KARACHI, March 13: As mentioned in these columns, Faisal Farooq’s four-year-old bay colt Al Faris, came sprinting in from behind to collar front runner Ghazan Prince and lift the Mehran Cup contested by 13 highly bred runners over the mile distance, when the Karachi Winter Gymkhana Race Meeting got under way at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday afternoon.
Piloted once again by riding boy Fahim Karim, the Flaming Arrow-Miss Amoxy sibling was left far behind when the race began as Ghazan Prince took the lead followed by Royal Commander, Donatello, Captain Crash and Silent Witness. Passing the six furlong marker the order remained the same and approaching the bend, Silent Witness moved smoothly into the third slot followed by Swivelling Styly.
Al Faris also increasing his strides was now lying sixth when heads turned for home. Into the straight Ghazan Prince still led the field from Silent Witness and Swivelling Styly and just one and half furlongs from home, Al Faris made his challenge.
Improving with every stride, Al Faris passed Swivelling Styly and Silent Witness and with the supporters shouting him on, moved smoothly ahead of Ghazan Prince to win the race by two lengths. After the race was won both rider and colt received a tremendous ovation from the large gathering.
But the next event was a complete hoax and the majority of the fans were robbed when Princess J.T.M. with Ali Sher aboard won a completely made up race from Trust Again ridden by Shahid Mannan.
Before the race began Trust Again was the joint favourite with Princess J.T.M. with the bookmakers, and Trust Again was being backed for a song by the majority of punters. After a while the price of Trust Again began soaring sky high and soon reached 5 to 1.
The racing fans smelling a rat, began to protest and demanded that Shahid Mannan be replaced by another rider, but unfortunately their pleas only fell on deaf ears. When the race began going over six furlongs, Dinoo Makrani took the early lead, but was soon overtaken by Princess J.T.M. and Trust Again. As the two rounded the turn heading for home, Trust Again tried to move in front but Shahid Mannan prevented the bay horse from seting his own pace, pulling the poor animal hook, line and sinker.
As the racing fans looked on in shocked disbelief, Princess J.T.M. beat Trust Again by half a length. Quite aware that they were being robbed, the racing fans began shouting for the race to be declared null and void, but once again their pleas only fell on deaf ears.
However it was announced over the public address system that Shahid Mannan was suspended from riding over here for six months and was fined a sum of Rs.50,000. Mind you this was only done to calm down the racing fans, but what was the use. The majority of them were indeed taken for a very long ride, losing large sums of money. It will not surprise race-goers in the least if they see Shahid Mannan back in the saddle within a month’s time. It has been done before and can be repeated once again.
Karachi has a very well behaved crowd coming to the races. Had this incident occurred at the Lahore Racecourse all hell would have broken loose. Could the suspension and fine bestowed on Shahid Mannan only be an eyewash? Time will tell.
Another culprit in this drama is a very shady character known as Amir Kalia, who time and again makes up races and somehow gets away. During the time of Syed Sadruddin Shah this crook of the highest order was banned from coming to the racecourse. It is high time the Administrator Fakir Syed Aitzaz Uddin takes note of this vile character and prevents his entry into the racecourse.
The last race on the afternoon’s programme was won by the chestnut colt King Of Kings owned by Faisal Farooq and Ghazanfar Hussain Hidayatullah. The Moon King-Thunder Shower sibling left the rest of the field cold, beating nearest rival Sweet Grandy by 11 lengths in his very first outing wit plenty to spare.
This victory allowed Faisal Farooq and trainer Manzoor Baran to finish the programme with a brace of winners.
Jockey Ali Sher back from a stint in England also had double through our day’s best Bahar-e-Arab in the fifth event and Princess J.T.M., which also enabled trainer Abid Ali Jan to share the honours. The first race was won by rank outsider Raysham with riding boy Zulfiqar Ali in the saddle, beating the favourite Field Prince by one and half lengths. In this race the bay mare Rukhsar fell in the straight and broke her back and had to be destroyed.
Our racing column had five winners in eight events with Jaguar, Aie Bahar, Bahar-e-Arab, Al Faris, and Princess J.T.M. obliging our readers. In the first race our fancy Field Prince finished second.
Following were the results:
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV VI 5F
Raysham (Mr. Abdul Hameed) 7-6 Zulfiqar Ali 1, Field Prince 8-10 Nadim Akhtar 2, Jango 8-2 S. Khan 3, McGrath 8-5 Mazhar Ali 4.
Won by 1 1 /2l, 1/2l, 3/4L. Time 1 min 9 sec. Winner trained by Owner.
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 5F
Jaguar (Mr. M. Yousuf Awan 8-13 Mohammad Ismail 1, Piyari Mehbooba 8-12 M. Faiz 2, Baby Tabassum 8-11 Fahim Karim 3, Ghori 8-9 Zaki Zakar 4.
Won by 7L, 6l, 7l. Time 1 min 7 sec. Winner trained by M. Aslam Khan.
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B 5F
Clapping (Mr. Akhtar Ali) 8-8 Fateh Mohammad 1, Lucky Golden 8-2 M. Akram 2, Royal Leader 8-0 Sheraz Ahmed 3, Khush Nazar 8-0 Pervaiz Ali 4.
Won by 1/2L, 5L, Neck. Time 1 min 7 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Mansoor Alam.
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 5F
Aie Bahar (Shah Mardan Shah II Pir Pagaro VII) 7-7 Mohammad Essa 1, Neelam Taab 8-4 M. Yousuf 2, Desperado 8-6 M. Manzoor 3, Choti Duniya 8-8 Yousuf Ikram 4.
Won by 1/2L, 2L, 3L. Time 1 min 4 4/5 sec. Winner trained by Mumtaz Ali).
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 5F
Bahar-e-Arab (Syed Nadeem Anwar) 9-0 Ali Sher 1, Al Zarrar 8-12 Sohail Ahmed 2, Issey Miyke 8-6 Tariq Baran 3, Dunhill Desire 8-1 Salim Ahmed.
Won by 2 1/2L, 4 1/2L, Dist. Time 1 min 4 ¾ sec. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.
MEHRAN CUP ONE MILE
Al Faris (Mr. Faisal Farooq) 8-12 Fahim Karim 1, Ghazan Prince 7-7 Saif Mohammad 2, Silent Witness 7-12 M. Manzoor 3, Swivelling Styly 8-1 Mumtaz Ali 4.
Won by 2L, 5L, 1 1/2L. Time 1 min 45 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Manzoor Baran.
BAHAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 6F
Princess J.T.M. (Syed Nadeem Anwar) 8-10 Ali Sher 1, Trust Again 9-0 Shahid Mannan 2, Dinoo Makrani 8-10 Saif Mohammad 3, Imaging If 8-10 Nasim Ahmed 4.
Won by 1/2L, 8L, 5 1/2L. Time 1 min 18 sec. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.
SHAHRUKH PLATE CLASS VI 6F
King Of Kings (Mr. Faisal Farooq & Ghazanfar Hussain Hidayatullah) 9-0 Ghulam Shabbir II 1, Sweet Grandy 8-9 M. Sohail 2, Guarantee 8-10 Pervaiz Ali 3, Ceasar’s 7-12 Tariq Baran 4.
Won by 11L, 4 1/2L, 5 1/2L. Time 1 min 18 3/5 sec. Winner trained by Manzoor Baran.
