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| October 20, 2003 | Monday | Sha'aban 23, 1424 |
Favourite Ponchi storms home to victory
LAHORE, Oct 19: Three-year-old bay colt, Ponchi, lived upto his reputation of being a reliable middle distance runner when he stormed home to win the Saif Group Cup run over 1400 metres at the Racecourse on Sunday.
This colt from Polinesso out-of-Affifa, Ponchi was available at three to one when his stablemate four-year-old Tora Bora became 30 to 100 favourite after connections fancied and backed him.
Ridden admirably by jockey M. Zeeshan, Ponchi beat Naseeb (Shahid Rehman up) by three-fourth of a length with Tora Bora third, one-and-three fourth of length further back. Zargar completed the frame, a distance further away.
Zargar led the field closely followed by Storm Bird, Tora Bora, Naseeb and Ponchi. As the heads turned towards the straight Naseeb made a powerful thrust into the lead for a while. Soon Zeeshan came on charging Ponchi and sailed past Naseeb to win the race with Tora Bora finishing an exhausted third.
It was a strange phenomenon that the connections had preferred Tora Bora over Ponchi. However, it augured well that the owner tried both his charges. Ponchi and Tora Bora are owned by the same owner, Khawaja M. Arif, who is also steward of the Jockey Club Of Pakistan (JCP) and trained by Mohammad Bashir.
Jockey Shahid Rehman and riding boy Azam Hussain shared the day’s riding honours when each brought home a brace of winners. Shahid Rehman showing his prowess in the saddle rode home odds-on favourite Darling Of The Royalty in the second race and then strode Flame to victory in the supporting and fifth race.
Darling Of The Royalty was backed at 40 to 100 as darling of the public.
Riding boy Azam Hussain, who is having a good season currently brought in four to one chance Burrat Again in the opener and then followed it with a grand success on three to one Roxanne. Both his winner are owned by Wajid Ali Khan.
Trainer Sohail Aziz, who is leading trainers’ statistics for the on-going season, sent out three winners to further consolidate his position. His saddled Burrat Again, Roxanne and Sugar And Honey won in the opener, third and fourth race, respectively.
Results:
Pattoki Plate Class VII Div IV 1000m.
Burrat Again (Wajid Ali Khan) 8-10 Azam Hussain 1. Raad 8-11 M. Zeeshan 2. Extra Power 9-0 A. Aziz 3. All At Sea 8-9 Shahid Mustafa 4.
Won by 2 L, 4 3/4 L, 3 1/2 L. Time one min 6 secs. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.
Pattoki Plate Class VII Div III 1000m.
Darling Of The Royalty (Makhdoomzada Hassan Raza) 8-13 Shahid Rehman 1. Zuhair Choice 9-0 Faisal Tahir 2. Final Count Down 7-12 Iqbal Khan 3. Raiz Love 8-10 M. Jehangir 4.
Won by 5 1/2 L, 1 L, Neck. Time one min 4 4/5 secs. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.
Pattoki Plate Class VII Div II 1000m.
Roxanne (Wajid Ali Khan) 8-9 Azam Hussain 1. Iram State 8-12 Mohsin Ali 2. Dancing Margina 8-3 A. Imran 3. Lot Of Thanks 8-7 Qasim Shah 4. Won by 1/2 L, 1 L, 1/2 L. Time one minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.
Pattoki Plate Class VII Div I 1000m.
Sugar And Honey (Syed Tasweer Hussain Shah) 8-7 Majid Khan 1. Speed Gun 8-2 A. Imran 2. Thank You Boss 8-2 Qasim Shah 3. Bold Venture 8-13 Shahid Rehman 4.
Won by 4 L, Head, 1 1/4 L. Time one min 4 2/5 secs. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.
Raiwind Plate Class V Div I & II 1000m.
Flame (Malik Hamid Ali Noon) 8-12 Shahid Rehman 1. Puma King 8-5 A. Imran 2. Minnie Me 8-11 Mohsin Ali 3. Glorious Song 8-9 Shahid Mustafa 4.
Won by 5 L, 1 1/2 L, 3 L. Time one min 2 4/5 secs. Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.
Saif Group Cup Class IV Div I & II 1400m.
Ponchi (Khawaja M. Arif) 8-2 M. Zeeshan 1. Naseeb 9-6 Shahid Rehman 2. Tora Bora 8-0 A. Aziz 3. Zargar 7-8 Azhar Hussain 4.
Won by 3/4 L, 1 3/4 L, Distance. Time one min 28 3/5 secs. Winner trained by Mohammad Bashir.
Pattoki Plate Class VII Div V 1000m.
Dar’s Best (Choudhry Zahid Rashid) 8-0 Manzoor Ahmad 1. Wall Street 8-13 Shahid Mustafa 2. Ghabra 9-3 Majid Khan 3. Science Fiction 8-9 Qasim Shah 4.
Won by 4 1/2 L, Neck, 5 L. Time one min 5 2/5 secs. Winner trained by Manzoor Ahmad.
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