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| May 9, 2002 | Thursday | Safar 25, 1423 |
Long-shot Wing Commander grabs glory
LAHORE, May 8: The long shot bay Wing Commander, superbly ridden by jockey M. Asif II, won the supporting event run over 900 metres at the mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse Wednesday.
Wing Commander outpaced stablemate Al Jarrar by one-and-a- half lengths. The bay mare Densee finished third four lengths further behind while the chestnut gelding Pistol Pete completed the frame another one-and-a-half length back. Nine competed for the event.
Faancied Al arrar led from start till the 800 metres marker followed by Wing Commander and the rest of the field. Wing Commander responding to the driving ofjockey Asif II rallied strongly and beat the front-runner by one-and-a-half lengths in a thrilling finish. This was the fifth race in racing order.
Later the feature event was claimed by the fancied grey colt Al Zarrar who gave riding boy Waqas Sheikh an armchair ride. Al Zarrar led all the way defeating co-favourite Decent Fellow by a big margin of about nine lengths. Fifty Six Fifty Six and Lucky Credit Queen completed the frame among only five runners.
Leading jockey Shahid Rehman and trainer Razzak shared the honours by scoring a double each on a day marred by cancellation of the opening event because of the lack of competition.
Shahid piloted dark-bay colt Jehandar in the second race and then flawlessly rode the blue-roan colt Afnan in the fourth race to complete his double. Trainer Razzak Saddled Wing Commander and Al Zarrar in the supporting and feature event.
The Lahore Race Club (LRC) steward cancelled the first race while it was in progress because they “anticipated lack of competition”. Shortly before the start of the race a section of the punters raised slogans demanding cancellation of the race.
The LRC officials were of the view that all the four contestants backed for win and places were not sent to perform on merit. Sensing foul-play the officials announced cancellation of the race while it was in progress.
The card of six events drawn for the day was thus reduced to five events. All races were contested over the sprinting distance of 900 metres.
Since the opener was cancelled the LRC stewards let the feature event held although there were only five runners. Normally they do not let a race to be held unless there are at least seven runners in a class VII event.
The following are results:
First race: Jhelum Plate Class VII Division VIII 900 Metres:
(Cancelled by LRC stewards due to lack of competition).
Second race:
JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION VII 900 METRES:
Jehandar (Syed Tasweer Hussain Shah) 8-13 Shahid Rehman 1. Copper Fields 8-1 A. Aziz 2. Jashn 7-10 Khalil Vicky 3. Silver Baby 7-10 Shahnawaz 4. (All 15 ran).
Won by 1 1/4 L, 1 L, 1/2 L.
Time 59 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.
Third race:
JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION VI 900 METRES:
Hot Spell (Hamza Khan) 9-0 Zahid Ali 1. Super Land 8-7 Nadeem Ikram 2. Subzero 8-12 Shahid Khan 3. Hot Press 8-7 Javed Bashir 4. (Only 14 ran).
Won by 4 11/4 L, Distance, 1/2 L.
Time 58 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.
Fourth race:
JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION V 900 METRES:
Afnan (Mohammed Yaqoob) 8-8 Shahid Rehman 1. New Valley 8-1 Kamran 2. Russian Pet 8-7 A. Aziz 3. Fly To The Stars 9-0 Niaz Ahmad 4. (Only ten ran).
Won by 8 L, 2 L, Distance.
Time 57 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Shakir Hussain.
Fifth race:
JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION V (A) 900 METRES:
Wing Commander (S.T.Kamal Shah) 8-12 M. Asif (II) 1. Al Jarrar 8-2 Waqas Sheikh 2. Densee 8-2 Shahzad Ahmad 3. Pistol Pete 8-5 A. Imran 4. (Nine ran).
Won by 1 1/2 L, 4 L, 1 1/2 L.
Time 58 22/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Razzak.
Sixth race:
JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION IV 900 METRES:
Al Zarrar (S. T. Kamal Shah) 8-9 Waqas Sheikh 1. Decent Fellow 9-0 Azam Hussain 2. Fifty Six Fifty Six 8-1 Qamar Zaman 3. Lucky Credit Queen 8-8 Shahid Khan 4. (Only five ran).
Won by 8 3/4 L,1 1/4 L, 5 1/2 L.
Time 56 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Razzak.
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