'Breaking records is what he does': Hayes hunts for the next Ka Ying Rising at Inglis Ready2Race

Cover image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club

In the hours before the 2026 G1 The Everest barrier draw, Ka Ying Rising’s (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) trainer David Hayes had his attention focused on the Riverside Stables sales complex at Warwick Farm, where inspections were busy ahead of the Inglis Ready2Race Sale on Thursday.

Last year, Hayes sourced Hard Kick (All Too Hard) from the sale for his sons Ben, Will, and JD, and in the 12 months since, the gelding won the Listed Talindert Stakes on debut and followed it with the G3 Vain Stakes earlier this spring.

His purchase was the first time the Lindsay Park name had appeared on the buyer’s ticket at the sale in eight years, and his success has made it easy for Hayes and his sons to come back in 2026.

The right kind of exposure

“I’ll be shopping around and looking and maybe if the right opportunity comes up, I might buy a couple,” Hayes said.

“I’m keeping an eye out for the boys - they won’t get here until the sale on Thursday, so I am doing some of the legwork for them because I have a bit of spare time. And I am looking for myself as well with the view to bring to Hong Kong.”

Hard Kick isn’t Hayes’ first success with graduates of the sale; Listed Hong Kong Classic Cup and Group 1 performer Rubylot (Rubick) was a $100,000 purchase at the same by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock (BAFNZ), and the now 6-year-old gelding has since amassed over HK$20 million (AU$3.7 million) in the jurisdiction.

Hayes professed that he used to be mostly a yearling buyer, but buying horses through the breeze-up sales or trials - as he did with Ka Ying Rising - has become a much safer bet when looking for Hong Kong.

“You can take a little less notice of conformation with those horses, because if they have trialled and stood up to that, then you know they can take training,” he said. “Whereas sometimes a yearling with beautiful legs can't even take training. They are less speculative in that way. All horse buying is speculative, but it’s less speculative than with yearlings.”

Size and temperament are factors that are much more obvious, and thus easier to assess, at the breeze-up sales versus the yearling equivalent.

“I like them in their breeze-up to be relaxed at the start and then get fast at the end,” Hayes said.

“Ideally I would be present for the breeze-ups themselves to watch them come on and off the track - I wasn’t this year, but they were well covered in the videos. When I come to the inspections themselves, temperament is the main thing I am looking at.”

Given Hong Kong’s unique training environment, temperament becomes of utmost importance.

“A lot of horses ruin their chances with their temperament, so temperament can't be underestimated,” Hayes said, however he did admit to sometimes bending his own rules.

“Ka Ying Rising was at a stage further (than a breeze-up),” he said. “He was at the jump-out stage, and I took a gamble that he would trial well. He looked very good, so we jumped in and bought him. He has exceeded everyone’s hopes since - he’s fantastic.”

It's what he does

In the lead-up to Ka Ying Rising’s Everest defence, Hayes had initially said he would like to give Randwick’s 1200-metre record - currently held by 2019 Everest winner Yes Yes Yes - a "real shake". However, with persistent wet conditions in Sydney and the temperatures unlikely to get high enough to produce a suitable surface, Hayes said now it is off the table for 2026.

“There will be no chance this year because of the conditions, but he would have been a very good chance to beat it if the conditions were right,” he said.

“It's not record-breaking conditions (this time). But he's broken the record the last five times he ran, and Yes Yes Yes holds one record. If they do it consistently, they're likely to do it another time.

“Yes Yes Yes’s record is excellent, but I thought it was within his reach. He always runs fast times, and breaking records is what he does.”

It might have been a bit of a gamble on temperament when Hayes purchased Ka Ying Rising off a jump-out win, but the trainer admits he got very lucky to get a horse who produces these performances of his own accord.

“He runs those times on his own,” he said. “He usually gets five or six lengths clear, and he doesn’t get the stick on him. I don't know what he'd run if you hit him in the last 100 metres, but we don’t need to. It’s very special.”

Good horses come from anywhere

Hayes buys horses for Hong Kong in both hemispheres, but he has noticed a shift across the last two decades in favour of the Australasian horse.

“Good horses come from anywhere, but the good Australasian horses are quite affordable in relation to the elite ones from elsewhere,” he said. “They adjust very well to Hong Kong conditions, and because they do well, there are more and more of them out here.

“Twenty years ago, most of the good horses came from the Northern Hemisphere. Now most come from the Southern Hemisphere.”

The advent of more trials in Australasia and the rising interest in participating in breeze-up sales has contributed to the uptick in Southern Hemisphere horses making it to Hong Kong. Those that trial but do not race can be purchased as a Private Purchase Griffin, who are then eligible for races restricted to the Griffins as opposed to open company.

“I think having more trials available before they race and then horses participating in more trials has really added up,” Hayes said. “They also have more opportunities in Australia to run on fast ground, which is what Hong Kong usually has.”

For those looking to buy where it has worked before, a number Hong Kong stars past and present have relations in this year’s Ready2Race catalogue.

