kosciuszko (the mini-Everest, if you will) – Race 5, 2.50pm. A set-weights race for country-trained horses, aged three or older, over 1200m, and worth $2 million. Might nine-year-old Goulburn veteran Front Page win it, to go with his two past victories and a second place last year? Or will it be the Dubbo-trained Gallant Star, half-owned by Fox Sports\u2019 own cricket commentator, raconteur and bizarre laugher, Kerry \u201cSkull\u201d O\u2019Keeffe, and who has unparalleled colours of black with a hot pink skeletal skull.<\/p>\n
The Silver Eagle – Race 8, 4.50pm. A 1300m event worth a million bucks for four-year-olds; a warm-up for The Golden Eagle in a couple of weeks. It features favourite Linebacker, and equal second faves Sabaj and Gerringong.<\/p>\n
The Sydney Stakes – Group 3, Race 6, 3:25pm. A weight-for-age race for three-year-olds and upwards over 1200m. Even though it\u2019s worth $2m, it\u2019s something of a consolation for sprinters not going to the Everest. In fact, four of its entrants are the four Everest emergencies sweating on a run in the feature if something else is scratched. Watch for last-start winner Disneck, trained by the popular Bjorn Baker, and named after that unfortunate American gymnast who used to crash into the vaulting horse every week on Wide World Of Sports, Rick Disneck.<\/p>\n
THE EVEREST FIELD<\/p>\n
1. KA YING RISING (Barrier 7) 58.5kg Approx odds: $1.70 win\/$1.11 place<\/p>\n