January 23, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 22, 1426

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LAHORE, Jan 22: Long shot five-year-old French mare, Dinner Guest, lived up to her star breeding powering to victory to lift the Sapphire Cup run over 1600m during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday. The progeny of French sire Double Bed out-of Yashka, Double Bed, leading all the way home set a fast pace of her own to win comfortably.

She beat Colonial Girl by two lengths.

Ponente finished third, one-and-a-quarter length behind nosing out favourite Banzine to fourth position.

In all, ten imported thoroughbreds ran for the feature event meant exclusively for them. The owner Khawaja M. Arif received the cup from Shahid Abdullah, Director Sapphire Sports soon after the race.

Ridden by jockey M. Zeeshan the mare is trained by Haji Ghulam Sarwar.

The supporting and last event, the Qutub-ud-Din Aibak Cup run over 1600m was annexed by the fancied colt, Fajr owned by Shoaib Tariq.

Trained by Haji Ghulam Sarwar Fajr was ridden by jockey Aamar Parvaiz.

Fajr had initially been impeded during the race and was beaten to second place by Taqwa (Salah-ud-Din II up).

After the race jockey Aamar lodged an objection against Taqwa for crossing Fajr near the 200m marker in violation of the crossing rule and caused severe impediment to Fajr.

Taqwa sharply crossed Fajr without being two and a half lengths ahead and Aamar had to check his mount.

The stewards after a long deliberation of about 45 minutes and listening to both the riders concerned decided to uphold the objection and awarded the race to Fajr.

They disqualified Taqwa from the race. The decision was largely hailed by the race-goers.

Jockeys Aamar and M. Zeeshan and trainer Haji Ghulam Sarwar had a fine afternoon when each were accredited with a brace of winners.

During Sunday’s proceedings the race-goers observed a one minute silence to mourn the loss of Lahore Race Club (LRC) secretary Ata Ali Khan, who died in New Delhi on last Thursday and was buried in Lahore on Friday. They also offered fateha for the departed soul.

The LRC stewards cancelled the ninth and last race of day due to paucity of runners left after the declaration of riders on Sunday morning and the card was reduced to eight events. Only four favourites obliged the favourite backers.

Results.

KHARIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 1000M.

Dam Dama Dam (Ch. Riaz-ud-Din) 9-0 M. Hanif 1. Billoo The 3 / ? Great 8-4 Atif Javaid 2. Dogar Gift 8-3 A. Imran 3. Daze Against All 8-2 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 1 1/4 L, 4 1/2 L, 1/2 L. Time one minute 5 1/5 secs. Winner trained by M. Arshad.

KHARIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV 1000M.

Mera Chandiwala (Shahbaz Ali Butt) 9-0 Aamar Parvaiz 1. Owais Dream 9-0 Azhar Hussain 2. Government Gift 9-0 A. Imran 3. Tallal The Great 9-4 Salah-ud-Din (II) 4.

Qutub-ud-Din Aibak Plate Class V Division II 1300M.

Sindbad (S. Iftikhar Ali)8-4 M. Zeeshan 1. First Look 8-10 M. Hanif 2. First Passion 3. Love Moon 8-7 Shahid Mustafa 4. Won by 4 1/4 L, 1 3/4 L, 4 L. Time one min 23 2/5 secs. Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.

PUNJAB PLATE CLASS IV DIV III 1400M.

Fidel Castro (Syed Tasweer Hussain Shah) 8-11 Salah-ud-Din (II) 1. Key Guy Doll 9-4 Khurrum Sheikh 2. Royal Fantasy 8-0 A. Aziz 3. Herry Can Run 7-10 M. Hanif 4. Won by 6 L, Head, 6 L. Time one minute 28 3/5 second. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

Punjab Plate Class IV Division II 1400M.

Miss Pole (K. A. Ahmad) 9-4 Salah-ud-Din (II) 1. Motivator 8-7 Aamar Parvaiz 2. Sher-i-Gujrat 3. Ghazi Rifle 8-13 Khurrum Sheikh 4. Won by 3 L, 5 L, 1 1/2 L. Time one minute 27 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

ISLAMABAD PLATE CLASS II & III 1600M.

Owais Prince (Mohammad Azeem) 8-8 A. Aziz 1. Thrill 8-0 Salah-ud-Din (II) 2. Achilles 7-12 M. Hanif 3. Poly Nest 8-8 Aamar Parvaiz 4. Won by 8 L, 1 3/4 L, 1/2 L. Time one min 392/5 secs. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

Sapphire Cup Class II & III (Imported thoroughbreds) 1600M.

Dinner Guest (Khawaja M. Arif) 7-10 M. Zeeshan 1. Colonial Girl 8-3 Salah-ud-Din (II) 2. Ponente 7-11 Azhar Hussain 3. Banzine 8-0 Shahid Mustafa 4. Won by 2 L, 1 1/4 L, Short-head. Time one min 38 3/5 secs. Winner trained by Haji Ghulam Sarwar.

QUTUB-UD-DIN AIBAK CUP CLASS V DIV I 1600M.

Fajr (Shoaib Tariq) 8-6 Aamar Parvaiz 1. Charming King 9-0 Azam Hussain 2. Tan Man Dhan 8-7 S. Moeen 3. Taqwa 9-4 Salah-ud-Din (II) Disqualified after winning the race on objection by Aamar Parvaiz placed second. Won by objection, Distance, Distance. Time one min 42 2/5 secs. Winner trained by Haji Ghulam Sarwar.