Ka Ying Rising Scores 11th Straight Win in Hong Kong

THE highest-rated sprinter in the world, Ka Ying Rising, delivered another smooth reminder of his class with a three-length victory in the Group 2 Sprint Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday, which was his 11th straight win.

The five-year-old, with jockey Zac Purton back from an injury, tracked three-time Group 1 winner California Spangle through the early sectionals. Halfway through the six furlongs, Purton pushed the button and Ka Ying Rising did the rest.

“The leader today didn’t go as fast as I was hoping he would go,” Purton said. “I travelled a bit stronger than I would have liked and, with the extra weight on his back (giving 5lb to the rest), I didn’t want to sit around and wait for the others.

“He was always cruising and he didn’t give us a moment of worry and that’s the good thing about him.” Helios Express and Lucky With You took second and third.

The David Hayes-trained gelding is not expected to travel from his home base this season.

Instead, he is expected to finish his season at home in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize on April 27th.

Hayes has hinted that a tilt in the Everest in October in Australia might also be on the agenda.

“Even Zac’s starting to acknowledge the horse’s ability now,” Hayes said. “ He runs those times with ease.”

JAPAN went close to landing an historic win in the Kentucky Derby last season, when Forever Young was beaten less than a neck when third to Mystik Dan.

They look to have another quality contender this season, and notably, he is a son of the 2015 Derby and Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah.

Luxor Café is a full-brother to Grade 1 dirt winner, Cafe Pharoah, and is guaranteed to bid to return home for the Kentucky Derby after an emphatic five-length victory in the Fukuryu Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse.

The Fukuryu was the final leg of the Churchill Downs-sponsored Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Luxor Cafe came into the race heading the leaderboard in that four-race series.

The colt is trained by Noriyuki Hori and owned by Koichi Nishikawa and had Joao Moreira on board.

Luxor Cafe was bred by Orpendale, Chelston, Wynatt, and Westerberg Ireland out of the Grade 2-winning More Than Ready, dam of Eclipse Award winning turf mare, Regal Glory.

The victory was Luxor Cafe’s fourth in a row.

Three more Japanese-trained three-year-olds are in the expected field for the UAE Derby today and could also be headed to Kentucky.

Top sprinter

Satono Reve joined the ranks of Japan’s top sprinters, with a late-running victory under Joao Moreira again in the Grade 1 Takamasunomiya at Chukyo Racecourse last Sunday.

It was the first top-level victory for the six-year-old and came at the expense of proven sprint performers.

Moreira had to get by some trouble in running to have Satono Reve swung outside rivals, and he hit another gear and took the lead to hold off the late run of the favourite, Namura Clair, by three-quarters of a length.

Satono Reve was making just his third start at the Grade 1 level, after finishing seventh in the Sprinters Stakes, Japan’s only other top-level sprint, last September and third in the Hong Kong Sprint in December.