There were some bold statements being bandied around Sha Tin after Ka Ying Rising’s breathtaking victory in the Group Two Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) on Sunday, but old hands Zac Purton and David Hayes remained remarkably reserved while acknowledging what makes the four-year-old one of the most exciting prospects in world racing.

For most, it was always going to be hard to resist speaking of Ka Ying Rising like some sort of extraterrestrial after the son of Shamexpress smashed a 17-year-old track record with an effortless three-and-a-quarter-length win.

But Hayes and Purton avoided any knee-jerk comments – they know all this counts for little until Ka Ying Rising wins a Group One – and instead pointed towards the supreme professionalism and beautiful action the galloper has developed in such a short space of time.

“It’s just his attitude on race day now, he’s handling things so well,” Purton said. “He used to be jig-jogging in the parade ring, jig-jogging behind the start, sweating, getting really nervous and he wouldn’t stand still in the gates.

“But he’s come a long way in a short period of time and when you look at him or sit on him, he doesn’t feel like he’s fully developed, which is the really scary part.”

Ka Ying Rising took his record to eight victories from 10 starts when he smashed Sacred Kingdom’s track record on Sunday afternoon and no one is better placed to assess his superstar potential than the man who’s been in the saddle for every run but one.

Purton is well versed in partnering some of Hong Kong’s best sprinters, with the seven-time champion jockey steering Aerovelocity and Lucky Sweynesse to a cumulative eight Group One wins.

Ka Ying Rising has a long way to go if he is to climb a similar summit to those two gallopers, but with the Group One The Everest (1,200m) just one of several potential future targets being mentioned, literally anything is possible.

“Aerovelocity was big, strong and really difficult to handle,” Purton said. “With Lucky Sweynesse, it was always drama at the start. You were always worried about getting him out of the gates, trying to keep him in his rhythm and hoping you don’t get chopped out.

“But this guy is just the perfect horse to ride and he’s got the best brain. What he does that the others don’t do is he just relaxes so well mid-race. He switches off, he can cruise on a high speed, he can relax on a slow speed and then he has that blistering turn of foot.”

As far as overseas bookmakers are concerned, Ka Ying Rising is a raging $1.33 favourite for next month’s Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) and he also sits at the head of the market for October’s The Everest.

But for Hong Kong racing more generally, it’s remarkable that another potential superstar has been unearthed so quickly after the retirement of Golden Sixty and the injury to last year’s highest-rated sprinter, Lucky Sweynesse.

In terms of where Ka Ying Rising sits on the Hong Kong ratings ladder, he has been bumped up one point to a mark of 128, meaning he sits five behind Romantic Warrior, who remained unchanged after his Group Two Jockey Club Cup (2,000m) win, and four off Lucky Sweynesse.

Hayes’ rising star will bid to bridge the gap to Lucky Sweynesse when he searches for a breakthrough win at the top level in three weeks, something which seems a mere formality right now.

Speaking after Ka Ying Rising’s emphatic success, Hayes said it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get to the bottom of the gelding in the near future, let alone at next month’s Longines Hong Kong International Races.

“I love looking at his action on race days – he just has that extra action,” Hayes said. “When it’s time to accelerate, when he ambles up, he really lengthens and puts races to bed really quickly.

“He was a late-furnishing horse. I think that probably was why he got defeated a couple times – he was a little bit immature. He thinks he’s undefeated because he was beaten a millimetre twice.

“When you see him walking around, some of the big, established sprinters here in Hong Kong look a bit more furnished than him, so there’s plenty more to come from this horse.”