David Hayes has seen most things in more than 40 years in the racing game, but the wildfire of rumours about the well-being of his star sprinter Ka Ying Rising ahead of The Everest stunned even the experienced trainer.
In the end, Hayes put to bed rumours that Ka Ying Rising would not contest the $20 million race in the most effective manner possible, via a piece of fast work at Canterbury on Monday morning, settling a restless punting public, and no doubt a few nervous racing officials.
“I got a call yesterday at lunchtime from JD, my son, to say Gareth Hall had rung him and said his Twitter (X) account had been hacked and sent out some false information that basically had him scratched,” Hayes told media on Monday morning.
“It said he was lame behind and he was not eating, but that’s not the horse I have been training. The phone went into meltdown for six hours, but to use a Donald Trumpism, it was fake news.”
If you are going to drop an unsubstantiated rumour on social media, then Sunday afternoon is a fine time to do it, especially in the punting and racing game.
Most major trainers take the time to turn their phones off, a similar story for racing officials, while the trading teams of the major bookies are generally wound back.
Most of the time, these rumours flame out quickly, dismissed or disproved by the collective mindset of the social media throng. But the prospect of a long odds-on favourite for one of the most anticipated races of the spring being withdrawn triggered a nerve with the broader public.
Ka Ying Rising began drifting dramatically on betting exchange Betfair, from $1.75 out to $2.60. Amazingly, $221,000 of the $249,000 matched on Betfair on The Everest has been on Ka Ying Rising.
Some other bookmakers followed suit, offering as much as $2, and then TAB suspended The Everest market, sending speculation into overdrive.
TAB senior trader Tim Ryan explained the decision on social media on Sunday night.
“We suspended for a few minutes after a rapid and extraordinary amount of support around the favourite. We have re-assessed and have a slightly adjusted market considering that support with KYR $1.75. Subsequent to that I have spoken with Stewards who confirm everything is 100%,” he said on X.
Warwick Barr
At least, we believe this was Tim Ryan, you can never be too confident in a spring where fake racing social media profiles have been popping up all over the place.
It is believed that it was a fake Gareth Hall account which put out the initial news, much in the same way a fake Ray Thomas account had duped people recently. There is also, apparently, a fake account for prominent New Zealand journalist Michael Guerin.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we are sad, but also relieved, to say that The Straight hasn’t fallen victim to impersonation just yet.
Leading punters are used to such chicanery and usually have a strong bulldust filter turned on, but the bizarre market reaction had several of them scrambling on Sunday to work out whether the Ka Ying rumours had merit. It was the same for racing journalists.
There is a genuine question over whether this was just mischief or something more calculated. In a race of such interest, manipulating a market from $1.80 to $2.60 could prove lucrative.
Hayes has seen enough to know to ignore it, and he also knew the rumours would die as soon as Ka Ying Rising stepped out on track on Monday. The story lasted less than 24 hours.
An inconclusive first-up trial performance last week where Ka Ying Rising sweated up and was unable to run past a key Everest rival set the opportunity for rumour to catch fire. But he looked a much more screwed down horse on Monday, six days out from the race.
“I think he’s really improved from the trial. The idea of the trial was to bring him on and I think it has and we are very happy with him. His recovery is excellent and he is ready to rumble,” Hayes said.
If the rumour had proven true it would have been a bitter blow for The Everest to lose its main attraction, but the fact that it isn’t true has given the race a massive boost of publicity heading into the week.
