June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

KARACHI, June 15: The combination of jockey Ghulam Shabbir II and trainer Ghulam Channa stole the limelight with a back-to-back double in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Shabbir’s first success came in the fifth race when he powered three-year-old bay colt Speed Of Arab to victory over filly Dilruba while in the next, he piloted mare Spice Of Arab home by prevailing over colt The Ghazan Prince after Desert Hawk was withdrawn at the eleventh hour which resulted in re-betting.

Both the races were fiercely contested and it was the handling of mounts by the rider that brought fruitful results.

In a neck-and-neck battle, Speed Of Arab led the pack of five horses after withdrawal of Awan Hi Awan, beating co-favourite Dilruba by three-quarter-of-a-length. Paidagir and Sugar Sweet occupied the next two slots on the board.

Rider Mohammad Essa was fined Rs10,000 for his ‘unsatisfactory’ riding of Dilruba. In the absence of Desert Hawk, Spice Of Arab became the favourite and obliged the punters by getting the better of The Ghazan Prince by half-a-length to land the feature event. The win also enabled Spice Of Arab to complete a hat-trick.

Afroze Jehan finished third while Black Girl completed the frame.

The withdrawal of Desert Hawk for the second successive time has raised quite a few eyebrows.

Rider Fahim K. galloped three-year-old dark bay colt Persian Blue to a facile six-and-a-half lengths victory over bay Lucky Gem to chalk up his maiden win in the fourth race.

The two were followed by Princess Rozi and Marhaba following withdrawal of Sweetie Pie and Again Of Arab.

Public fancy filly Blassom did owner Zainab Ali and Kamal Farooq proud when she overcame Closing Argument by two lengths to land the opener with a repeat performance. She was ridden home by Tariq Baran.

Nine-year-old bay Qandhar made amends beating joint favourite Paidagiree by four-and-a-half lengths to claim the second while bay New Ferrari won the third overcoming Jaguar.

Results:

THE DIAMOND PLATE CLASS VI 5F:

Blassom (Zainab Ali and Kamal Farooq) 8-11, Tariq Baran 1; Closing Argument 8-9, Mumtaz Ali 2; Manan Prince 8-6, Mohammad Essa 3; Arab Hi Arab 8-10, Zaheer Ahmed 4.

Won by 2L, 6L, 6 3/4L. Time: One min 4 3/5 sec. Winner trained by M. Mazhar.

THE BLUE SEA PLATE DIV V

CLASS VII 5F:

Qandhar (Fawad Hussain) 8-11, Sohail Ahmed 1; Paidagiree 9-0, Shahid Manan 2; Captain Cook 7-11 (cr8-0), Abdul Mutlib 3; Prince Shahzad 7-12, Wasim 4.

Won by 4 1/2L, 5 1/2L, 1 1/2L. Time: One min 8 3/5 sec. Winner trained by A. Hannan.

THE BLUE SEA PLATE DIV IV

CLASS VII 5F:

New Ferrari (Akbar Ali Qureshi) 8-4, Riaz Mohammad 1; Jaguar 8-9, Abdul Mutlib 2; Mixed Blessing 8-11, M. Yousuf 3; Daruwala 8-5 (cr8-0), Pervez Ali 4.

Won by 3/4L, 4L, 4L. Time: One min 7 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Mansoor Alam.

THE BLUE SEA PLATE DIV III CLASS VII 5F:

Persian Blue (Sher Shah Kasi) 7-12, Fahim K 1; Lucky Gem 8-3 (cr8-0), Pervez Ali 2; Princess Rozi 9-0 (cr8-7), Tahir Ali 3; Marhaba 8-2, Mohammad Essa 4.

Won by 6 1/2L, 4L, 6L. Time: One min 6 3/5 sec. Winner trained by M. Mazhar.

THE BLUE SEA PLATE DIV II

CLASS VII 5F:

Speed Of Arab (Syed Khurram Anwar Ahmed) 9-0, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Dilruba 8-9, Mohammad Essa 2; Paidagir 8-12 (cr8-5), Salman 3; Sugar Sweet 8-13 (cr8-6), Zaheer Ahmed 4.

Won by 3/4L, Dist, 3 1/2L. Time: One min 5 1/5 sec Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.

THE MADAM PLATE CLASS IV

AND V DIV I AND II 5F:

Spice Of Arab (Qaiser Sultana) 8-12, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; The Ghazan Prince 8-0, M. Manzoor 2; Afroze Jehan 9-4, Shahzad Shahwani 3; Black Girl 8-2, Tariq Baran 4.

Won by 1/2L, 3L, 2 1/2L. Time: One min 4 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.