Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior shared Horse of the Year honors in an unprecedented tie for Hong Kong racing’s most prestigious title at Friday night’s Champion Awards.
Ka Ying Rising joined Golden Sixty, Beauty Generation, Ambitious Dragon and Fairy King Prawn as back-to-back Horse of the Year winners, while Romantic Warrior also claimed the title for the second time following his successful 2023-24.
A panel of six judges, chaired by Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, could not split the pair of champions.
In one of the greatest seasons ever, Ka Ying Rising was unbeaten from eight starts, with victory in the world’s richest turf race, the A$20 million (HK$109 million) The Everest at Randwick the highlight.
The David Hayes-trained star broke Hong Kong’s Silent Witness’ record of 17 wins in a row, extending his streak to 20, broke three track records at Sha Tin and rose to international recognition as the world’s top-class horse.
In the latest edition of the Longines World Horse Ranking released on Thursday, British star Ka Ying Rising and Ombudsman share the top spot with a rating of 131.
Danny Shum Chap-shing’s champion Romantic Warrior scored five Group One wins, becoming the third horse to win the city’s Triple Crown, extending his record prize money haul to HK$288.7 million.
“Well, this is a real surprise for me,” said Romantic Warrior owner Peter Lau Pak-fai.
“I am very happy and I appreciate this honor very much and I hope we can all appreciate this wonderful season, where we can see two wonderful horses.
“I also really appreciate the great work done by this wonderful coach, Danny Shum, who makes everything happen.”
Romantic Warrior won three other awards on Friday night – Champion Distance Horse for the fifth consecutive year, Champion Stayer and Champion Miler.
Ka Ying Rising added a second Champion Sprinter title to his glittering record, with Mark Newnham’s Hong Kong Derby winner Invincible Ibis named Champion Four-Year-Old and Most Improved Horse.
Hot Delight, a comfortable winner in four of five starts for trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai, was crowned Champion Griffin.
Zac Purton was also celebrated for his ninth jockey championship. With two matches remaining this season, the Australian star is on pace for 140 wins – 78 more than nearest rival Hugh Bowman.
Awards for most popular jockey, most popular horse, champion trainer and the Tony Cruz Award for leading home-grown jockey will be announced at Sha Tin on Sunday or the season finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday.
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