February 18, 2008	Monday	Safar 10, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 17: Four-year-old bay filly Brave Act put up a smashing performance to win the Pakistan Derby Trials, run in the over 2,000 metres distance during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The daughter of Replay out-of-Coxswain, Brave Act accelerated right from the beginning to beat bay colt Kiss Of Luck by a big margin. Desert Prince and Lucifer completed the frame while the raiders from Karachi, Fair Diamond ran ahead of the field in the over 1,600 metres and Fantastic Baby finished off the frame. Only eight ran in the race after the last-minute withdrawal of Headingly when he was found to be running a fever.

Owned by Sohrab Khan and trained by Amjad Ali II, the half-money favourite Brave Act was piloted by Aamir Pervez.

Sunday’s victory also confirmed the winner’s credentials for the Pakistan Derby. Unbeaten in three starts, the filly is now a favourite for the biggest classic for four-year-old country-bred colts and fillies scheduled for March 2.

A race earlier, the even-money favourite filly Dixie won the Bin Qasim Cup gone over the sprinting distance of 1,200 metres.

Dixie, the bay filly from Putra out-of-Noon’s Pride, was ridden almost perfectly by jockey Shahid Rehman. Owned by Malik Hamid Ali Noon, she is trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.

The winner beat Rags To Riches by a length with Vandetta and Armaan completing the frame among the nine runners.

Jockey Aamir Pervez won the distinction of riding home a brace of winners, piloting Brave Act and Houstan in the fifth and sixth race, respectively. Trainer Mohammad Rafiq Khan excelled among the trainers. He sent out two winners — Karam Pe Karam and Valenday — in the second and third race.

The punters suffered heavily when only three favourites won in a card of seven races. They were: Dixie (even-money), Brave Act (50 to 100) and Houstan (40 to 100) while the other four events were bagged by long shots War Admiral, Karam Pe Karam, Valenday and Sweet Lady.

In the seventh and last race, LRC stewards dismissed a frivolous objection lodged by M. Akram, the rider of Zubair Prince, placed second against the winner Sweet Lady (ridden by Majid Ali) for pressing and crossing in the last 200 metres. In fact Zubair Prince was beaten by a length by Sweet Lady due to bad handling by his rider and the objection was only raised to find an excuse for losing the race.

Results:

LASBELA PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1,200M:

War Admiral (Mohammad Shafiq Sadiq) 8-8, M, Hussain 1, Manan Prince 8-12, Aamir Pervez 2. Empire Maker 8-10. A. Imran 3. Don’t Follow 8-8, Faheem K 4.

Won by ½ L, ½ L, 2 L. Time one minute 17 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Memraiz Khan.

LASBELA PLATE CLASS V DIV I-A 1,200M:

Karam Pe Karam (Jamshed Khan) 9-2, Ali Raza 1. Born To Win 9-0, Salahuddin 2. Dillagi 9-0. M. Wasim Khan, 3. Miss Liza 9-0. Faheem K 4.

Won by 2 L, 7 L, 1 ¾ L. Time one minute 15 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Rafiq Khan.

FRONTIER PLATE CLASS IV DIV II & III 1,600M:

Valenday (Rana Mohammad Akhtar) 9-0, M. Zeeshan 1. Sonu Love Zubi 8-4, M. Hanif 2. Run And Win 7-10. Shakeel Mahmood, 3. Sharp Burg 8-2, Javed Iqbal 4.

Won by 2 L, Distance, 1 L. Time one minute 42 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Rafiq Khan.

BIN QASIM CUP, A TERM RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD COLTS

AND FILLIES 1,200M:

Dixie (Malik Hamid Ali Noon) 8-4, Shahid Rehman 1. Rags To Riches 8-4, Salahuddin 2. Vandetta 8-7, M. Hanif, 3. Armaan 8-7, Faheem K. 4.

Won by 1 L, 7 L, 4 L. Time one minute 14 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.

PAKISTAN DERBY TRIALS 2008, A TERM RACE FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND FILLIES 2,000M:

Brave Act (Sohrab Khan) 8-7, Aamir Pervez 1. Kiss Of Luck 8-10, Atif Javed, 2. Desert Prince 8-10, Javed Iqbal 3. Lucifer 8-10, Shahid Rehman 4.

Won by Distance, 1 ¾ L, 2 L. Time two minutes 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali (II).

LASBELA PLATE CLASS V DIV III 1,200M:

Houstan (Sohrab Khan) 9-0, Aamir Pervez 1. Alishba 8-7, M. Hanif 2. Munsaf 8-10, Faisal Tahir 3. Mystical Flight 9-0, Tariq Baran 4.

Wn by 3 L, ½ L, Distance. Time one minute 17 seconds. Winner trained by Mian Abdul Majeed.

LASBELA PLATE CLASS V DIV IV 1,200M:

Sweet Lady (Nawabzada Ghulam Dastagir) 8-8, Majid Ali 1. Zubair Prince 9-0, M. Akram 2. Sabbet Qadam 9-0, A. Imran 3. Tallal The Great 8-6, Ali Raza 4.

Won by 1 L, 4 ¼ L, 2 L. Time one minute 18 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.