![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/R7-Ka-Ying-Rising-NZ-ridden-by-Zac-Purton_1217215_Courtney_-1024x584.jpg\")
KA YING RISING \/ G1 The Everest \/\/ Randwick Racecourse \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Grant Courtney<\/p>\nAt 2.07pm local time, a Hong Kong horse walked off a truck parked at Royal Randwick for a date with destiny. A horde of television cameras and camera phones were waiting, red buttons and fingers at the ready.<\/p>\n
Did he really arrive at the course if no one was there to record it? Lights, camera, Ka-Ching.<\/p>\n
As he shimmied down the ramp and onto the ground, the local Australian media and a mass Hong Kong contingent captured every moment. It was only 30 seconds later when everyone realised things were not what they seemed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not Ka Ying Rising,\u201d an Australian Turf Club official sheepishly alerted camera crews.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d instead been filming the Hong Kong superstar\u2019s travelling companion, Ka Ying Cheer, whose presence in Sydney has been equally crucial and completely anonymous, except for the moment when everyone thought he was the red carpet arrival.<\/p>\n
In the saddling stalls where horses are stationed before racing at Royal Randwick, they didn\u2019t even have Ka Ying Cheer\u2019s name flashing up on the electronic semaphore. It was just 117. Ka Ying Rising was allocated 118, his name beaming in bright lights above the bay, although for the hundreds camped outside the public exhibition, a chance to catch him in the flesh was brief.<\/p>\n
With the media awakening to their erroneous ways, they had to rush to film the real Ka Ying Rising when he finally emerged, and for the next couple of hours, Hong Kong\u2019s national hero was walked relentlessly away from the crowds before ambling to victory in the A$20 million G1 The Everest on Saturday.<\/p>\n
KA YING RISING \/ G1 The Everest \/\/ Randwick Racecourse \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Grant Courtney<\/p>\n
At the essence of sport is champions being taken out of their comfort zone. If trainer David Hayes and the Hong Kong Jockey Club decided not to travel with Ka Ying Rising for the world\u2019s richest turf race and The Everest was won by another Australian sprinter, it still would have been a great event because of what The Everest has morphed into. No one would have thought less of Ka Ying Rising, who already had 13 straight wins and had Hayes gushing about his \u201cBlack Caviar-like\u201d quality.<\/p>\n
But this was different. The champion was being challenged in a faraway land. The build-up was all on the back of him. People were talking about The Everest because of him. The risk was big, perhaps the reward bigger.<\/p>\n
Yet it felt like this was more than just a win for Hong Kong\u2019s national hero, it was a genuine glimpse into what global horse racing can truly be when connections have the courage to travel.<\/p>\n
The culture clash between Hong Kong and Australian punters was fascinating. In the Asian racing mecca, the street corner tip for punt obsessives always comes back to a \u201csure win\u201d \u2013\u00a0\u8d0f\u786c \u2013\u00a0yeng ngaang. They will pile into 1.2 chances if they think it\u2019s guaranteed to salute. They\u2019re parochial about their own.<\/p>\n
The Australian market \u2013 and mentality \u2013 is different. Australian gamblers will walk the length of the Royal Randwick straight to find reasons why a favourite can be beat. The underdog mentality is ingrained into its culture, with an unhealthy sprinkling of tall poppy syndrome. They were always going to take Ka Ying Rising on and back one of their own.<\/p>\n
The result was one of the greatest disparities between the fixed odds model which rules the Australian wagering landscape, and the Jockey Club\u2019s vision for the World Pool to reinvigorate global betting.<\/p>\n
Ka Ying Rising jumped as a $2 chance with Australian bookmakers, $1.50 on the World Pool as Hong Kong punters clambered to back him on the parimutuel. The World Pool still has a way to go convince punters of its long-term merits, but The Everest smashing all records for turnover, with more than HK$88 million (A$16.44 million) bet on a single race, shows the shared vision of Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges and Racing NSW supremo Peter V\u2019landys has a pulse \u2013 and the intrigue travelling horses can create.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an absolute global champion and it was great to see the reception from the crowd, who recognised they were watching a global champion,\u201d Englebrecht-Bresges said. \u201cThis is what we want to achieve with global racing and with World Pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that, if you bring world class racing, you can make horse racing a real global sport. But you need owners willing to take challenges and I\u2019m really happy for the owner (Leung Shek-kong).\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a moment 40 minutes before The Everest when Engelbrecht-Bresges stood almost by himself in Royal Randwick\u2019s vast mounting yard waiting for the countdown for The Everest. He was the first man at the party, almost praying no one would crash it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-18-at-21.53.50-1024x768.jpeg\")
