With one of the world’s most exciting sprinters flying the flag for David Hayes in Hong Kong, it has been no surprise to see the trainer’s sons zeroing in on progeny of Windsor Park Stud stallion Shamexpress during the Ready to Run Sale at Karaka this week.
Hayes trains the Shamexpress gelding Ka Ying Rising, who has made an enormous impression winning eight of his 10 starts including all of his last seven in succession.
Previously the winner of the Gr.3 Sha Tin Vase (1200m) in June and the Gr.2 Premier Bowl (1200m) in October, Ka Ying Rising added last Sunday's Gr.2 Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) in a scintillating performance. The four-year-old romped to victory by three and a quarter lengths and broke the Sha Tin track record with a time of 1:07.43.
When he returned to Hong Kong a few years ago, David Hayes left his Lindsay Park operation in Australia in the hands of his sons Ben, JD and Will Hayes. That trio has been on a recruiting drive for Shamexpress two-year-olds at Karaka this week, securing two of them for a total of $540,000.
Lindsay Park Racing paid $260,000 on Wednesday to buy Lot 66, a colt from the draft of Lilywhites Lodge. He is a son of the Savabeel mare Mia Rose.
The team struck again on Thursday with the $280,000 purchase of Lot 332. Offered by Phoenix Park, he is out of the unraced Pins mare Up A Ghia.
"Off the strength of what Ka Ying Rising has been doing, we've been pleased to come over here and find another two nice sons of Shamexpress," Will Hayes said. "Both will be heading for Hong Kong, and we bought them for Dr Peter Lam, who's a big supporter of Dad's stable there.
"The one we bought today (Thursday) is a lovely big, athletic gelding and a very easy mover. One of Ka Ying Rising's best attributes is his effortless speed, and we saw some similarities in the way this guy moves.
"Parading out the back here can be quite a stressful environment for young horses, but we were impressed with how well he handled everything.
"We'll take him back to Lindsay Park now. We prepare a lot of horses for Hong Kong there. He'll go into our system and we'll put him through all the processes. Horses come out of this sale very well educated anyway, but we'll see how he goes and then decide when he gets the tick to head up to Hong Kong."
Ka Ying Rising is emerging as one of the very best progeny of Shamexpress, who stands for a service fee of $8,000 at Windsor Park Stud. The O'Reilly stallion has been credited with a total of 147 winners from 224 runners, with 13 stakes winners headed by the multiple Group One-winning mare Coventina Bay. Shamexpress has also spent time in the black-type spotlight in Australia this year with Grinzinger Belle's victories in the Gr.2 Let's Elope Stakes (1400m), Gr.3 The Vanity (1400m) and Gr.3 Ladies' Day Vase (1600m).
Hayes has been impressed with the selling at Karaka over the last two days, pointing to the impressive honour roll of previous Ready to Run Sale graduates. Among those is Lindsay Park's nine-time Australian Group One winner and A$16 million earner Mr Brightside, who was passed in when offered with a $50,000 reserve at this sale in 2019.
"It's been a very good sale, which I think is a reflection of the quality of horses that have been coming out of it over the last few years," Hayes said.
Lindsay Park continued to be busy through the early part of Thursday afternoon, paying $260,000 to buy BMD Bloodstock's Per Incanto colt out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Alternative Fact, which went through the ring as Lot 265.
