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Purton: Ka Ying Rising “won’t be good enough” to win Everest if...
Connor Scanlon • October 15th, 2025 6:00 pm
Ka Ying Rising’s regular jockey Zac Purton has questioned his steer in the wake of his disappointing trial last week while building up for a start in The Everest.
The trial was across 1000m, and the eight-time Group 1 winner finished third by 0.23 lengths.
Purton admitted that the short-priced favourite with many bookmakers won’t win the $20 million Everest, if Ka Ying Rising performs the same way he ran in the trial.
“The trial was not him.” Purton told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“If that horse turns up on Saturday, he will not be winning The Everest. That was not good enough to win The Everest.
“He didn’t have much left, he was all but at his top.
“That’s not the Ka Ying Rising I know.
“That’s the most disappointing performance he’s put in, in about 2.5 years.”
When Purton was asked about why the Hong Kong sprinter was disappointing in his eyes, the jockey admitted that one of the reasons was because Ka Ying Rising was overweight.
“There are certain ways to look at it,” Purton said.
“Hayesy (David Hayes) put him on the plane with a little bit of condition on him, thinking that he was going to lose a little bit of weight.
“But the opposite happened.
“He travelled down so well, that he didn’t drop any weight at all.
“From a fitness perspective, he probably wasn’t where we wanted him to be, so he really needed the trial.”
Purton even added that the five-year-old gelding was sweating up and misbehaving prior to the trial and mentally switched off during the jump-out.
“Then you take into account the way he carried on before the trial,” Purton added.
“They couldn’t leave him in the stall as he wouldn’t stay there, they had to hand-walk him.
“He was sweating and he was agitated.
“By the time he’d come into the parade ring he was a mess, that’s not the horse who I see on race day.
“It’s like I had just seen the life drained out of him – and this is only for a barrier trial.
“So, if he carries on like that again on race day, he’s not going to help himself at all.
“Also, in the trial, he was lost, he was looking at the signs, he wasn’t looking at where he was going, he just completely switched off, and he never actually switched back on.
“If that horse turns up on race day, we’re in trouble.”
Is Ka Ying Rising in danger to lose The Everest?
