On Derby Day 12 months ago, Pakistan Star stamped himself as a horse of the future with a strong second in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) to Rapper Dragon.
A year on, he is the support act rather than the main event, but jockey Joao Moreira still believes Pakistan Star can take another step towards Group 1 glory when he tackles the race named for his Derby conqueror, the Class 1 Rapper Dragon Handicap (1600m), at Sha Tin on Sunday (18 March).
“I really think he’s a Group 1 winner in waiting, it’s only a matter of time before he gets his opportunity and he gets everything to suit,” Moreira said at Sha Tin on Friday morning (16 March). “He has run very well in some very good races in the past. I was extremely happy with the way he ran the other day, first-up, and it confirmed the high opinion I have had of him.”
That run, with Matthew Chadwick in the plate, came in the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), where the Tony Cruz-trained Pakistan Star, first-up for eight months, finished fourth to stablemate Time Warp. It was the first time the two-minute mark had been broken for the 10 furlongs at Sha Tin.
“Based on that run, you’d think that he will go off favourite in Sunday’s race,” Moreira said. “I obviously wasn’t riding but I watched his run closely. He was a bit fractious in the gates but he was still able to pull out a good performance. Sure, he goes back to 1600m on Sunday, but I look at it in a good way, because if you have a horse that can deliver good form over a longer distance and they can step back in trip, you’d think he’s going to run even better second-up.”
