November 12, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 01, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 11: Fancied three-year-old colt Sharp Burg won the Saif Group Cup ran over the middle distance of 1400 metres during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Lahore Racecourse on Sunday.

The colt came with a well-timed run up to get away from Miss Play by half a length, an eye catching second with the front-runner, Reborn, relegated to third position by three-fourth of a length in a keenly contested affair among the trio. This was the fourth of a five-event small card of the day.

Earlier in the second race, fancied chestnut colt, Vendetta lived up to his star billing winning the Nursery Plate over the sprinting distance of 1000m.

He beat the filly Dixie by one and a quarter lengths in a common canter. Except the two runners, the rest of the eight ran disinterestedly, no one looking keen to occupy the third position and finished a distance behind in a bunch.

As the race ended, the race-goers held a big demonstration demanding the cancellation of the race. This was the biggest demonstration seen in recent months. Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards took a spontaneous action and warned off all the eight riders, other than the first two, and also fined Rs20,000 each. Those punished are: Khalil Vicky (Cut Throat), Atif Javed (Red Devil), M. Waseem (Diamond Sky), M. Waseem Khan (Bright Flame), Tariq Habib (My Delilah), Imran Pervez (Dream Act) and Shakeel Mahmood (Magic Dream).

As soon as the punishments were announced on the public address system, the demonstrator raised slogans pressing for cancellation of the race. However, they dispersed peacefully as the White Cone declaring the race all right was hoisted outside the jockeys’ weighing room.

The punishment handed down to riders would go a long way in cleansing the sports of malpractices as in the past no such action was taken even in case of glaring pulling of mounts by riders.

Syed Pervez Hussain Shah’s bay filly completed a hat trick of victories by winning the supporting and last event of the card. The filly beat much-talked prodigy of joint owners Mahmood Khan and Maahir Ahmed, the colt Scooby Do, backed by the connections as sure shot but he went astray, defeated by three lengths.

Jockey M. Hanif and trainer Sohail Aziz hit a purple patch when each got accredited with a fine treble. Hanif rode home Vendetta, Shim Jim and Sharp Burg while Sohail Aziz sent out Vendetta, Shim Jim and Iconic. Hanif’s fourth mount Scooby Do was defeated because the colt came out of the gate a bit slow that cost him the race.

Four favourites romped home in a card of five races. They were: Ice Burg (25 to 100), Vendetta (25 to 100), Shim Jim 25 to 100) and Sharp Burg ( 60 to 100). The favourite in the fifth and last race was beaten by five to two Iconic. In all, 45 horses took part in races, two gone over 900 metres, one 1000 metres and two over 1400 metres.

Results:

SARGODHA PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 900M:

Ice Burg (Mohammad Shafiq Sadiq) 9-0 A. Imran 1, Tallal The Great 7-12 M. Waseem 2, Murad King 9-0 Sajjad Hussain 3, Tosca 7-12 Javed Iqbal 4.

Won by 1/2 l, 3 3/4 L, Short-head. Time 57 secs. Winner trained by Memriaz Khan.

KAGHAN PLATE, A TERM RACE FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD THOROUGHBRED COLTS AND FILLIES (MAIDENS) 1000M:

Vendetta (Syed Tasweer Hussain Shah) 8-8 M. Hanif 1, Dixie 8-5 M. Zeeshan 2, Bright Flame 8-5 M. Waseem Khan 3 and Red Devil 8-8 Atif Javed 4.

Won by 1 1/4 L, Distance, Short-head. Time one min 2 4/5 secs. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

SARGODHA PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 900M:

Shim Jim (Farrukh Shahzad Malik) 8-8 M. Hanif 1, Charming King 8-10 S. Ammad 2, Cheeta Aya 9-2 Tariq Habib 3, and Shah Pari 8-10 Atif Javed 4.

Won by 3 1/2 L, 3/4 L, 4 1/4 L. Time 56 2/5 secs. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

SAIF GROUP CUP, CLASS V

DIV I 1400M:

Sharp Burg (Fawad Ahmad Cheema) 8-10 M. Hanif 1, Miss Play 8-10 M. Zeeshan 2, Reborn 8-4 Aamir Pervez 3. and Stride To Moment 8-0 Majid Ali 4.

Won by 1/2 L, 3/4 L, Distance, 6 L. Time one min 29 1/5 secs. Winner trained privately by Aleemuddin.

KASSOWAL PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1400M:

Iconic (Syed Pervez Hussain Shah) 8-7 Khalil Vicky 1, Scooby Do 9-0 M. Hanif 2, Rough tough 8-6 M. Waseem 3 and Untar 8-6 M. Nasir 4.

Won by 3 L, 5 1/2 L, 1 L. Time one min 31 secs. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.