Ka Ying Rising produced an extraordinary weight-carrying performance at Sha Tin on Sunday, turning the Group 3 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup into little more than a procession.
Sent off at 1-20, the six-year-old was expected to win. What was less predictable was just how emphatically he would do it.
Carrying 9st 9lb and conceding 20lb or more to almost all of his rivals, Ka Ying Rising made every yard under Zac Purton. He was already beginning to draw clear while still travelling comfortably more than two furlongs from home, and once asked to lengthen he rapidly put the race beyond doubt.
At the line, the winning margin was 7¾ lengths.
The clock provided further substance. Ka Ying Rising completed the six furlongs on good ground in 1m 6.11s, reported as 2.39 seconds faster than standard.
A 143 Performance
On my private performance-rating scale, I have Ka Ying Rising running to 143.
That puts the performance firmly into high-end Group 1 territory.
The bare handicap figures illustrate the scale of the task. Ka Ying Rising entered with an official rating of 142 and carried 9st 9lb. Runner-up Copartner Prance, officially rated 115, carried just 8st 3lb.
Despite giving Copartner Prance 20lb, Ka Ying Rising beat him by nearly eight lengths.
It would be tempting to take that margin literally and produce an even bigger figure, but that would be too aggressive. Once Ka Ying Rising had broken the field, the beaten horses were effectively competing for second place. Large margins in those circumstances need treating cautiously.
Even with that restraint, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the winner produced an exceptional performance.
The Opposition Was Simply Outclassed
Copartner Prance ran a perfectly respectable race in second.
He occupied that position throughout but was outpaced when Ka Ying Rising increased the tempo and was never remotely capable of responding. I have rated his performance 116, broadly in line with his established level.
Magic Control finished another length and a half behind and receives 113, with Tomodachi Kokoroe, Lucky With You and Patch Of Stars rated between 108 and 110.
My complete figures are:
Horse| Rating
Ka Ying Rising| 143
Copartner Prance| 116
Magic Control| 113
Tomodachi Kokoroe| 110
Lucky With You| 109
Patch Of Stars| 108
Patch Of Stars can be forgiven to some extent after rearing at the start and getting away slowly, although that had no bearing on the identity of the winner.
Fast Time, But the Visuals Matter More
The winning time strengthens the case for a big rating, but it isn't the reason for one.
Fast times need context. A favourable surface or strong pace can produce impressive figures without necessarily indicating an exceptional performance.
Here, however, the time agrees with everything else.
Ka Ying Rising wasn't chasing a strong pace set by somebody else. He made the running himself, travelled strongly enough to establish a decisive advantage and continued to extend when asked.
That combination of weight, margin, manner of victory and overall time makes the performance difficult to pick holes in.
There is one obvious caveat: the opposition lacked depth.
This was officially a Group 3 handicap, but Ka Ying Rising was facing horses rated substantially below him and several rivals were racing from outside the handicap. It would therefore be wrong to rate the entire contest at the same level as its winner.
For that reason, my overall race rating is 139, four pounds below Ka Ying Rising's individual figure.
The Bottom Line
There are occasions when a short-priced champion beats inferior opposition and tells us very little that we didn't already know.
This was rather more significant.
Ka Ying Rising was supposed to dominate this field, but he still had to concede enormous amounts of weight and demonstrate that his superiority remained intact. He did considerably more than merely get the job done.
The opposition prevents me from pushing the race rating higher, and the huge winning margin shouldn't be interpreted mechanically.
But a 143 performance rating feels justified.
This was not simply an easy Group 3 victory.
It was a top-class sprinter giving away lumps of weight and making good horses look slow.
No comments:
Post a Comment