By Alan Carasso
Pakistan Star (Ger) (Shamardal), accorded 'TDN Rising Star' status off a second consecutive improbable victory on seasonal debut Sept. 18, showed better gate speed than he has in either of his two trips to the post in a Tuesday barrier trial up the Sha Tin straight.
Assigned gate seven, the gelding, who bombed the start dramatically in his two career appearances, was away to a much smoother dispatch and got right onto the back of the classy multiple stakes-placed Blizzard (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}) before sliding up underneath that rival to lead narrowly hooking up with the course proper. The latter fought back to take a late lead, but Pakistan Star kept on well under minimal urging from Matthew Chadwick and was just touched out of second on the wire, clocking a time of :58.28 (video).
“He jumped nicely, that's what we wanted to see,” said trainer Tony Cruz. “He travelled up with them and showed pace. He'll be dropped in again when it comes to the race but it's good to see him learning.”
Chadwick added: “He's improved going into the gates, we've done a bit of education the past couple weeks, so going into the gates has improved. Today the trial felt a little slow and he just did his own thing. I wanted to jump well enough to try and take a sit off Blizzard. [Jockey] Joao [Moreira on Blizzard] was happy just to sit there and my fella was wondering about and looking around a bit, and then a gap opened between Blizzard and the other horse and he wanted to get going, so I let him stride through himself. He got there a bit early and just started idling. He put his head up and started looking around because there was nothing left to chase. That's his running style, he likes to chase them and run them down.”
Bred by Gestut Wittkindshof, Pakistan Star was purchased for €180,000 by the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the 2014 Arqana Deauville Yearling Sale. Prepared for the 2016 Hong Kong International Sale, he was sold to owner Kern Dim for HK$6 million. He belied debut odds of 15-1 for a sensational success July 1 (video) and repeated the dose after a slow start when last seen Sept 18 (video). Now rated 87, Pakistan Star is likely for a Class 2 handicap over 1400 metres Oct. 16. Blizzard is scheduled to run first-up in the G3 Premier Bowl H. (1200m) Oct. 23.
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