Sydney’s wet weather has Zac Purton more hopeful than confident in Ka Ying Rising

Persistent rain in Sydney has Zac Purton more hopeful than confident in Ka Ying Rising as the champion sprinter bids to defend his crown in the Group One The Everest (1,200m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Purton is concerned about Ka Ying Rising’s ability to handle a wet track, with Randwick rated a heavy 8 on Thursday after heavy rain earlier in the week and more showers on Thursday.

The world’s best racehorse has only raced on an official rain-affected track once in Hong Kong, winning the 2024 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin on a good-to-yielding surface.

While Sydney’s weather is tipped to improve on Friday and Saturday, with a clearing shower or two forecast on both days, Purton is worried a rain-affected track will hinder Ka Ying Rising and favour several of his rivals in the A$20 million (HK$109.17 million) sprint.

“We’re hoping it’s going to be OK but it looks like it’s going to be wet,” Purton said.

“That’s the unknown – we don’t know how he’s going to handle the track down there, but there’s not much we can do about that. It’s what we’re faced with and we’ve got to hope he can handle it.

“I’m not going to know until I let him go with what type of response he’s going to give me.”

Purton is confident Ka Ying Rising is better than ever after heading to Australia with a stunning first-up victory in the Chief Executive’s Cup under his belt.

The nine-time Group One winner bolted in by almost eight lengths, stopping the clock at a mesmerising 1.06.11 over 1,200m to break his own track record by almost a second.

It was part of trainer David Hayes’ plan to have his stable star at peak fitness for The Everest after he raced slightly below his best in his win in the same race 12 months ago.

“That’s the frustrating part is that we sent him down there hoping we had him a little bit more screwed down, but he just seems to Canterbury too much,” Purton said.

“He just relaxes down there and thinks he’s on a holiday and he switches off a little bit. I suppose it’s a sign he does enjoy it down there, but he’s down there for a race and we need him to perform.”

Purton expects Ka Ying Rising to show his customary early speed and fire across from gate 11 to potentially trail speedy three-year-old Blue Door.

“The leader’s drawn just inside us and I can take it up myself, but [Blue Door] is probably going to want to lead, so we’ll see how he jumps and assess it from there,” the Australian rider said.

“Hopefully she goes quicker than they went last year because everyone said Mazu and Overpass would run along and go quite fast, but they were actually quite slow. I don’t know, maybe the Australian speed is different to the Hong Kong speed.”

One rival who will relish a rain-affected track is Tempted, who has firmed in overseas markets this week with Sydney’s wet weather.

The Ciaron Maher-trained mare is unbeaten from five starts since running second to Ka Ying Rising in last year’s The Everest.

“She goes really well at Randwick, she likes cut in the ground and she’s drawn well. Everything there points to her running a very good race and being our main danger, so she’ll be hard to beat, for sure,” Purton said of Tempted.

Ka Ying Rising’s popularity has crossed to Australia, with Purton’s jackets in the horse’s racing colours selling out at the Randwick trials last week.

“They were quite popular at the barrier trial and the Australian Turf Club just asked if we’d be interested in putting some in their gift shop on Saturday,” Purton said.

“The factory we used had to work overtime to make some more, but we’ve got some down there for the people that missed out.

“Winning the race last year makes people familiar with him and they’ve been able to follow his career since then. He is one of those horses that globally people have got behind which is really good, and he puts up those performances that gives people goosebumps.”