Gallery: Relations to Galaxy Patch at the 2026 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, images courtesy of Inglis

Multiple Hong Kong Group winner Galaxy Patch (Wandjina), who resumed in late September, with a second in the G3 Celebration Cup, has two relations in the sale. Nolen Racing will offer Lot 313, an Alabama Express filly whose dam I’m Too Sexy (Reaan) is a half to that of Galaxy Patch, and Hunter’s Lodge will offer Lot 199, a Hellbent colt from another half-sister.

The Hellbent colt posted the seventh fastest time in the sale, stopping the clock at 10.13s when galloping at Warwick Farm.

G1 Centenary Cup winner Stronger will be represented by a pair of colts from his first crop of 2-year-olds; Embrace Mountain will present Lot 13 from the family of G1 Coolmore Classic winner Lighthouse (USA) (Mizzen Mast {USA}), while Blake Ryan Racing has prepared Lot 69, a descendant of G1 Australasian Oaks winner Rinky Dink (Distorted Humor {USA}).

The son of Not A Single Doubt topped the first season sires’ tables on all metrics at Monday’s Magic Millions Horses In Training Sale, with a top price of $280,000 helping him achieve the leading gross of all sires at the sale.

A handful of the catalogue feature Everest hopeful Blue Door (Stay Inside) in their pedigrees, and therefore also feature her close relation Ka Ying Attack (NZ) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), who has picked up where he left off last season and won his third race in a row.

Much like the Everest runner in the same silks, he won a trial in New Zealand before export. The David Hall-trained gelding has now won six in the jurisdiction for over HK$9.5 million (AU$1.74 million).

Another recent Hong Kong winner Live Wire (Tassort) was originally catalogued in the breeze-up sale by Prima Park, but was withdrawn. Fernrigg Farm will offer his half-brother by Artorius at this year’s edition of the sale as Lot 300.

Taking on the world

While Hayes felt many of the horses in his Hong Kong stable are too young to pass comment on just yet, he felt there were other rising stars in the jurisdiction worth keeping an eye on with a view to racing on the world stage.

“My Wish is a very good horse that Mark Newnham trains,” he said. “He would be the next international class horse in Hong Kong, from what I have seen. I think he's the next international Group 1 winner we are going to have.”

My Wish (Flying Artie) won a trial at Newcastle by over four lengths for Steve Hodge, before his private sale to Hong Kong. The 6-year-old picked up his seventh career victory at the end of the last racing season when he emerged victorious in the G1 Champions Mile, defeating the likes of Galaxy Patch, multiple Group 1 winner Voyage Bubble (Deep Field), Newnham’s G1 Hong Kong Derby winner Invincible Ibis (Hellbent), and visiting Group 1 winner Docklands (GB) (Massaat {Ire}).

In Australia, Hayes singled out Tempted (Street Boss {USA}), Sheza Alibi (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), and Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) as the stars to follow.

“I think Tempted has had a great 12 months, they have placed her brilliantly,” Hayes said. “There’s no doubt she is high class and she would be a very good horse anywhere. And what about Autumn Glow? She can’t do any more than she has already done.

“They are the two horses, along with Sheza Alibi, that are the best three fillies and mares in Australia, I think. They are the ones I enjoy watching the most.”

Hayes would like to see all three flying the Australian flag overseas in the future - and he thinks they very much are capable of doing so.

“They have to have a trip away, it would take all of them to the next level,” he said. “If they do that, they will get properly acknowledged in the world rankings, and I am sure they are good enough to do it.

Gallery: Best fillies by David Hayes, image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

“I think they are a bit underrated in the world rankings at the moment, all three of them, and that is because they haven’t had that trip away yet.”

Three-time Group 1 winner Asfoora (Flying Artie) has been the most recent example of Australasian mares competing - and succeeding - on the world stage, but there is plenty of precedent.

On top of her G1 Winterbottom Stakes win, Ortensia (Testa Rossa) took on some of the world’s best in the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes and the G1 Al Quoz Sprint. Miss Andretti (Ihtiram {Ire}) emerged from Western Australia to claim the G1 Golden Jubilee Stakes, and G1 Blue Diamond Stakes victress Alinghi (Encosta De Lago) won the G3 Ballston Spa Handicap at Saratoga in her sojourn to the States.

And that is not to forget Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), who kept her perfect record intact in the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

It is a high benchmark to reach, but Hayes thinks the trio are the right horses to try.

“I know they are good enough to do it,” he said. “All they need is to have that trip away and their ratings will go through the roof.”

Forty eight hours after the fall of the hammer at Riverside on Thursday, Hayes will be trackside as Autumn Glow lines up in the G1 King Charles III Stakes and Tempted steps up for an Everest rematch with Ka Ying Rising.

Even with the depth of belief in his horse, Hayes remains conservative in how he thinks about the race. Nothing is set in stone until the finish line, and the Hong Kong raider will still need some good fortune on his side.

"We always need a bit of luck," he said.