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Pakistan Star will look a little different on Sunday (26 May) when he attempts to become the sixth repeat winner of the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) in the last 30 years.
Trainer Paul O’Sullivan has opted to ditch the famous green and white headgear. The blinkers were off for a recent barrier trial and the star galloper’s surging run suggested liberation from the eye-wear might be the way forward.
“We just took them off to try to get the horse to switch off,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s the biggest problem. If he relaxes he’ll be very competitive but he has to switch off.”
This weekend’s feature is the last Group 1 of Hong Kong’s 2018/19 season and features the usual suspects, plus one Japanese raider in Happy Grin.
“There’s usually good speed in the race when you’ve got Time Warp and Glorious Forever, so that’s the plan, take the blinkers off and see if he switches off,” O’Sullivan said.
“His trial was encouraging but his last two runs have been quite satisfactory - probably not up to his brilliant best of the past, to be fair. That being the case, I just expect him to race well again.”
Pakistan Star was at his career zenith this time last year for his previous handler Tony Cruz, rolling into a G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup win off a stunning top-flight breakthrough in the QEII Cup (2000m). That double is off the table this time after the six-year-old ran fifth in the QEII Cup last time, but for a few strides in that 2000m test last month it had looked well and truly on.
A gap opened, Pakistan Star was cruising, jockey Matthew Chadwick asked the question but the quickening burst was all too short.
“The plan was to hold him up for a lot longer than that but when those two horses opened up like they did Matthew had to go because if he sat there and it closed he’d have been in deep trouble,” O’Sullivan said.
“I know he won this race last year but I think the mile and a half is right at the end of his stamina range.”
With that in mind, and with that zipping 1200m dirt track barrier trial fresh in the memory, O’Sullivan is pretty well set in his plan to start Pakistan Star over a sprint distance next term.
“I think he’d be kicking off at 1200 (metres) next season,” he said. “They’ll run him off his legs but he steams along and trials like an open sprinter, he sits back and goes whoosh at the end of it. I’m not saying he’s going to be a 1200-metre horse next season but he is going to get his chance early to run a short trip.
“There’s no use running in the mile races early because you’re going to hit Beauty Generation and that’s no fun! I don't know what his programme will be but we’ll kick him off at a short one and then work it out from there.”
As for Sunday’s mile and half test, O’Sullivan added: “Hopefully he’ll switch off and do the job. He’s a very good galloper. I just expect him to race well and hope for the best.”
Exultant will attempt to seal Champion Stayer honours with victory in the G1 feature, while Eagle Way, Dark Dream, Mongolian King and Rise High are also engaged.
