January 25, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1423

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LAHORE, Jan 24: Rank outsider, Millennium Count, upset all calculations when the blue-roan gelding galloped home to win the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Cup for class I, II and III, run over 1400 metres at the Racecourse before a capacity crowd on Friday.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and finance and industries minister of United Arab Emirates, was the chief guest at the special Lahore Winter Meeting held in his honour at the Lahore Race Club on Friday.

Sheikh Hamdan’s arrival from Rahim Yar Khan was delayed as a result of which he could witness the feature event only. However, he distributed prizes to the winning contestants.

While giving away the cups to the owners of the events named after himself, Sheikh Hamdan congratulated all the winning jockeys and trainers whom he personally met.

He also minutely examined the gelding, Millennium Count, who won the feature event.

It may be mentioned that the Maktoum family, the rulers of Dubai, are among the leading race-horse owners and breeders on the international racing circuit. The victories scored by their thoroughbreds on the international race tracks are unmatched by any single person or family.

Sheikh Hamdan gave away the cups after the fourth and feature event in the paddock, flanked by Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, LRC chairman Tariq Aziz and secretary Ata Ali Khan amidst big applause from the crowd.

Five cup events bearing Sheikh Hamdan’s name, were held at the prestigious special Winter Meeting.

In the feature event, owned by Munir Dar, Millennium Count with riding boy M. Jehangir astride, fought it out with front runners and sprang from outside to gain half a length success.

He beat the joint favourite, Admiral’s Way. Red Storm came from behind with a late burst of speed to finish fourth by a length while Red Ransom completed the board, another one-and-a-half lengths back. This was the fourth race in racing order.

Earlier in the second and supporting event, the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Cup, a class IV division I handicap race, fancied bay filly Fair Play after a heroic running beat her stablemate, Prime Force, by one and three-quarters of a length. Muqadar and Snoopy completed the frame among nine runners.

Piloted by ace-jockey Shahid Rehman, Fair Play equalled the record timing of one minute 12 2/5 seconds over 1200 metres.

Fair Play now shares the record time clocked by Swivelling (1994), Desert Dream and Bureaucrat (2002).

The Sheikh Hamdan Cup for three-year-old Pakistani thoroughbred colts and fillies run over 1000 metres was won by bay colt Prince Well defeating the bay filly Royal Jewellery by three-fourth of a length. Another bay filly Ponchi finished third with Cess Pool fourth among thirteen runners. Jockey Javed Iqbal rode the winner trained by Al Berooni in this first race of the day.

The third race, the Sheikh Hamdan Cup for class IV division II, run over 1200 metres was annexed by the bay filly Daring Eagle, who came from behind to defeat Silver Jet easily by five lengths.

 Daring To Dream and Paddock fancy finished third and fourth after squabbling over the last 200 metres.

Results:

SHEIKH HAMDAN BIN RASHID AL-MAKTOUM CUP FOR THOROUGHBRED THREE-YEAR-OLD PAKISTANI COLTS AND FILLIES (MAIDENS) 1000M:

Prince Well (Syed Parvez Hussain Shah) 8-7 Javed Iqbal 1. Royal Jewellery 8-4 Qamar Zaman 2. Ponchi 8-7 Salah-ud-Din (II) 3. Cess Pool 8-7 M. Hanif 4.

Also ran: Flood Of Gold, Sun Princess, Be Dazzled, Guys And Dolls, Aechoo, Heart’s Beat, Royal Salute, Cinderelle and Innuendo.

Won by 3/4 L, 2 L, 2 1/4 L.

Time one minute 2 seconds.

Winner trained by Al Berooni.

SHEIKH HAMDAN BIN RASHID AL-MAKTOUM CUP FOR CLASS IV DIV I- 1200M:

Fair Play (Bilal Khan 9-3 Shahid Rehman 1. Prime Force 7-10 Aamar Parvez 2. Muqadar 8-2 Majid Khan 3. Snoopy 8-6 M. Hanif 4.

Also ran: Blue Dawn, Dizzy Height, Fancy Light, Zargar and Shannel.

Won by 1 3/4 L, 6 1/2 L, 1/2 L.

Time one minute 12 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Mian Abdul Majeed.

SHEIKH HAMDAN BIN RASHID AL-MAKTOUM CUP 1200M:

Daring Eagle (M. Shafiq Sadiq) 8-10 M. Zeeshan 1. Silver Jet 8-0 M. Hanif 2. Dare To Dream 8-12 Shahid Rehman 3. Paddock Fancy 8-6 Tehseen Hussain 4.

Also ran: Mahnoor, Better Case, Sound Of Music, King’s Heart and Chief Executive.

Won by 5 L, 2 L, 1 L.

Time one minute 12 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Memraiz Khan.

SHEIKH HAMDAN BIN RASHID AL-MAKTOUM CUP FOR CLASS I, II & III 1400M:

Millennium Count (Munir Ahmad Dar) 7-4 M. Jehangir 1. Admiral’s Way 7-4 A. Aziz 2. Red Storm 7-10 M. Zeeshan 3. Red Ransom Shahid Rehman 4.

Also ran: African Knight, Son Of A Gun, Gambling Girl, Great Grandy, Blu’s Wendy, Democracy and Great King.

Won by 1/2 L, 1 L, 1 1/2 L.

Time one minute 25 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Manzoor Ahmad.

SHEIKH HAMDAN BIN RASHID AL-MAKTOUM CUP FOR CLASS V 1200 METRES:

Feel The Freedom (Sohrab Khan) 8-10 Shahid Rehman 1. Miracle 8-8 Javed Iqbal 2. Set A Fire 8-0 A. Aziz 3. Storm Bird 8-0 Aamar Parvez 4.

Also ran: Silver Charm, On On, Moment To Moment, Polo Gambler and Star Gate.

Won by 2 L, 1 L, 1/2 L.

Time one minute 12 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.