Ka Ying Rising completed a smooth 1000m barrier trial at Royal Randwick in Sydney on Tuesday, 6 October.
The star sprinter finished second as he continued preparations for The Everest.
The world’s richest turf race takes place on Saturday, 17 October. The race carries prize money of AU$20 million, worth around HK$108.9 million or £10.5 million.
Ka Ying Rising won The Everest last year with jockey Zac Purton and trainer David Hayes.
That victory formed part of his remarkable 21-race unbeaten streak.
David Hayes felt the performance showed improvement from last year.
However, the trainer wanted more from his star horse.
“Better than last year, but I have seen him trial better. The way the track was, the longer grass and the soft ground wasn’t in his favour.
“He didn’t change legs, that’s always an indicator he’s going pretty easy. When Zac puts him under a bit of pressure he changes legs and finds a lot. It’s a pass mark today – but not exciting.
“But it is a trial, and we don’t screw him down for the trial and he will be screwed down a lot more for the race coming up. Just watch last year’s trial and watch the race, and he’s a little bit better this year in the trial and a little bit better hopefully in the race.
“The trial was probably run four seconds slower than race tempo. Zac was ambling into the straight, he won’t be doing that in the race. He’ll be letting rip.
“He’s 30 pounds bigger than he was this time last year. I think bigger is better.”
Ka Ying Rising finished third in the same barrier trial last year.
Linebacker won that trial on a Good 4 track before Ka Ying Rising went on to win The Everest.
Zac Purton wants better ground
Purton also believes Ka Ying Rising needed Tuesday’s trial.
The champion jockey said the horse worked harder than expected after the hit-out.
“He certainly needed the hit-out, he pulled up having a bigger blow than what he did from his race recently. The softer ground, the time between runs.
“It gets him back into the routine, gets him familiar with what’s going on here and we saw last year how much that helped him on race day and I think it will do the same.
“I’d prefer him to be on top of the ground, he likes it when it’s a hard and fast deck. As we’ve seen in the trial, and the trial last year, he seems to labour in the softer ground. Let’s hope the sun comes out and stays out.
“It’s going to be a strong race, people have been downplaying it and saying there’s not much there. But history tells us it’s the strongest sprint race on the calendar.”
READ NEXT: Horse racing: Ka Ying Rising has ‘settled in a lot better than last year’ ahead of Everest trial
