LAHORE, July 14: The bay horse Shah The Great showed his class when he outpaced his rivals to win the feature event and complete hat trick of victories at the Racecourse Sunday.
Backed from two to one down to evens, Shah The Great took a fine start and fought for a while with Half Love who eventually ran out of gas to be beaten by about five lengths. Jet Master finished third seven lengths further behind with Ahtisab, another seven lengths away.
The feature event, the Nawab Shah Plate, a class III, IV & V combined race run over the sprinting distance of 900 metres was the fifth and last race of the afternoon.
Carrying a heavy impost of ten stones four pounds on his back, Shah The Great, romped home in his usual easy style under the astute handling of jockey Majid Khan. The winner clocked 55 1/5 seconds over the distance.
The victory of Shah The Great gave Majid Khan and trainer Razzak a well-deserved double each. The duo had won the supporting and fourth event of the day through the bay filly Devi Husn Ki. Both the winners are owned by Syed T. Kamal Shah.
Punters had a fine afternoon when four well-backed contestants romped home in a card of five events.
The three-year-old bay filly Qaswa Princess won the opener as the punters’ choice defeating the bay gelding Flying Fin by four lengths in a handy position.
The three-year-old bay filly Royal Bullet sprang a big surprise winning the second race from fancied Golden Wings by a narrow margin of three-fourth of a length. Her victory owed much to the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards who replaced her original rider Nazir Ahmad with M.Zeeshan.
In the subsequent events, Thunder Storm, Devi Husn Ki and Shah The Great dominated the proceedings.
Tight security arrangements were made during the races following an incident of firing in the Rawalpindi Race Club on Thursday in which four race-goers, including two brother, were killed and about a dozen wounded.
A Lahore owner, Shahid Rasul, who was critically wounded in the firing, died Sunday rising the death toll to five.
FOLLOWING ARE THE RESULTS:
Mianwali Plate Class VII Div V 900m:
Qaswa Princess (Mian Ahmad Din) 9-4 Shehzad Ahmad 1. Flying Fin 8-8 A. Aziz 2. Densee 7-10 Ishtiaq Ali 3. Royal Man 7-11 M. Hussain 4.
Also ran: Cape Town and Lucky Queen Of The World.
Won by 4 L, 1 1/4 l, 1 1/4 L.
Time 57 seconds.
Winner trained by Mian Javaid.
Mianwali Plate Class VII Div IV 900m:
Royal Bullet (Syed Makhdoom Ali Raza) 7-10 M. Zeeshan 1. Golden Wings 7-13 M. Jehangir 2. Oneeza 7-10 Kamran 3. Decent Fellow 8-4 A. Aziz 4.
Also ran: Bacha Jamoora, Sherganzer and Haseen Love.
Won by 3/4 L, 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L.
Time 56 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.
Mianwali Plate Class VII Div III 900m:
Thunder Storm (Mian Mohammad Saleem) 8-4 M. Hanif 1. Lippizanner 7-10 Aksir 2. Asif Love 7-12 Nadeem Ikram 3. Imagine if 8-0 Qamar Zaman 4.
Also ran: Hot Spell, Royal Prosper, Mahnoor and Caspian Queen.
Won by 2 3/4 L, 1 L, 1 1/2 L.
Time 56 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Bashir.
Mianwali Plate Class VII Div I & II 900m
Devi Husn Ki (Syed T. Kamal Shah) 7-10 Majid Khan 1. Lake District 8-3 Khalil Vicky 2. Sound Of Music 8-8 Anjum 3. Al Zarrar 8-4 Aksir 4.
Also ran: Daring Eagle, King Of Hearts, Green Hill, Waseem Love, Red Ransom, Crysler, Biennial Moon, Mr Wonderful, Dahis Again, Early Bird and Mesham prince.
Won by 2 l, 4 1/4 L, Short-head.
Time 55 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Razzak.
The Nawab Shah Plate Class III, IV and V (combined) 900m:
Shah The Great (Syed T. Kamal Shah) 10-4 Majid Khan 1. Half Love 9-12 Kamran 2. Jet Master 9-0 Mohsin Ali 3. Ahtisab 7-13 Qamar Zaman 4.
Also ran: Think Thank, Gambling Girl, Might And Power and Star Gate.