As Ka Ying Rising’s Everest defence starts with a barrier trial at Sha Tin on Friday, his regular rider, Hong Kong’s champion jockey Zac Purton has revealed the one race he covets to crown his celebrated career – the Melbourne Cup."Obviously, it's a very hard race to win being a handicap and a large field, and a lot of things need to go right,'' Purton told Racing And Sports.

"It's very hard to get on the right horse from Hong Kong because most of the time I can't ride the horse in the lead up, which sometimes sort of works against me a little bit.

"But you know, I've had plenty of success jumping on horses for the first time on a race day and winning on them.

"So, it's not a big deal. It's just a matter of the connections being happy for me to come in at the last minute and try and get the job done.

"But yeah, the Melbourne Cup would be great. I would really like to win that.''

Purton, who began his riding career on NSW's mid-north coast, has called Hong Kong home for nearly two decades and is regarded as one of the world's truly elite jockeys.

Earlier this year, Purton became the first to ride 2000 Hong Kong winners, he's the only jockey to ride the winner of every Hong Kong Group 1 race, he holds the record for most wins in a season there with 179 wins set in 2022-23, and he is a nine-time premiership winner.

But his success isn't confined to Hong Kong and his riding record commanded inclusion in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Purton's tally of 53 career Group 1 winners includes majors in Japan, Singapore and Great Britain, and his Everest success on Ka Ying Rising last year was his 12th Australian Group 1 win. His other big race wins here include three Doncaster Miles, Caulfield Cup, Epsom Handicap, The Galaxy and Randwick Guineas.

The champion jockey is already planning on returning to Sydney this spring to ride Ka Ying Rising in the Group 1 $20 million The TAB Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on October 17.

But Purton is hopeful of making more regular forays to Sydney and Melbourne for the major carnivals this season.

"The Hong Kong Jockey Club has said that they're willing to be a little bit more lenient,'' Purton revealed.

"You know, they have a lot of World Pool meetings that they take in now from Australia.

"So, they've said that, you know, we're available to go and ride in them if we can get some suitable rides.

"There are a few opportunities there, it's just a matter of getting the right offer and the right horse.

"It's a long way to go to ride something that is at double digits (odds) in the market.

"But certainly if the horse has got a genuine winning chance, then yeah, I'm always very happy to come down.''

It's understandable Purton will go wherever he is required to ride Ka Ying Rising and he returned from a family holiday in Indonesia to be ready to ride the super sprinter in Friday's barrier trial.

"I've been watching him work, via the videos that everyone's been putting out while I've been on holiday, and he looks pretty good,'' Purton said. "(Trainer) David Hayes is happy with him.''

Ka Ying Rising is on a 20-race three-year winning streak and was untouchable in eight starts last season including The Everest.

Purton believes Ka Ying Rising's trip to Sydney for The Everest last year was "the making of him".

"It brought him on, mentally and physically,'' Purton said. "He came back a stronger horse.

"When we went down there and he was in that stage of his career where he wasn't changing his lead properly but he came back from Australia and changed his leg beautifully in every race since.

"And that's one of the reasons his performances continued to get better and better as well as his natural physical development.''

However, Hayes told Racing And Sports earlier this week that Ka Ying Rising's Everest win was the sprinter least impressive win of season and will train the sprinter a "little bit harder" going this spring.

There were some worrying signs when Ka Ying Rising was beaten in a Randwick barrier trial just over a week before The Everest last spring and Purton said the lessons have been learned from last year.

"Obviously his first barrier trial at Randwick, he mentally he just lost it,'' Purton said.

"He was a wreck himself, so having gone through that process, he was better on race day and we expect him to be better again this year.''

After his Everest win, Ka Ying Rising returned to Hong Kong and his form seemed to go to a higher level again.

"Ka Ying Rising broke the track record three times in Hong Kong last season,'' Purton said.

"He went back and broke it after The Everest over 1200m and then he broke the track record over 1400m when he stepped up to that distance for his only run for the season and then he broke the track record again on Champions Day back at 1200m.

"So, he's certainly in a rich vein of form and hopefully we can keep him in that same form for another 12 months.''

Ka Ying Rising's Timeform rating has soared to 137, which ranks him above Australia's great sprinters, Black Caviar, Manikato, Vain and Todman on 136, and the Hong Kong champion is the big favourite for The TAB Everest.

In an ominous warning to potential Everest rivals, the early indications from the Hayes stable is that Ka Ying Rising has returned a bigger and stronger sprinter this season.

Purton is also in the best physical shape he's been in years which was reflected with his outstanding riding form last season.

"I would say that the season just gone by was the most comfortable season I've had in probably about seven or eight years,'' Purton said.

"Since I had that nasty fall in the international sprint all that time ago (2021) I've had a lot of trouble with my hip, but for whatever reason and thankfully so, it seemed to settle down the season just gone by.

"Hopefully it stays that way because I don't want to go back to the way it was. It was getting to the point where I'd had enough.''

Picture: HKJC