May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

LAHORE, April 30: The bay horse Love Minister stormed home to win the feature event, run over the 1,000 metres distance, during the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

Owned by Mian Mohammad Ashraf and ridden by the riding boy Ali Raza, Love Minister hit the front, entering the home run for an easy victory in the event by beating Great Khan by over eight lengths. Mutajar finished third while Major Rana completed the frame among the 13 contestants in this class VI, division II, handicap race, the first one in the racing order.

In the supporting and third event, a class VI, division III and IV, combined handicap race, the chestnut mare Laina Again beat the half-money favourite bay mare Geo Super easily.

Taking full advantage of the flying start, Laina Again spurted home much ahead of the field to beat Geo Super by over seven lengths. Geo Super under jockey Salah-ud-din was slow at first, far behind the other six contestants, but he tried to catch up with the leaders, crossing them one by one. Still he failed to make up for lost ground. Geo Bhakkar and Mama Mia completed the frame. In all, 14 competitors lined up at the starting gates after the last-minute withdrawal of Sher-e-Lahore from the race.

This was a unique race day for the encouragement of the junior riders when all the events were won by lesser lights among the riding boys, who beat jockeys and senior riding boys much to the astonishment of the racing public.

The punters and bookmakers shared the day’s proceedings equally with three favourite horses winning in a card of six events. Horses at long odds bagged the remaining three events.

Registering a splendid double, leading trainer Sohail Aziz kept his steady advance to the top position of the Lahore Race Club (LRC) trainers’ statistics table for the year 2007-08. He sent out Shahbaz Love and Best Owner in the fourth and fifth race, respectively.

Results:

KHARIAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,000M:

Love Minister (Mian Mohammad Ashraf) 8-12 Ali Raza 1, Great Khan 8-2 M. Jamil 2,

Mutajar 8-6 Irfan Razzaq 3 and Major Rana 8-2 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 8 1/2 L, 4 L, 1 L. Time one minute 6 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

KHARIAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV IV 1,000M:

Victory King (Choudhry Sagheer Hussain) 8-0 Sajjad Hussain 1, Weldon Shogun 9-0 Nasir Bhatty 2, Black King 7-8 M. Zeeshan 3 and Chocolate Boy 8-6 M. Waseem 4.

Won by 1 L, 1 3/4 L, 5 L. Time one minute 8 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sarfraz privately.

KHARIAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,000M:

Laina Again (Mian Abdul Majeed) 7-10 Parvez Bhatty 1, Geo Super 9-0 Salah-ud-Din 2, Geo Bhakkar 8-12 Mazhar Ali 3 and Mama Mia 8-6 Khalil Vicky 4.

Won by 7 1/2 L, 2 L, 4 L. Time one minute 5 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

RAVI PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 800M:

Shabaz Love ( Mohammad Iqbal) 9-2 M. Akram 1, Mah-e-Noor8-4 A. Alam 2, Leader’s Wing 8-0 Khalil Vicky 3 and Better Time 8-10 M. Waseem 4.Won by 4 1/2 L, 1/2 L, 3 L. Time 53 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

RAVI PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 800M:

Best Owner (Saeed Ahmad) 8-4 Khalil Vicky 1, Kiss Of Love 8-8 Shakeel Mahmood 2, Rokra 8-6 Atif Javaid 3 and Mere Lal 8-6 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 5 L, Neck, 1/2 L. Time 53 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

RAVI PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 800M:

Shandar (Muzaffar Baig) 8-12 S. Ammad 1, Taqdeer-e-Bhakkar 8-0 M. Jehangir 2, Sana 8-10 Parvez Bhatty 3 and Azeem Prince 8-10 M. Waseem 4.

Won by 2 L, 1 L, 4 L. Time 55 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahzad Ali.