Racing
Ka Ying Rising leads the world rankings and Autumn Glow rated the best mare
Hall of Fame trainer David Hayes says it has taken him nearly four decades to get another world champion - but the wait has been worth it!
The northern hemisphere flat season in Europe is yet to get underway but it is going to take an exceptional horse to eclipse Ka Ying Rising's official 128 rating that he earned from his recent runaway Group 1 Hong Kong wins in the Centenary Sprint Cup and Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup.
Ka Ying Rising has held his peak rating that he finished with in 2025 which rated equal second best horse in the world behind French champion Calandagan on 130.
When Hayes first started training in 1990, he prepared the great Better Loosen Up to win the Cox Plate and Japan Cup, earning the world's number one ranking.
"Better Loosen Up was rated the best horse in the world for about 12 months which was fantastic,'' Hayes said.
"He's the best horse I've ever trained and he seems to be getting better.
"Ka Ying Rising has been the highest-rated horse for a year for me but it is good to have it officially acknowledged.''
Ka Ying Rising is on a 18-race winning streak with Hayes confirming the champion will have two more starts to close out the Hong Kong season.
"He will have a barrier trial next week and then contest a Group 2 (Sprint Cup) on April 6,'' Hayes said.
"Then he has three weeks to the (Group 1) Chairman's Sprint Prize to finish his year.
"Everything will then be about setting Ka Ying Rising for The Everest again.''
"Since The Everest, he has got better again,'' Hayes said. "He is racing to a very high level and maintaining his rating every start now.''
Hong Kong boasts the world's top two racehorses at the moment with Romantic Warrior rated second on 124.
Romantic Warrior has started the year with successive Group 1 wins in the Stewards' Cup and Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup.
Japanese champion Forever Young, who finished equal second with Ka Ying Rising on a 128 rating last year, resumed with a second successive win in the world's richest race, the Group 1 Saudi Cup earlier this month, returning a 123 figure which ranks him third on the World's Best Racehorse Ranking.
Autumn Glow has improved her perfect race record to 10 wins with outstanding efforts in the Apollo Stakes and Verry Ellegant Stakes to begin her 2026 campaign.
The highest-rated Australian-trained horse is Anthony and Sam Freedman's crack colt Tentyris who returned a 118 rating winning the Group 1 Lightning Stakes be equal 11th on the rankings.
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