LAHORE, April 18: Fancied bay gelding Speed Demon proved his strength by winning the feature event of the Lahore Gymkhana midweek races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

This was the fourth race of the day, contested over 900 metres.

Owned jointly by Pervaiz Masood and Javaid Khalid, Speed Demon led all the way to beat Moj Mayla by six lengths.

Chan Badshah and Viana Coup completed the frame among seven runners.

Carrying a top weight of 9-4 in handicap, the gelding, ridden by M. Wasim Khan and trained by I. Nawab, accelerated his speed in the home stretch and covered the distance in 56 seconds on a dust track.

Speed Demon also won the significance of being the lone favourite to oblige favourite-backers in a card of five events.

The other four events were won by long shots – Wendy, Mirana Choice, Untar and Dam Dama Dam.

Wendy, owned by Arif Gulzar and ridden by Atif Javed won the first race of the day, Sahiwal Plate Class-VII Division-II-B, contested over 800 metres, defeating My Shanga and Love Minister.

Iftikhar-uz-Zaman-owned Mirana Choice surprised punters with its performance by winning Sahiwal Plate Class-VII Division-II-A race over 800 metres.

First Passion and First Dream grabbed second and third position respectively in this second race of the day.

Meanwhile, Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards unanimously decided to withdraw an earlier notification issued by them barring entry of imported thoroughbreds in races reserved for class-I, II and III horses.

The stewards reverted their earlier ruling on a petition submitted by Mirza Khurshid Baig, who complained that he would suffer a huge financial loss as he had imported a filly at a cost of Rs one million. He also pointed out that such horses were allowed to participate in races according to the racing prospectus.

Results:

SAHIWAL PLATE CLASS-VII DIV-II-B 800M:

Wendy (Arif Gulzar) 8-5 Atif Javed 1, My Shanga 9-4 M. Wasim 2, Love Minister 8-4 Naseer Ahmad 3, Net Cash 8-6 M. Atif 4.

Won by Neck, 1 ¼ L, 2 ½ L. Time 53 1/5 sec.

Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

SAHIWAL PLATE CLASS-VII

DIV-II-A 800M:

Mirana Choice (Iftikhar-uz-Zaman) 8-10 M. Hussain 1, First Passion 9-0 M. Atif 2, First Dream 9-2 M. Sharif 3, Cheeta Aya 8-10 Tariq Habib 4.

Won by 5 ½ L, 6 L, Neck. Time 50 1/5 sec.

Winner trained by Chaudhry Khurram Hussain.

OKARA PLATE CLASS-V DIV-II 900M:

Untar (Mian M. Sarfraz) 8-9 M. Nasir 1, Sher-e-Lahore 8-10 M. Wasim Khan 2, Remember You 9-0 Ali Raza 3, Jewna 8-6 Hidayat Hussain 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, 1 ½ L, 4 L. Time 57 sec.

Winner trained by Mohammad Siddique.

OKARA PLATE CLASS-V DIV-I 900M:

Speed Demon (Masood Pervaiz & Javed Khalid) 9-4 M. Wasim Khan 1, Moj Mayla 7-9 Ali Raza 2, Chan Badshah 8-8 M. Wasim 3, Viana Coup 8-4 Irfan Razzaq 4.

Won by 6 L, 6 L, 1 ¼ L. Time 56 sec.

Winner trained by I. Nawab.

SAHIWAL PLATE CLASS-VII

DIV-I 800M:

Dam Dama Dam (Chaudhry Riazuddin) 8-3 M. Atif 1, Ikon 8-2 Irfan Razzaq 2, Royal Palace 7-9 Naseer Ahmad 3, Fearless Boy 8-6 M. Hussain 4.

Won by Neck, 4 L, 3 L. Time 49 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Aamir Azad.