Pakistan Star stands out in Sha Tin Trophy Handicap field

Many of the best horses in Hong Kong race Sunday at Sha Tin, where two Group 2, $541,950 stakes headline a 10-race card that begins at 1 a.m. Eastern.

Pakistan Star, a minor legend, stands atop the 1600-meter Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap, though this race also drew a bunch of other horses you’ve heard of with even a cursory knowledge of the Kong Kong scene. Set to oppose him in race 8 (post time 4:40 a.m. Eastern) are Beauty Generation, Time Warp, Seasons Bloom, and Werther. The field also includes two winners of last season’s three-race 4-year-old Championship Series, Nothingilikemore and Singapore Sling, as well as another leading 4-year-old from last season, Exultant.

Also entered is Beauty Only, who won the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in 2016.

It’s a star-studded cast, but Pakistan Star shines brightest. The mercurial gelding caught the eye from the very start of his Hong Kong career in September 2016 with electric finishing surges, but eventually fell victim to psychological squabbles in his brain, refusing for a spell to either race or train.

Trainer Tony Cruz went to work on Pakistan Star’s behavior, discovered the gelding had a special fondness for a floundering maiden named Winningli, and got Pakistan Star back on track. Pakistan Star, a German-bred son of Shamardal, finally fulfilled his early promise late last Hong Kong season when he won the Group 1 QE II Cup over 2000 meters and the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup over 2400 meters.

Cruz said he has designs on the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase over 2400 meters, part of the Hong Kong International Races program in December, and if Pakistan Star breaks as slowly as he did in a 1200-meter training race last week, he might not get up going a half-mile shorter Sunday.

While Pakistan Star makes his seasonal debut, Beauty Generation, a more natural miler, already had a run this season, easily winning the Group 3 Celebration Handicap over 1400 meters on Oct. 1. Seasons Bloom’s rating rose six points, to 132, off that win, and as top-rated he gives Pakistan Star (rated 127) five pounds on Sunday. Seasons Bloom also rates a chance at this distance while the other big names generally are warming up for longer races.

One race earlier a crack group of sprinters fills the Premier Bowl Handicap, run around one bend over 1200 meters, and featuring two good ones from the deep barn of trainer John Size. Hot King Prawn, making his Group race debut, handled Ivictory when they met in the National Day Cup on Oct. 1, but that race was run over a straight 1000 meters, a distance at which Hot King Prawn excels. Hot King Prawn got 16 pounds from Ivictory in the National Day, but his weight break over a distance more suitable for Ivictory on Sunday is down to 11.

Also in the field is Mr. Stunning, who was trained by Size when he won the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint last December but late last season was transferred to Size’s one-time assistant, Frankie Lor Fuchuen.