$16K bottles and trophy selfies: Ka Ying Rising’s Everest afterparty goes global

Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes shed a tear as he headed to the airport from the Everest celebrations at the Golden Century on Saturday night, but nothing could prepare him for the return to the racing mecca of Hong Kong.

The world champion’s owner Leung Shek-kong spared no expense, and as the biggest collector of Petrus [a French merlot] in the world, he had bottles which retail for around $16,000 on every table.

“It’s amazing, I shed a tear when I was leaving because you can’t describe the wine,” Hayes said. “It added to one of my biggest days.”

The Everest experience continued away from Randwick with selfies being taken with Hayes and jockey Zac Purton when people saw them arrive at the Casino for dinner with their trophies.

“People just want to see the trophy and want photos,” Hayes said. “Even at the airport we were taking pictures.”

“It was a great plane trip home because there was a lot of Hong Kong racing people on the flight and the trophy did a tour of the plane and even the Cathay Pacific staff wanted to see it.”

When Hayes and his wife Prue drove into their Sha Tin home they were greeted by signs proclaiming Ka Ying Rising as the Everest conqueror.

“It is huge over here, and we are taking the trophy to Sha Tin this afternoon for a little ceremony,” Hayes said.

“The race is even bigger than I thought.”

Hayes has already turned his mind to defending the Everest crown in 12 months. Ka Ying Rising will stay at home until then, and not be tempted by a shot at the TJ Smith in autumn.

“We are coming back. It will only be for the Everest, we can run in two or three TJs here in Hong Kong,” Hayes said.

“Canterbury is an incredible place to train a horse for this race. He did a wonderful job because he had six weeks of isolation and quarantine, but he handled it well.”

“He will be better next year for having a look at Randwick.”

“I would love to have a horse good enough to come with him for the King Charles III Stakes, so we are in the market for a good miler.”