PHOTO COURTESY: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST/ KENNETH CHAN
Why? You might ask. The short answer: A horse named Pakistan Star produced a truly remarkable comeback to win his debut at a Griffin race in Hong Kong.
Pakistan Star, with rider Matthew Chadwick on his back, started off slow and at one point was nearly out of sight. But then, in the final moments of the race, the horse emerged into the frame and this time it meant business. Within moments, Pakistan Star caught up with all of its opponents and inched into first place in miraculous fashion.
The great horse race that stunned the public
“I don’t think he beat anything special, the Griffin races haven’t been that impressive so I did say to the owners that I thought he had a blowout chance today,” said Chadwick about Pakistan Star as quoted by South China Morning Post. “Today was about his ability more than where he’s at mentally.”
Check out sectionals from Pakistan Star in R1. Final 400 in 21.22s. A 2016 HK Int'l Sale grad by Shamardal #HKracing pic.twitter.com/JwoO7iKdSI
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) July 1, 2016
He added: “In these griffin races, with so many inexperienced horses, you never know if they’ll go fast or slow. Mentally, he’s not there, which we’ve known ever since his breeze-up before the sale, but he is making progress in track-work and learning all the time.”
Enough about the race though. We're going to skip to what we all really want to know: Why in the world is this horse called Pakistan Star? So it turns out, the horse is not as Pakistani as we would have liked.
He is actually a German-bred three-year-old brown-coloured horse. It was formerly known as Ninas Shadow and was bought by its current owner Din Kerm for HK$6 million at the Hong Kong International Sale in March, according to thoroughbreddailynews.com.
Meanwhile, the race that our very own Pakistan Star won is called a Griffin race. These races are characterised by horses who have never won a race anywhere in the world. But, this was Pakistan Star's first-ever race at any level so we can't really take that away from him.
So, what does that make Pakistan Star? In Hong Kong’s racing terminology, a horse that is imported to Hong Kong unraced is called a Griffin (makes sense?).
Horse racing: Denzaro wins Pakistan Derby 2013
Some further digging led us to some interesting facts about the owner Din Kerm, who is kind of obsessed with naming his horses with a Pakistan suffix.
According to the Hong Kong Jockey Club website, the owner individually owns Pakistan Baby, Pakistan Star and retired Pakistan Treasure.
Moreover, he is a partner in ownership for two other retired horses with Pakistan names attached to them: Glory of Pakistan and Pakistan Hero. Why? You might ask. Short answer: We have no clue but we are trying our best to locate Mr Kerm.
In any case, cheers to the owner for keeping Pakistan in such high regard.
Watch the amazing win here
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