August 21, 2007	Tuesday	Sha’aban 7, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 20: Fancied chestnut gelding Perfect Promise overwhelmed his eight rivals spectacularly to land the supporting event during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday evening.

The son of Harmless out-of-Mona View, the five-year-old gelding, ridden by Atif Javed, took the lead at the straight and cruised to over four lengths victory. Run And Win finished second while Grey Panther came third, one and a half lengths further behind.

Perfect Promise became the most prolific winner registering four wins in five runs. He clocked one min 9 2/5 secs over 1300m on sand track.

In spite of his bad run on Sunday last when he ran off the frame, Perfect Promise was the overwhelming choice of bettors, who backed him as sure shot. It was stated that Grey Panther had severely pressed Perfect Promise in his last outing, so he could not perform truly that day

This was a good day for apprentice riding boy Irfan Razzaq, who registered his maiden win piloting home Black King in the opener. He beat Simoom by one and a half lengths. In this race chestnut colt, Singapore pulled up lame and fell down near the 200m marker. His rider A. Alam luckily escaped unhurt.

The fast upcoming riding boy Shakeel Mahmood and jockey Shahid Rehman shared Sunday’s racing honours when each brought home a brace of winners. Shakeel Mahmood rode Stride To Moment and Richy Dancer in the 4th and 5th race, respectively. Shahid Rehman completed his double through Mannan Prince and Royal Fish in the third and seventh race.

Jockey M. Hanif, who returned home recently after a short stint at England, greatly disappointed his backers by his bad performance in the saddle. He rode Blu’s Wendy, First Dream and Grey Panther in the 2nd, 4th and 6th race and hardly managed to finish third each time. Seeing him off colour, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards, came to his rescue and substituted him with a very weak jockey, M. Zeeshan on Noor in the feature and last race of the day. Zeeshan proved himself a failure like Hanif, and was beaten by Royal Fish. When the announcement to replace Hanif with Zeeshan was made on the public address system, the race-goers had spontaneously remarked that they “both are one and the same thing”. They said they both needed to be given a month’s training at the LRC riding school.

Sunday’s first five-event, turned out to be very competitive and interesting as they ended in close finishes providing thrills and shrills to many.

Results:

KASUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV 1100M:

Black King (S. Iftikhar Ali) 8-8 Irfan Razzaq 1. Simoom 9-0 Khalil Vicky 2. Rose 9-0 Sikander Khan 3. Issabella 8-10 Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 1/2 L, Head, 2 L. Time one min 13 1/5 secs. Winner trained by A. Altaf.

KASUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 1100M:

Shah Rani (Mohammad Rafiq) 8-8 Tariq Habib 1. Tosca 7-10 Javed Iqbal 2. Royal Palace 8-10 Naseer Ahmed 3. First Passion 9-0 M. Nasir 4.

Won by 1 L, 1/2 L, 6 1/2 L. Time one min 13 1/5 secs. Winner trained by the owner.

KASUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 1100M:

Mannan Prince (Naeem Saleem) 8-12 Shahid Rehman 1. Toyota 7-12 M. Zeeshan 2. Blu’s Wendy 8-4 M. Hanif 3. Love Minister 8-8 S. Ammad 4.

Won by Head, 8 L, 6 1/2 L. Time one min 10 3/5 secs. Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

KASUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 1100M:

Stride To Moment 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 1. Shah Pari 9-0 Tariq Habib 2. First Dream 7-12 M. Hanif 3. Zohra Jabeen 8-8 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by Head, 5 L, 3 L. Time one min 10 3/5 secs. Winner trained by Imran.

PATTOKI PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1100M:

Richy Dancer (M. Arshad) 9-0 Shakeel Mahmood 1. Royal Victory 8-12 M. Waseem Khan 2. Princess Afaq 7-10 Shakeel Mahmood 3. Do Or Die 7-10 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 3/4 L, 1 1/2 L, 2 L. Time one min 11 2/5 secs. Winner trained by the owner.

PATTOKI PLATE CLASS V DIV I 1100M:

Perfect Promise (Arif Gulzar) 8-10 Atif Javaid 1. Run And Win 7-12 Shakeel Mahmood 2. Grey Panther 8-8 M. Hanif 3. Royal Destiny 9-0 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 4 1/2 L, 1 1/2 L, 8 1/2 L. Time one min 9 2/5 secs.

Winner trained by Khushnoor-ur-Rehman.

KOT LAKHPAT PLATE CLASS IV 1300M:

Royal Fish (Makhdoomzada Syed Abbas Mehdi) 8-2 Shahid Rehman 1. Noor 9-0 M. Zeeshan 2. Chill 8-6 Javed Iqbal 3. Azam Love 8-2 M. Atif 4.

Won by 4 1/2 L, 2 L, 8 L. Time one min 23 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by M. Afzal.