The WhatsApp message, the deal, the pressure and perks: The tell all on Ka Ying Rising

If we are being honest, to the majority of racegoers, Ka Ying Rising’s unofficial jump-out was hardly anything to get excited about.

To the untrained eye there was little indication Ka Ying Rising would go on to become the fastest horse on the planet, a winner of $30 million in prizemoney, a Hong Kong hero – an international racing rock star – and the raging favourite for Saturday’s Everest at Royal Randwick.

Just before Christmas in 2022, a young Ka Ying Rising, then two years of age, went for a spin against four rivals in rural New Zealand.

The Levin track had seen better days, and the cows now living on the inside of the course almost outnumbered the locals.

On this gloomy morning, in the deep south on the north island, Ka Ying Rising was slow out of the gates. Local jockey Madan Singh, spotted in the video wearing a black and an orange cap, gets the gelding’s mind on the job down the back straight, before they coast to victory.

The 600m heats were designed to help educate horses before they progressed to barrier trials. Ka Ying Rising had plenty to learn, and ran with a “daisy-cutter” action, where the front feet barely come off the ground.

Bloodstock agent Michael Marais saw something in the horse, so he sent a clip to David Hayes, the champion Australian trainer who now calls Hong Kong home.

“I just loved what I saw, and the ease in which he won,” Hayes said. “Michael recommended I buy the horse and told me he was worth taking a chance on, so I did. “I never get sick of talking about him.

“I’m 64 in a couple of weeks. I’m closer to the end than I am the start of my career. But at this stage of my life, I can appreciate what a champion is.

“To get one of the all-time greats, it’s fantastic; to have a horse at this level, he’s the gift that keeps giving.”

Ka Ying Rising was bred by New Zealander Fraser Auret, who trained the horse’s mother, Missy Moo, a $500 purchase and winner of five races.

Auret gets interviewed every time Ka Ying Rising prepares to race. He will tune into Randwick this weekend from a pub called The Rathole in a town named Bulls. True story.

Ka Ying Rising is chasing a 22nd consecutive win on Saturday when he starts favourite in the $20m Everest. It will be 1000 days since his last defeat.

There are a few untold stories about Ka Ying Rising during those early days when he arrived in Australia to be trained by Hayes’ sons, Will, Ben and JD.