Ka Ying Rising could be a notable absentee from this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival due to contentious CT scan rules, with trainer David Hayes labelling current biosecurity requirements as excessive and potentially unfair.

While Hayes is keen to see the four-year-old sprint star run in the Champions Sprint at Flemington following a potential appearance in the Group 1 The Everest, he’s baulking at the idea of a second scan post-Randwick and quarantine clearance.

“It is madness,” Hayes said ahead of Ka Ying Rising’s next start in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin.

“We are happy to do the first scan before he leaves (Hong Kong) – tick, and you would think that would be enough.

“If you take a horse out of his quarantine for an unneeded scan and he is a last start winner, and the horses that he will be racing won’t be (required to do it), it needs to be looked at.”

“You don’t have to scan a horse to see that it is sound.”

Under the revised protocols, any international galloper must undergo a second scan before racing in Melbourne—even if it has competed without issue after completing quarantine in Sydney. The previous loophole allowing direct passage to Melbourne from Sydney was removed in 2024.

Hayes said Ka Ying Rising is in significantly better form than when he won the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint last December, suggesting improvement of “four or five lengths.”

He again expects Japanese contender Satono Reve and Australia’s Helios Express to pose the biggest threats in Sunday’s feature, just as they did in the Hong Kong Sprint trifecta.

“The whole team feels that he is a better horse now,” Hayes said. “He’s only four and next year could be his golden season.”