New Zealand-based agent Mike Marais made a desperate phone call to champion Hong Kong trainer David Hayes, who fortuitously agreed to take The Everest favourite off his hands after the original buyer reneged.
Among the throng of connections at Randwick last week to observe or put Ka Ying Rising through his paces in a high-profile barrier trial were David Hayes and Zac Purton.
The 1000 or so people who took up the Australian Turf Club’s invitation of a free bacon and egg roll and a coffee while watching the world’s best sprinter have a tune-up for The Everest would have easily recognised the champion trainer and jockey in the “huddle”.
Ka Ying Rising’s strapper and regular trackwork rider was also there, leading him around the theatre of the horse in an audition for this weekend’s $20 million race to help him acclimatise to the Sydney racing environment.
Less recognisable among Ka Ying Rising’s travelling party at Randwick last Tuesday was expatriate Zimbabwean Mike Marais, a former harness racing trainer and driver turned New Zealand-based bloodstock agent.
Marais, who was on hand to also watch the Hong Kong sprinting prodigy under saddle, sold Ka Ying Rising to Hayes after his initial buyer, an unidentified rival Sha Tin trainer, declined to proceed with a deal.
He’s thankful his unsolicited phone call was answered by Hayes, with the pitch for the untested young horse by Shamexpress also not falling on deaf ears.
Hayes’ receptiveness to the proposal to buy Ka Ying Rising from Marais, who spotted him at a Levin jumpout in January 2023 when trained by Fraser Auret and known as Mr Express, also helped the bloodstock trader out of a potential financial pickle.
“I had to go out and find a buyer for the horse, because at the time, there weren't a lot of people looking for jumpout horses and I hadn't had discussions with David Hayes in a fair few years prior to that, although I used to sell a lot of his horses (to Malaysia),” Marais tells The Straight.
“I called him up, and I told him I was a bit landed with this horse, and he said, ‘well, is he as good as you think he is?’ And I told him that he has certainly got a good action, and that he moves well.”
Marais spotted Ka Ying Rising in the Levin jumpout and then went to inspect him at Auret’s Marton-based stables afterwards to do his due diligence, effectively agreeing to buy him then and there.
“We went back to Fraser's place and walked all of his horses up and down - he had a number of horses - and I said to Fraser that (Ka Ying Rising) has got a really nice action, although he was quite a lean horse and thin, a narrow type of horse, he was tall, about16hh for a young horse, so he was tall enough,” he said.
“Greg Sommerville, a New Zealand vet, vetted the horse for me and he said he had no reservation after vetting the horse, and that's very rare because normally a lot of horses just have something small wrong with them.
“Greg passed on the vet report to the trainer who was first in the queue, and nothing happened. Greg was sitting back and thinking, ‘oh Mike, what are we going to do?’, and that’s when I called David, and I hadn’t spoken to him in years.
“I have to say that within three minutes of the conversation with David Hayes, he did stand up and say that's a deal, and he continues to do that.”
Hayes on-sold the horse to Shek Kong Leung, a Hong Kong billionaire with extensive business interests in mainland China, as a replacement for another horse the owner had in the stable which wasn’t up to scratch.
And it’s been a phenomenal ride for all concerned ever since, with the sprinter winning 14 of his 16 starts, $12.4 million in prize money and The Everest to come.
What’s transpired hasn’t been a complete surprise to Marais or Hayes Sr, with the trainer’s sons Ben, Will and JD taking a shine to him during his early preparation at Lindsay Park in Victoria.
“I think it was at Moe, if I'm correct, (when he won a barrier trial) and David called me after that and said, ‘gee, we've kicked off with the right horse’, and it's gone on,” Maraisi said.
“It was only a few months later I was in England and Ireland and I bought a horse called Soleil Fighter for David, I brought him over, and he won three times last season in Hong Kong, so that was a good story from that part of the world.
“David's now got all these young horses of mine this season in Hong Kong, and we can only wait and hope and see if there's a star in amongst them.”
Marais has since forged a strong relationship with Ka Ying Rising’s owner and his wife Rainbow, who regularly fills the role of translator when the agent and Hong Kong businessman meet up for a celebratory dinner.
Leung is scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Tuesday morning in time for The Everest barrier draw.
Marais will join Leung and Hayes in Sydney on Friday.
“Whenever you see (Leung) at the races, he's always got the maroon suit on, which I am sure he will be wearing again on Saturday,” the agent said.
