March 06, 2008	Thursday	Safar 27 ,1429

LAHORE, March 5: Bringing home a brace of winners, the riding boy Khalil Vicky stole the limelight in the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

Khalil Vicky piloted the bay filly Pick Of The Day, trained by Haji Fazal Hadi, to a comfortable win in the third race, which, incidentally, was also the best performance seen in the seven-event card drawn up for the day. Later he strode the bay mare Rajwali to victory in the sixth race to complete his lucrative double. Trainer Zia-ur-Rehman had the distinction of sending out, Rajwali, Rokra and Sana to capture the first, second and third positions, respectively, in this race, a rare achievement by any trainer during the recent years.

The odds-on favourite chestnut colt High Jet flew home to win the feature event, defeating Aaja Bulbul by over a length’s margin. Umer Prince and Shah Rani completed the frame among the 11 runners.

Punters, who have been suffering great losses during the previous two meetings, had a profitable day when five well-backed horses won in a card of seven events. The favourites to win were Big Choice (evens), Pick Of The Day (5 to 4), God’s Gift (60 to 100), High Jet (30 to 100) and Rajwali (60 to 100) in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth race, respectively.

The three-to-one chance bay mare Rang De Basanti was extremely lucky to overtake Tosca by a head’s margin on the finishing line in the second race. Favourite Al Ain finished third, another length behind in a closely contested race between the trios.

Meanwhile long shot Bilal Love caused the biggest upset of the day in the seventh and last race by beating favourite Mansha Love. Kiss Of Love and Pukkar completed the frame.

In the fifth race, rider of the fourth-place Miss Mano, Sikander Khan, lodged an objection against Ali Raza, the rider of Leader’s Wing, placed third for bumping and crossing which was overruled by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards. All races were contested in the sprinting distance of over 900 metres.

Results:

KARACHI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 900M:

Big Choice (Sohail Imtiaz) 8-6 M. Zeeshan 1, Devine Jury 8-12 Shakeel Mahmood 2, Dream Act 8-6 Majid Ali 3 and Sun Ray 8-4 Faisal Tahir 4.

Won by 2 ¾ L, ½ L, 7 L. Time 58 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

KARACHI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III 900M:

Rang De Basanti (Manzoor Amad) 9-2 M. Jehangir 1, Tosca 9-2 Munir Ahmad 2, Al Ain 8-2 A. Alam 3 and Great Rhythm 8-4 Parvaiz Bhatty 4.

Won by Head, I L, 1 ¼ L. Time 58 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

KARACHI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV IV 900M:

Pick Of The Day (K.A. Ahmad) 9-0 Khalil Vicky 1, Dimple 7-8 Zameer 2, Victory King 8-8 Parvaiz Bhatty 3 and Black King 8-0 Ali Raza 4.

Won by 5 ¾ L, short-head, 1 L. Time 59 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.

KARACHI PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 900M:

High Jet (Haroon Ali) 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 1, Aaja Bulbul 9-0 M. Hussain 2, Umer Prince 8-6 Allah Yar 3 and Shah Rani 8-4 Ali Raza 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, 2 L, Distance. Time 58 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Choudhry Khurrm Hussain.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VII

DIV I 900M:

God’s Gift (Mian Mohammad Ashraf) 9-2 S. Ammad 1, Pure Power 8-6 Sajjad Hussain 2, Leader’s Wing 8-8 Ali Raza 3 and Miss Mano 9-0 Sikander Khan 4.

Won by ½ L, 3 L, Head. Time one minute 0 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VII

DIV II 900M:

Rajwali (Raja Sajjad Abbasi) 9-2 Khalil Vicky 1, Rokra 8-8 Majid Ali 2, Sana 7-8 Zameer 3 and Bagh-o-Bahar 9-0 M. Azeem 4.

Won by 2 L, 5 L, Head. Time one minute 1 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zia-ur-Rehman.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VII

DIV III 900M:

Billal Love (Babar Hussain) 7-12 Munir Hussain 1, Mansha Love 8-6 Parvaiz Bhatty 2, Kiss Of Love 8-6 Majid Ali 3 and Pukkar 7-12 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, 1 ½ L, 5 ½ L. Time one minute 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.