LAHORE, Dec 12: The five-year-old Rough Tough proved a great fighter when landing the feature event during the day/night midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.
Ridden by jockey Aamir Pervaiz, the bay horse taking a fine start, fought a neck-to-neck battle with the favourite chestnut colt Magic Stride, who failed to show his magic in order to concede a length’s victory to his mature rival.
Babbu The Great and Dam Her Dam completed the frame among the seven runners left after the last-minute withdrawal of filly Pind De Kuri in this sixth race of the day.
A race earlier, blue-roan colt Home Star outclassed his 11 rivals, winning the supporting event on his first running after the change of name from New Bhakkar to Home Star.
He beat Tallal The Great by three lengths. Cheeta Aya and Dam Dama Dam completed the board among a dozen runners.
Jockey Aamir Parvaiz and the apprentice riding boy Farid Ali shared the day’s riding honours, bringing home a brace of winners each. Aamir piloted Dillagi and Rough Tough in the fourth and sixth race while Farid Ali rode Brave Heart and Home Star in the third and fifth race, respectively.
Three well-backed horses, namely, Rose, Brave Heart and Home Star (formerly New Bhakkar) won in a card of six events. Meanwhile the unknown bay horse Cash Deposit caused the biggest upset of the day in the opener.
All races were contested in the sprinting distance of over 800 metres.
Results:
Jalal Pur Plate Class VII
Div 1-B 800m.
Cash Deposit (Masrro Nasir Malik) 8-12 Nasir Bhatty 1. Waqas Prince 8-4 Farid Ali 2. Pretty 8-6 M. Sharif 3. Sohni Noor 8-11 Saaqib 4.
Won by 2 ¾ L, Short-head, 2 L. Time 56 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Raja tehmasab Khan.
Jalal Pur Plate Class VII
Div 1-A 800m.Rose (Qaiser) 9-4 Majid Ali 1. Leader’s Wing 8-2 Ali Raza 2. Non Stop 9-0 M. Atif 3. Malika 7-10 khalid 4.
Won by 3 L, 2 L, Head. Time 54 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
Bhalwal Plate Class VI
Div III 800m.
Brave Heart (Mohammad Siddique) 8-10 Majid Ali 1. Mah-e-Noor 8-2 Khalid 2. Well Done 710 A. Alam 3. Malang Aya 8-6 Saqib 4.
Won by 3 L, ½ L, 2 ½ L. Time 51 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
Bhalwal Plate Class VI
Div II 800m.
Dillagi (Mohammad Rafiq) 9-2 Aamir Parvaiz 1. Love Minister 9-2 Parvaiz Bhatty 2. Regulation 8-2 M. Wasem Khan 3. Rana Choice 8-2 farid Ali 4.
Won by 3 L, ½ L, 1 ½ L. Time 51 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.
Bhalwal Palte Class VI
Div 1 800m.
Home Star (Aleem-ud-Din) 9-0 Farid Ali 1. Tallal The Great 8-9 M. Waseem Khan 2. Cheeta Aya 9-2 M. Akram 3. Dam Dama Dam 8-2 Ali Raza 4.
Won by 3 L, 2 ¾ L, Short-head. Time 49 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
Gujrat Plate Class V Div II 800m.
Rough Tough (Iftikhar Malik) 8-10 Aamir Parvaiz 1. Magic Stride 8-2 M. Hanif 2. Babbu The Great 8-2 Zameer 3.