Tempted Wins The Everest 2026, Ending Ka Ying Rising’s 21-Race Streak at $1.35
Godolphin mare Tempted won The Everest, the $20 million 1200m sprint at Royal Randwick, on Saturday 17 October 2026. Trained by Ciaron Maher and ridden by Chad Schofield, she beat Hong Kong’s Ka Ying Rising by 0.23 lengths, described as a long head, and ended the gelding’s 21-race winning streak. Tempted started at $6.50; Ka Ying Rising was the odds-on favourite at $1.35, according to AAP.
The result
- 1st: Tempted (barrier 1), trainer Ciaron Maher, jockey Chad Schofield – $6.50
- 2nd: Ka Ying Rising (barrier 11), trainer David Hayes, jockey Zac Purton – $1.35 favourite
- 3rd: Joliestar, trainer Chris Waller, jockey James McDonald – $19, a further 0.35 lengths back
- 4th: Headwall, trainer Matthew Smith – $51
Tempted ran 1:08.21 on a track that had received close to 100mm of rain during the week and was upgraded to Soft 5 on race day, according to The Standard in Hong Kong. The four-year-old’s first prize of $7.5 million took her earnings past $14.5 million from 10 wins in 15 starts. She had won all five starts since running second to Ka Ying Rising in the 2025 Everest. It was the 10th running of the race and Schofield’s first ride in it.
The end of a streak
Ka Ying Rising arrived in Sydney as the world’s highest-rated horse and was chasing his 22nd consecutive win. His previous defeat was a short-head loss in a Class 3 handicap at Sha Tin on 21 January 2024, roughly 1,000 days earlier. A win would have made him the second dual Everest winner after Redzel (2017 and 2018).
Trainer David Hayes blamed the draw. Ka Ying Rising jumped from barrier 11 of 12 and raced wide without cover. “We thought the barrier would be a bonus, but it turned against us,” Hayes said. “I love the way he finished, but I hate the result.” He left the door open for a third attempt in 2027.
What a $1.35 favourite really means
A starting price of $1.35 implies a win probability of about 74 per cent before the bookmaker’s margin is removed. Put the other way, the market was saying Ka Ying Rising would lose roughly one time in four. On 17 October that one time arrived.
Tempted’s $6.50 price implied about 15 per cent. Neither figure was wrong; a favourite losing is part of what the odds already describe. The gambler’s mistake is to treat a short price as a certainty and stake accordingly, or to chase the loss on the next race. Our explainers on the gambler’s fallacy and how odds convert to probability cover both traps.
Short-priced favourites in feature races also attract large multi bets, where one leg at $1.35 is often used to “anchor” a ticket. When that leg fails, every multi built on it fails with it.
The Everest on the calendar
The Everest is run under a slot system, in which slot holders buy the right to nominate a runner, and in 2026 it was run on the same afternoon as the Caulfield Cup in Melbourne. In 2025 Racing NSW reported a World Pool wagering record of A$16.44 million on the race and an on-course crowd of 50,167; 2026 figures had not been published by Racing NSW at the time of writing.
Tempted, trained by Ciaron Maher and ridden by Chad Schofield, won at Royal Randwick on 17 October 2026 at a starting price of $6.50.
Ka Ying Rising started the $1.35 favourite and finished second, beaten 0.23 lengths. It was his first defeat after 21 consecutive wins.
Her first prize was $7.5 million from the $20 million purse, taking her career earnings past $14.5 million.
Sources
- Port News (AAP): Tempted upsets Ka Ying Rising to claim Everest (17 October 2026)
- The Standard (Hong Kong): Tempted ends Ka Ying Rising’s winning streak in The Everest (17 October 2026)
- Racing NSW: $20 million TAB Everest smashes wagering and crowd records (2025)
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Header photo: GGF Race7a by Noah Salzman, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.