The Winx effect: Why strain is starting to build for Ka Ying Rising’s trainer

Chris Waller went through it with Winx. So did Peter Moody with Black Caviar.

Now trainer David Hayes says he is starting to feel the pressure that comes with the fear of disappointing the millions of racing fans who expect Ka Ying Rising to win every time he sets foot on the racetrack. Saturday at Randwick looms as the latest instalment.

The world’s best horse has won his last 13 races and is the raging $1.70 favourite to win the $20 million Everest. An eerie hush will descend over the racetrack at around 4.15pm should Ka Ying Rising fail to uphold his end of the bargain.

Waller was mentally exhausted by the time the decision was made to retire Winx from racing with a peerless record of 37 wins from 43 career starts, including 33 consecutive victories.

Towards the end of her career, the master trainer struggled to contain his emotion every time he was interviewed after a race, with the relief she had come through unscathed and with her winning streak intact etched on his face.

If anyone knows what Hayes is going through with Ka Ying Rising – and what he will endure over the next couple of seasons should the gelding keep winning – it is Waller.

Australia’s best trainer has three hopes of his own trying to deny Ka Ying Rising, including Angel Capital, the only stallion in the field whose stud value could soar as high as $60m should he win.

“It becomes addictive but also quite demanding,” Waller told this masthead of the strain of attempting to repeatedly satisfy the public with a superstar horse.

“You soon learn it’s no longer your team or your horse, but public property. And respecting [that fact] was the first thing we had to get right. That happened after about a year. That’s when everyone expects to know what’s going on.

“You also need to respect that there will be a lot of opinions, which we’ve seen with Ka Ying Rising the past two weeks. You just have to block that out, concentrate on training the horse, and make sure you’ve done your job right.

“You still need luck to go your way, just as you need the bounce of the ball in sport.

“The one key ingredient is you need a superstar. We all have off days. Horses are no different. But if you have a superstar individual, it makes your job easier.

“Looking back on Winx, we had nothing to worry about, except making sure everything was done right, because we had a superstar.

“Ka Ying Rising looks similar. David will look back on it and say, ‘Well, this is a great experience’, and maybe, ‘I’m not ready for it now, but I’d love to do it again one day’.

“With Winx, it was a big relief at the end of every preparation. We would catch our breath, have a break, the horse would have a break, and we’d get ready to go again.

“It’s hard to predict that final race. Winx could have had her final race at any of her previous ten starts.

“Ka Ying Rising isn’t there yet, but when he gets into the twilight of his career, that’s when you start to think, ‘Is today the day we have that media conference to tell everyone that was his last run?’”

Black Caviar won all 25 of her career starts, with Moody revealing in the book, Black Caviar – The Horse of a Lifetime, that one of the few times he felt pressure was when travelling the mare to Royal Ascot.

Like Waller and Moody, Hayes is an accomplished media talent, and welcomed the intense spotlight.

“I can totally relate to it,” said Hayes when asked about the Winx and Black Caviar rollercoaster rides for Waller and Moody.

“This horse has done everything Winx and Black Caviar did, my two all-time favourite horses, at the 16-run mark of his career.

“If he can get to that 32-run mark, which is another 18 months of racing, he might be compared as equal or better [than those two].

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge. And I wouldn’t dare say he’s a Winx or Black Caviar until he lasts another two or three seasons of racing. Winx and Black Caviar’s greatness was defined by their longevity.

“There will be pressure on me Saturday. But I’d rather be saddling him up with the pressure than a 50/1 shot.”

Meanwhile, Waller said Angel Capital, a good thing beaten last start at Caulfield – and a $23 outsider with bookies – was yet to win at the elite level, “but he’s ready”.

“The things we see at home on the training tracks is quite phenomenal; if he was getting on your blocks, he’s ‘Usain Bolt’,” Waller said. “He has a bit of swank about him.”

The only colt to have won The Everest is Yes Yes Yes, who was trained by Waller, with Angel Capital’s stud value to soar if he was to win the country’s richest group 1.

When asked what it would mean if Angel Capital triumphed, Waller smiled and said: “It means the horse will be busy. It’s a group 1 race, it’s the best of the best, and a stud-making race. His value would be untapped.”