Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) and Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) were crowned Hong Kong joint Horse of the Year at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Friday evening. This is the second such title for each horse and the first time in Hong Kong history the award has gone to two horses in the same year.
Horse of the Year in the 2024/2025 season, Ka Ying Rising is sitting on a 20-race winning streak. The Ka Ying Syndicate runner is trained by David Hayes and retained his Hong Kong Champion Sprinter title. A winner of Australia’s G1 The Everest, he added another five Group 1 wins to his resume this season and went eight-for-eight. He is also the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings joint-highest rated horse alongside Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder). The gelding also earned his second edition of the Hong Kong Speed Series for the second year in a row with wins in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, G2 The Sprint Cup and in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, running 1:07.10 for the latter.
Horse of the Year in 2023/2024, Romantic Warrior won both the G1 Hong Kong Cup and QEII Cup for an unprecedented fourth time. A regular on the middle-distance scene, he recovered from fetlock surgery earlier this term and became the third Hong Kong Triple Crown victor after taking the G1 Stewards’ Cup, G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup and G1 Champions & Chater Cup. A colourbearer for Peter Lau Pak Fai, he currently leads the world with career record prize-money of HK$288,745,697 (£27,485,766). Besides his Horse of the Year crown, he was named Champion Middle Distance Horse five years in a row, and also Champion Stayer. In addition, he was crowned this year’s Champion Miler based on his brilliant winning performance in the 1600-metre Stewards’ Cup.
Outside the two wunderkinds, the rest of the Hong Kong champions are as follows:
- Champion Jockey: Zac Purton
- Champion Four-Year-Old: Invincible Ibis (Hellbent)
- Champion Griffin: Hot Delight (Too Darn Hot)
- Most Improved Horse: Invincible Ibis (Hellbent).
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