April 14, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429

LAHORE, April 13: Five-year-old bay horse Byron enthralled race-goers by out dueling Bright Flame to land the Spring Cup run over 1,200m during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman, Byron backed at 70 to 100 stormed home in the last 200m to level up with the front-running filly, Bright Flame and finally won by a head’s margin in a keenly contested race.

The race was greatly enjoyed by the sports connoisseurs with spontaneous applause while the horses returned to the paddock. The filly, Can Can Girl finished third with the bay mare, Don’t Follow completing the frame among 10 runners in this fifth race of the day.

Trained by Abdul Rasheed Byron is owned by Usman Khawaja.

Earlier, the bay English mare, Konica, showed her sprinting power when winning the Neelum Cup gone over 1,000m.

She beat her stable mate, Grecianette by two lengths. The even-money favourite English filly, Interiotte finished a close third. When the race began, Konica was third and her jockey M. Hanif pulled up in the front and went on to win by two lengths. A tiny field of five English thoroughbreds faced the starter.

Konica clocked 59 4/5 seconds over the distance.

Shortly before the start of the first race, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) announced that the Neelum Plate was in fact a cup event for the horses in class I, II and III. The only Pakistani bred horse Valenday taking part in it was withdrawn leaving five imported horses in the field.

Jockeys Shahid Rehman and Salah-ud-Din shared the day’s racing honours. The former brought home three winners, Will He Wish, Eve and Byron in the first, third and fifth race. Shahid was very lucky to get the mount of the four-year-old bay filly Eve in the third race. He substituted the riding boy Munir Ahmad. The daughter of English sire, Wathbat Nashwan, from the bloodline of Epsom Derby winner, Nashwan, won the race with ease The highly bred filly is owned by Zaheer Aslam.

Jockey Salah-ud-Din worked up a good double. He piloted home Emperor and Hallow Handsome in the sixth and seventh race. His both mounts were available at attractive odds and had narrow wins.

In the third race second favourite bay colt Gold Mine stumbled during the race and had his leg broken. Subsequently he had to be destroyed.

Four favourites obliged the punters in a card of seven events. They were: Will He Wish ( 70 to 100), Big Power (50 to 100), Eve (40 to 100), and Byron ( 50 to 100).

The LRC has announced that Jackpot Pool will be instituted from Wednesday. Gymkhana races and punters would be required to pick and combine six winners in selected six races.

The LRC will also contribute Rs100,000 towards the kitty to generate interest among the punters.

Results.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I-A 1000M:

Will He Wish (Khawaja M. Arif) 9-0 Shahid Rehman 1, Blue Fire 8-7 Sajjad Hussain 2, Extravagant 8-8 A. Imran 3 and Princess Ginza 8-8 M. Hanif 4.

Won by 4 L, 1 1/4 L, 5 L. Time one min 2 3/5 secs.

Winner trained by Haji Abid Mehmood.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I-B 1,000M:Big Power (Shah Shamyl Alam) 9-0 Aamir Parvaiz 1. Noor-un-Nisa 8-10 Khalil Vicky 2. Blitz 8-12 Anjum 3. and Big Choice 8-6 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 3/4 L, 1 1/2 L, 3 L. Time one min 3 secs.

Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I & II 1000M:

Eve (Zaheer Aslam) 9-0 Shahid Rehman 1, Stride To Moment 9-0 Bilal Ahmad 2, Rang Dey Basanti 9-0 M. Jehangir 3 and Murad King 8-12 A. Imran 4.

Won by 4 L, Head, 5 L. Time one min 3 2/5 secs.

Winner trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

NEELUM CUP CLASS I, II & III 1,000M:

Konica (Syed Parvaiz Hussain Shah) 8-10 M. Hanif 1, Grecianette 10-8 Salah-ud-Din 2, Interiottee 9-4 Aamir Parvaiz 3 and Ali Alisha 8-8 A. Imran 4.

Won by 2 L, Neck, 2 1/2 L. Time 59 4/5 secs.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

SPRING CUP CLASS V DIV I 1200M:

Byron (Usman Khawaja) 8-6 Shahid Rehman 1, Bright Flame 8-11 Tariq Habib 2, Can Can Girl 8-6 Sajjad Hussain 3 and Don’t Follow 8-6 M. Hanif 4.

Won by Head, 2 3/4 L, Neck. Time one min 15 secs.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

SPRING PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1200M:

Emperor (Sheikh Qamar Ehsan Ullah) 8-10 Salah-ud-Din 1, Rania 8-4 M. Zeeshan 2, Koshaliya 9-2 Shahid Rehman 3 and Munsaf 8-10 A. Imran 4.

Won by Short-head, 5 L, 4 L. Time one min 15 1/5 secs.

Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

HYDERABAD PLATE CLASS IV

DIV II & III 1200M.

Hallow Handsome (Mian Hamid Mahmood) 8-11 Salah-ud-Din 1, Lovely Dunit 9-4 Shahid Rehman 2, Vandetta 8-10 Khalil Vicky 3 and Spiritual Song 8-6 M. Atif 4.

Won by Neck, 2 L, 3 L. Time one min 14 2/5 secs.

Winner trained by Choudhry Khurrum Hussain.