I didn't know where to post this, so here it sits. How's this for a win? As far as I can see, this is the only run so far by the horse, and for the win earned the equivalent of about 60,000 Euros. Nice money in Hong Kong. He's last away and in the green
Wow that is certainly unique - tailed off into the bend, went the longest way round and wins going away hands and heels. Either the others were complete dogs or this is a new superstar. A bit of stalls training wouldn't go amiss though.
Extraordinary. Would be interesting to know if that was his debut as as all horses in HK are bought in by the HK Jockey Club, usually at the end of their 2yo career. This one appears to have been bought and brought in as a yearling. Notice that despite it being his first start he's already gelded. All races in HK are handicaps so I don't know what weight he got and how they judged it.
From what I've read, the horse was purchased as an unraced prospect at a sale in Deauville. He's by Shamardal from the Peintre Celebre mare Nina Celebre and has a Listed Placed half sister who won in France as a two year old. He was then taken to Hong Kong where he went through the breeze up sales and although he proved intractable, he was much sought after. He fetched UK$6,000,000. (About 690,000 Euros) They have hopes he'll be a Derby horse.
As for the horse being gelded, it seems that about 95% of all horses racing in Hong Kong are gelded. There are next to filly or mares racing. The reason behind the geldings is that there is no breeding there due to lack of space. It's one of the most vertical and land poor cities in Asia. Racing is built around winning prize money, but there is a slight movement toward building a sires.
I was reading somewhere after Cyc posted the first clip that his trainer said he's "not all there mentally yet", still seems the case but looks good still. If he can get him breaking better and being lightly raced then he's an exciting horse. Certainly creates a good visual impression.
It's always extraordinary how families sustain. If you look at his pedigree he looks just to be a horse by Sharmadal out of a strongly German tail-line (I count 8 German-bred dams). But then you look a bit further and you find a mare called Catnip, who just happened to be the mum of a filly called Nogara. Then you realise Nogara was the dam of Nearco.
I noticed that Godolphin have cleverly purchased Pakistan Star's 2yo half-sister and have her in training with Fabre. She's called Networking and is by Invincible Spirit. Even if she has no ability I'd think there is high probability she'll be serviced by Sharmadal one day. And those clever people at Sunderland Holdings (think that's the company related to the owners of Sea the Stars I think) bought his other half-sister called Nina Terz (by Tertullian: who was a useful horse bred by Germans though born in the USA: he's actually closely related to Galileo and Sea the Star's dam). Pakistan Star's dam is only a 10yo so plenty of chances for more foals.
Only you would have discovered that Bustino. Interesting indeed. The whole pedigree is mouthwatering, including the joint second top miler of all time, Tudor MInstrel (3lb below Frankel on Timeform ratings). and just look at the dams in the last line above and the Rocket line
A sectional time of 21.44 seconds for the final 400m on Sunday was the second fastest in the last 7000 races at Sha Tin.
