David Hayes was pleased to sail past 600 Hong Kong winners at Sha Tin on Sunday but it was the dominant Class Two success of Ka Ying Rising that gave the trainer the biggest kick.

Hayes was quick to put December’s Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) on the table for his three-year-old son of Shamexpress, who improved his record to four wins from six starts with the most dismissive of successes.

“That gave me a real thrill,” beamed Hayes after Ka Ying Rising snared the Brandy Snap Handicap (1,200m) on Class Two debut. “He’s an exciting young sprinter. To beat upper-class horses like that running that time – he’s got a bright future in Hong Kong.

“I think he’ll have one more run this season. We want to get his rating to a level where he can hopefully represent Hong Kong in December.

“With one more run, he’ll still get a month off and be ready for the start of next season. You’ve got to remember he’s only three.”

After travelling outside leader Packing Treadmill in a race run half a second outside standard through the first 800m, Ka Ying Rising rattled home in 22.27 seconds despite jockey Zac Purton sitting motionless for the last 150m.

Ka Ying Rising quickly put paid to Packing Treadmill, opening up a sizeable margin in the blink of an eye before eventually coasting across the line a two-and-a-half-length winner.

Hayes suggested Ka Ying Rising would “probably” go to the Group Three Sha Tin Vase (1,200m) on June 2 rather than the Class Two 1,200m a week later.

“We’ll see how he eats but I’ll probably go for the [Group Three] with less weight. Upper class with less weight is easier than lumping a big weight at this time of year,” said the trainer.

While Ka Ying Rising’s victory at $1.4 left punters smiling, Hayes sprang a surprise earlier on the card when knocking in win number 600 as a Hong Kong trainer thanks to the success of $19.45 chance Regent Glory in Class Four Manicou Handicap (1,200m) on the dirt.

“I only found out today that I was close, so it was good to get the 600 up. I haven’t been here as long as other trainers so it’s nice to get that number,” said Hayes.

Hayes moved to 41 winners with his double, already comfortably the 61-year-old’s best return of his second Hong Kong stint with 19 meetings remaining in the campaign.

“I’m happy with the strike rate and I think it’s a good, consistent stable now. We’re trying to target 50 winners for the season with 50 horses,” he said.

“I think that’s a pretty good effort – we’ve had about 48 racing for most of the season, so if we can get 50 winners, that’s a good job.”

Regent Glory posted his second all-weather win of the season and provided the first leg of Karis Teetan’s brace, with the Mauritian also saluting with Hong Kong Hall later on the card to tick over to 68 victories for the campaign.

“He seems to like the all-weather track, so we target the all-weather with him now,” Hayes said of Regent Glory. “He had some injections in his ankles between runs and I think that really helped him – he stretched out well.”