KARACHI, April 22: Public fancy four-year-old dark bay filly Black Girl proved her mettle when she galloped to a half-length victory over Gwenivare to claim the feature event in the Gymkhana race meeting at Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Moon Raker settled for third while Birj-ul-Arab completed the frame in a field of seven contestants.

The five furlongs concluding race saw Black Girl and Moon Raker running neck-and-neck with latter having a slender lead. However, soon after getting into straight for home Black Girl ridden by M. Nasir made a late burst to edge past the opponents.

Gwenivare, another filly, with Mohammad Essa on board also displayed great fighting abilities by pushing Moon Raker to third place.

Dawn had five winners in a card of seven including days’ best and good double apart from couple of places.

With one exception, the races were held in fair manner in the backdrop of last week’s incident which unfortunately witnessed stoning by the angry race-goers in the betting area.

On the whole, the day belonged to champion rider M. Nasir who stole the limelight by riding four winners. Apart from Black Girl, the other which came in sequence were filly Friendly Fire, mare Meri Paidagiree and bay horse Baap Re Baap.

Friendly Fire, who greatly disappointed the fans in the previous two races and didn’t figure on the board after being installed favourite, won like a champion outpacing bay colt Check Mate by 10 lengths.

In the next, Meri Paidagiree beat Silent Love by neck in a close finish while Baap Re Baap made it two-in-a-row by overcoming Rebecca.

Favourite Jaguar made amends to land the opener under rider Essa while bay colt The Concord posted three lengths victory over joint favourite filly Lady Conqueror.

A disappointment was in store for racing crazy people as chestnut Sharp Cat ran below form and settled for fourth place in the fifth race. Colt Red Rufus with Waheed Baran astride grabbed honours beating Sweet Touch by head.

Results:

THE PHOOL PLATE

DIV IV AND V CLASS VII 4 1/2F:

Jaguar (Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi) 8-13 Mohammad Essa 1, Powerful Gambler 8-13 Nadim Akhtar 2, Gul Bano 8-0 Naseem Ahmed 3, Charlie 9-2 (cr8-9) A. Rauf 4. Won by 3/4L, 8L, 1/2L. Time: 0.59 2/5 sec.Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE PHOOL PLATE

DIV III CLASS VII 5F:

Friendly Fire (Ali Gul) 8-2 M. Nasir 1, Check Mate 8-8 Mohammad Essa 2, Hamza Joy 9-0 S. Khan 3, Azam The Great 8-11(cr8-6) Pervaiz Ali 4. Won by 10L, 3 1/2L, 1 1/2L. Time: 1 min 3 3/5 sec.

Winner trained by Sufi M. Ayub.

THE PHOOL PLATE

DIV III AND IV CLASS VII 4 1/2F:

Meri Paidagiree (Abdul Hafeez II) 9-2 M. Nasir 1, Silent Love 8-6 M. Yousuf 2, Martini 8-4(cr8-2) Asghar Ali Khan 3, Rokara 9-2 Arshad 4. Won by Neck, 1 1/4L, 1/2L. Time: 1 min 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Aurangzeb Khan.

THE PHOOL PLATE

DIV II CLASS VII 5F:

Baap Re Baap (Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi) 8-3 M. Nasir 1, Rebecca 8-4 Asghar Ali Khan 2, Queen Of Mirwa 8-9 Arshad 3, NYX 8-2 Ghulam Shabbir II 4. Won by 1 1/4L, 2L, S. Head. Time: 1 min 4 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by M. Aslam Khan.

THE PHOOL PLATE DIV I CLASS VII 5F:

Red Rufus (Benish Hasan) 8-13(cr8-10) Waheed Baran 1, Sweet Touch 8-3(cr7-10) Zulfiqar Ali 2, Foolish Pleasure 8-5 Mohammad Essa 3, Sharp Cat 8-4 Fahim K 4. Won by Head, 2L, 3/4L. Time: 1 min 5 sec.

Winner trained by Naveed Baran.

THE NEW MEETING PLATE 5F:

The Concord (Irfan Mehdi) 9-0 Arshad 1, Lady Conqueror 9-0 Lateef 2, Arab Hi Arab 9-4 Kashif Qamar 3, Lava Man 7-13 Ghulam Shabbir II 4. Won by 3L, 5L, 6L. Time: 1 min 3 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by G. Hassan.

THE SARHAD PLATE CLASS V

DIV I AND II 5F:

Black Girl (Abdul Hafeez II) 9-0 M. Nasir 1, Gwenivare 8-3 Mohammad Essa 2, Moon Raker 8-11 Mumtaz Ali 3, Birj-ul-Arab 7-8 Pervaiz Ali 4. Won by 1/2L, 3/4L, 12L. Time: 1 min 3 1/5 sec.

Winner trained by Aurangzeb Khan.