Pakistan Star’s apogee seems a long way distant now. That April day when Kerm Din’s pride stormed to a euphoric victory in the G1 QEII Cup (2000m) is now a bright memory shrouded in the shadow of seven straight defeats.
A full year has almost turned. What was then seen as the ascendance of a bad boy turned champion, the longed-for rise of an enigmatic hero, is now viewed as a two-race span of top level brilliance; as fleeting and breath-taking as the famous debut last-to-first dash that made his name way back in July 2016.
But the fact remains that in the 2018 QEII Cup, and again, a few weeks later in the G1 Champions & Chater Cup (2400m), Pakistan Star was the real deal and Hong Kong’s racing fans adored him for it. There was even robust debate about whether he or Beauty Generation should be Horse of the Year.
“His performance in this race last year, he just blew them away,” Paul O’Sullivan said, recalling that three-length demolition.
The Shamardal gelding’s handler was an observer at that time. Fellow Sha Tin trainer Tony Cruz was the man who had prepared Pakistan Star for his Group 1 anointing; had educated the nervous, enigmatic German-bred and turned him from “stopper” to Champion Stayer.
O’Sullivan took over the training – unexpectedly and unsought – when Din moved his horse to the next-door stable block after a dispiriting 10th of 11 in the G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) in February.
The New Zealander this week reported that Pakistan Star has shown none of the famed recalcitrance of former days as he has prepared for Sunday’s HK$24 million FWD QEII Cup.
“He’s just an ordinary horse; he’s a tough, kind, quiet sort of horse. He goes about his business,” he said.
“He has only trialled on the dirt and worked on the dirt and I don’t think he’s ever given any trouble doing that. Mind you, I don’t think I’d like to be running him down the back straight or anything like that!”