LAHORE, Dec 27: In the absence of top riding boys and jockeys, the lesser fry had a field day during the mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races when a card of five events was gone through at the Racecourse on Sunday.
Riding boy Ahmad Shah showing his saddle skills brought in a brace of winners.
He romped home Bad-i-Naseem and Redouble in the second and third race respectively while ill-reputed riding boy Shahid Mustafa and apprentices Khalid Jan and M. Waseem rode one winner each.
Rank outsider, chestnut horse Booster, with Khalid Jan in the saddle, stormed home to win the opener. He defeated long shot Gift by seven lengths. The favourite, Sir Ivanhoe, put up a poor show and finished fourth.
In the second race, Bad-i-Naseem, Armida and Stride To Moment were equally backed but the bay filly, Bad-e-Naseem, edged out Armida at the finishing post to win by a length's margin.
Bad-e-Naseem had put up a dismal show in her last outing under Shahid Mustafa.
Favourite gelding Redouble beat chestnut filly Paro by a neck with Blue Fire, a close third in the third race.
The favourite dark bay filly, Daisy Against All defeated equally backed Kind Minister by two lengths in the fourth race.
Major Rana, owned by Junaid Rashid Rana beat the joint favourite filly Shim Jim by about two lengths in the fifth and feature event. After the withdrawal of Desert Prince, Major Rana and Shim Jim were backed equally. Major Rana with a splendid speed overpowered Shim Jim in the final 100 metres to make it two in-a-row.
Results:
Aimanabad Plate Class VII
Division III 1000M:
Booster (Mohammad Afzal Choudhry) 9-0 Khalil Vicky 1, Gift 8-6 M. Waseem 2, Rana The Great 8-6 Shahid Mustafa 3, Sir Ivanhoe 9-0 Khalil Vicky 4. Won by 7 L, 5 L, 8 ½ L. Time one minute 9 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Javaid.
Aimanabad Plate Class VII
Division II 1000M:
Bad-e-Naseem (Mohammad Shafqat Khan) 8-10 Ahmad Shah 1, Armida 7-13 Khalil Vicky 2, Savera 8-8 M. Hussain 3, Stride To Moment 9-3 Parvez Bhatty 4. Won by 1 L, 4 1/2 L, 3 L. Time one minute 7 seconds.
Winner trained by M. R. Khan.
Aimanabad Plate Class VII
Division I 1000M:
Redouble (Javaid Khalid) 8-8 Ahmad Shah 1, Paro 8-4 M. Hussain 2, Blue Fire 9-1 A. Alam 3, Royal Palace 7-10 Ali Raza 4. Won by Neck, 1 3/4 L, 7 L. Time one minute 6 seconds.
Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.
Faisalabad Plate Class V
Division II 1000M
Daisy Against All (Syed Ali Raza) 8-10 M. Waseem Khan 1, Kind Minister 8-4 Parvez Bhatty 2, Lucky Short II 8-6 Jehangir Khan 3, Wendy 7-13 Sajjad Hussain 4. Won by 2 1/4 L, Distance, 1 3/4 L. Time one minute 6 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by M. Abbas.
Faisalabad Plate Class V
Division 1 & 11 1000M:
Major Rana ( Junaid Rashid Rana) 9-0 Shahid Mustafa 1, Shim Jim 8-0 Ali Raza 2, Golden Faith 8-13 M. Waseem Khan 3, Babboo The Great 8-7 Aslam Khokhar 4. Won by 1 3/4 L, 2 3/4 L, 2 1/2 L. Time one minute 6 3/5 seconds.