Four-year-old makes all to win star-studded debut.
Ka Ying Star, the son of Cityscape who raced as Urban Aspect in Britain in 2018 before being sold to Hong Kong, won convincingly on his debut at Sha Tin on 6 January. He is now on track for races like the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Derby.
Trained by Tony Cruz and ridden by C Ho, Ka Ying Star belied odds of 28-1 in a deep 14-runner field to break sharply from the gate and lead all the way in the Class 2 Lung Kong Handicap over a mile. He kicked clear in the straight to win the HK$1.5m race by two lengths. The beaten horses included G1 South Australian Derby winner Helene Leadingstar, G1 Rosehill Guineas third Furore, G1 Queensland Derby runner-up Heavenly Thought, European Listed winner Terre Du Terre, and Ka Ying Star’s former stable mate at Andrew Balding’s yard, Charity Go.
Bred by Emma Balding, Ka Ying Star – who has won four of his five starts but has yet to contest a black-type race – is assessed by Timeform as the best yet by Cityscape, sire of 9.4% Stakes winners to three-year-old runners in 2018. His leading runners so far also include the G3 Fred Darling winner Dan’s Dream – who stays in training in 2019 – and G2-placed Musidora winner Give And Take.
Cityscape is standing his sixth season at £5,000 Oct 1, SLF at Overbury Stud.
To watch Ka Ying Star’s Hong Kong victory, please click here.
