November 22, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 11, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 21: Fancied bay colt, Vallen Day ridden by jockey Aamir Parvaiz outclassed his seven rivals to win the feature event during the day/night midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

The colt, who loves to make pace, set out to do all the running and though the dark-bay colt Nommy The Hunter and the mare Royal Victory threw a token challenge in the home stretch, he stretched out in fine style to record a victory for himself.

Backed confidently at three to two, Vallen Day beat the even-money favourite, Nommy The Hunter with M. Atif in the saddle by three-fourth of a length. Another three lengths back, Royal Victory finished third.

Soon after the race ended, the jockey M. Atif lodged an objection against the winner for bumping and pushing aside which was promptly over-ruled. Junaid Rashid Rana, Nommy The Hunter’s owner, was seen rushing to the stewards’ room while angrily accusing M. Atif of pulling his colt. He said the rider lodged the objection only to hide his own guilt.

This was the sixth race of the day.

A race earlier, the long shot bay gelding Tallal The Great registered a grand success over favourite filly Royal Deal, defeating her by three lengths. First Passion and Tosca completed the frame among nine runners.

Royal Deal’s defeat was a rude shock for her backers, who before the race were counting the lengths she would spare over rivals and win easily. But from the bloodline her temperament is genetically erratic and she failed to live up to her backers’ expectations.

Fancied dark-bay filly Little Smile registered a pillar to post victory in the fourth race of the day to make it a two-in-a-row within a week.

She beat Royal Palace by a big margin of nine lengths. It was a strange coincidence that all the three runners with their first name as ‘Royal’ -- Royal Palace, Royal Deal and Royal Victory -- were beaten to second place in the 4th, 5th and 6th race respectively.

Four well-backed contestants swept through victory in a card of six events. They were Miss Mano, Regulation, Little Smile and Vallen Day in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th races while Sohna and Tallal The Great scored upset victories in the 3rd and 5th race, respectively.

Midway through the proceedings, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards shifted the remaining three races to the grass track after holding the first three on the dirt track. By and large it did not affect the performance of the horses.

Results:

Raiwind Plate Class VII

Division I-B 1000M:

Miss Mano (Haroon Ali) 9-0 M. Atif 1. Pretty 8-8 M. Sharif 2. Cash Deposit 9-0 Pervaiz Bhatty 3. Sohni Noor 8-10 Khalid 4.

Won by 7 L, 6 ½ L, 6 L. Time one minute 11 2/5 seconds. Winner trained privately by Rashid Latif.

Raiwind Plate Class VII

Division I-A 1000M:

Regulation (Zia-ur-Rehman) 9-2 M. Atif 1. Brave Heart 8-6 Naseer Ahmad 2.Raj Bar 8-10 M. Akram 3. Sajju The Great 8-4 Ali Raza 4.

Won by 2 L, Short-head, 3 ¼ L. Time one minutre 9 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

Mian Mir Plate Class VI

Division III-B 1000M:

Sona (Iftikhar-uz-Zaman) 8-0 M. Jehangir 1. God’s Gift 8-8 S. Ammad 2. Dogar Gift 8-8 M. Hussain 3. Mahima 8-8 Sikander Khan 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, ½ L, Neck. Time one minute 8 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahzad Ali.

Mian Mir Plate Class VI

III-A 1000M:

Little Smile (Malik Javaid Awan) 9-0 M. Akram 1. Royal Palace 8-8 Anjum 2. Mantar Prince 8-12 Saqib 3. Owais Dream 9-0 M. Nasir 4.

Won by 9 L, 2 L, 7 L. Time one minute 4 3/5 seconds. Winner trained privately by

Choudhry Mohammad Rafiq.

Mian Mir Plate Class VI

Division II 1000M:

Tallal The Great (Aamir Azad) 8-6 M. Waseem Khan 1. Royal Deal 8-10 M. Zeeshan 2. First Passion 8-7 M. Atif 3. Tosca 7-13 Javed iqbal 4.

Won by 3 L, 1 ½ L, Short-head. Time one minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

Shah Kot Plate Class V

Division II 1100M:

Vallen Day (rana Mohammad Akhtar) Aamir Parvaiz 1. Nommy The Hunter 8-6 M. Atif 2. Royal Victory 7-12 M. Zeeshan 3. Magic Stride 8-6 Javed Iqbal 4.

Won by ¾ L, 3 L, Distance. Time one minute 10 2/5 seconds. Winner trained privately by Mohammad Rafiq Khan.