Ka Ying Rising was on show in front of a couple of thousand people at Tuesday’s barrier trial and it will be 50,000 punters on Everest day, but a week out there were only a couple of folks at Canterbury to watch the World’s Best horse.
Master trainer David Hayes watched from near the winning post as Ka Ying Rising strided around Canterbury with purpose but not at his top end speed.
When David Hayes arrived at Canterbury racecourse on Saturday morning, his cab driver was surprised what he saw.
“Hey that’s you,” driver said to Hayes as he got out of the cab as he saw the advertising pictures of the Hall Of Fame trainer and Zac Purton with last year’s Everest trophy.
“That makes you feel a little special,” Hayes said after Ka Ying Rising worked three-quarter pace.
“It was nice to see that when I arrived, but better to see his colours on the wall inside [the quarantine centre] as the Everest winner.
“He went fast this morning, he will go faster on Monday.
“He is same as last year. He has four legs and hopefully we don’t have the drama of last year.”
Hayes remembers the Sunday before Ka Ying Rising annexed the Everest when the rumour mill had the star injured and out of the $20 million as he pressed towards even-money on the exchanges.
It proved to be furphy but gave Hayes a couple of days of answering questions about the fitness of his star.
It was one man watching one rider and one horse at Canterbury on Saturday morning.
Ka Ying Rising works alone, mainly because he doesn’t need a mate to make him more competitive.
“We were happy with the trial, and I’m happy this morning with what he did,” Hayes said.
