If Ka Ying Rising or Mr Brightside, or both, win their respective races on FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on Sunday (27 April), celebrations will erupt worldwide.

The Hayes family is front and centre saddling these key contenders for the HK$22 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize and HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m), respectively, but their cheers are likely to be matched by those of breeders and consigners 9,500km away in New Zealand.

For a small country, New Zealand has consistently punched above its weight for well over 80 years, breeding and trading high-class racehorses. If you want to go back even further, the greatest of them all, Phar Lap, was foaled at Timaru on the South Island in 1926.

Ka Ying Rising was foaled at Windsor Park Stud, near Cambridge, in the Waikato region of the North Island in 2020. He is a gelded son of Shamexpress, the winner of Flemington’s famous G1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m), and best of his progeny by some way.

The four-year-old’s record stands at 12 wins from 14 starts and he will be aiming for his 12th consecutive win on Sunday. His only defeats were both second placings. He hasn’t been beaten since 12 February last year.

His success has had a marked impact on New Zealand racing and breeding, and sparked the resurgence of Shamexpress as a stallion, reports Mike Moran, Marketing Manager at Windsor Park Stud.

“Ka Ying Rising is a special, special horse. David Hayes is in awe of him.  It’s great for the stallion.  And it’s great for the New Zealand industry in general, who are excited by him,” Moran said.

“Australia is renowned for its world-class sprinters but New Zealand has produced Aerovelocity, Lucky Sweynesse and now Ka Ying Rising. It’s fantastic for us because it’s an amazing place to breed horses, and the Hong Kong buyers know that.

“They keep coming, and will continue to do so off the back of what this guy has done. Ka Ying Rising was the first horse bred by Fraser Auret, a trainer from Manawatu. He (Ka Ying Rising) was conceived and foaled at Windsor Park.”

Shamexpress had lost traction with breeders, his number of mares diminishing significantly five years ago.

“Then he got Lim’s Saltoro, who won the Triple Crown in Singapore and is now with Dan Meagher in Melbourne, as well as Maracana and Grinzinger Belle, who have won good races for Danny O’Brien.

“All those horses came along together. Shamexpress is popular again now, he’s fashionable, particularly his colts. They are sought-after and have been bringing good money at the sales,” Moran said.

Mr Brightside is another New Zealand success story, though he had only one run there for an unlucky fifth in a Matamata maiden over 1400m. Bred by R I & Est late M A G Johnson, he had been bought at an on-line auction by his trainer Ralph Manning for NZ$7,750 before later being sold on to the Hayes family’s racing operation Lindsay Park in Australia.

Mr Brightside is by Bullbars, a Group 3 winner at Flemington, out of the Darley mare Accessories, making him a half-brother to Helmet and Epaulette.

Mr Brightside is the only elite class horse sired by the unheralded Bullbars, who left Highview Stud, Hamilton, New Zealand, to join the stallion roster at Orange Court Stud, South Australia, where he reportedly died before the start of the 2023 covering season.

A win for either Ka Ying Rising or Mr Brightside would also mark another New Zealand-bred champion to triumph for the Hayes family. The roll of honour is impressive – Dulcify (trained by Colin Hayes), Zabeel (Colin, then David Hayes), Mr Brightside (Ben, JD & Will Hayes) and Ka Ying Rising (David Hayes).