WINFRIED ENGELBRECHT-BRESGES (R) \/ G1 The Everest \/\/ Randwick Racecourse \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Idol Horse<\/p>\n
He spent a total of 16 hours on the ground in Sydney. The last 16 days have felt like an eternity for Hayes and Purton, particularly when Ka Ying Rising\u2019s barrier trial split opinion about whether he was up to winning his first start outside of his Sha Tin sanctuary.<\/p>\n
The truth? He won The Everest on that trial morning, because everything he did wrong, lashing out at his handlers, walking around the parade in so much of a lather it was like he\u2019d just come out of the shower, trying to keep his footing in the softer ground, Hayes knew wouldn\u2019t happen again on raceday.<\/p>\n
Ka Ying Rising got the Winx treatment, which is perhaps the biggest compliment he could get. There is a private stall behind the public stalls for horses which need to be kept away from the crowds at Royal Randwick. Hayes took every inch afforded to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learnt a lot from the trial and what not to do with him,\u201d Hayes told Idol Horse. \u201cWe tried to show (him to) the crowd, but it really burnt him. We kept him calm today and he was bloody good.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a rule, if he hyped up, he had to go back to the (private) box. When he\u2019s calm, we brought him out. We had him about six times (and then he went back to the quieter corner).\u201d<\/p>\n
So, was Hayes truly worried about that trial?<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t, no,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cBut Zac carried on a bit. I just kept watching that he beat Joliestar by six and the other horse (Angel Capital) by nine \u2013 and he got upset. I knew if I could get him calm\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He got him calm, or at least calmer. And maybe the trial wasn\u2019t that bad, anyway, because the horse which won it, Linebacker, demolished his Silver Eagle rivals straight after The Everest and Ka Ying Rising\u2019s rival Overpass surprisingly gripped on for fourth in the main race.<\/p>\n
It will go down as a strange The Everest, too, because there were less than four lengths between Ka Ying Rising and Magic Time, the last of the 12 finishers.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2241754262-1024x683.jpg\")
KA YING RISING FAN \/ G1 The Everest \/\/ Randwick Racecourse \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Jeremy Ng (Getty)<\/p>\n
But it will also go down as Purton\u2019s Everest.<\/p>\n
His wife, Nicole, was reduced to tears as her husband returned to scale. That\u2019s how much it meant to the family, and the harsh reality is despite Purton\u2019s other worldly efforts in Hong Kong for two decades, to Australian punters he was always going to be remembered if Ka Ying Rising won or lost this race. It\u2019s unfair, but probably true.<\/p>\n
Asked where the win ranked in his illustrious career, Purton said: \u201cI would say the single biggest moment. Just because of the stature the race has got now and everything that came with it. Coming from overseas, the horse \u2026 I think it\u2019s the single biggest moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of pressure. I understand that. The weight of the nation was on this horse today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not that he was in a rush to make it back to Hong Kong, joking with Hayes and the trainer\u2019s wife Prue after the presentation their red eye flight had been cancelled. He could only wish.<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure is a privilege, but the fact we\u2019re here and competing \u2026 we never lost sight of that fact,\u201d Prue said. \u201cThe fact we were here and the (Hayes) boys had a horse in the race, it was a pinch yourself moment. For two generations of Hayeses to have a runner in the race was (phenomenal).\u201d<\/p>\n
As Ka Ying Rising\u2019s connections spilled out of the winning owners room and into the crowd of 50,167, so too did two horses back onto a truck after a 12-month mission which was finally accomplished. Ka Ying Rising and 117 came, and they conquered.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll be sure to film the right one when they both land back in Hong Kong. \u220e<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/R7-Ka-Ying-Rising-NZ-ridden-by-Zac-Purton_1219903_Courtney-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
Ka Ying Rising Becomes First International Winner Of The Everest<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n House Of Hayes: Legacy, Loss And The Rebirth Of A Racing Dynasty<\/p>\n![\"Hayes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HayesDynasty-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n