July 22, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1429

LAHORE, July 21: Fancied three-year-old filly Secret Memories hacked a field of sprinters to score her second consecutive success during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the rain-drenched Racecourse on a balmy Sunday evening.

The downtown Racecourse area had rain showers twice on a partially cloudy Sunday once much before the start of the races and the other midway through the proceedings but the all-weather race facility had little effect of the rain and the entire card of six events went through smoothly.

As the race began, Secret Memories, the daughter of Dubai Edition out-of-Counters, lay third behind Brave Heart and Al Ain. She collared front-runners soon after turning heads for the straight and then went on to win by three lengths from Brave Heart. Al Ain comfortably got the third position with Arzoo coming fourth.

Owned by Arif Javed, the winner was piloted by Atif Javed in the fifth and supporting event, contested over 1,100 metres.

Five-year-old bay mare Noor defied handicap and won the sixth and feature event, contested over 1,100 metres.

She beat Harry Can View by three lengths. Bold Act after fighting in the front-runners pack, fell back to occupy third position while Don’t Follow edged on the frame.

Eight ran after the last-minute withdrawal of War Admiral.

Earlier, at the starting gates, Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards changed Noor’s rider, replacing Naseer Ahmed with Majid Ali.

Riding boy Tariq Habib stole the limelight bringing home a brace of winners. He won the first race on 50 to 100 Basant Mayla and then piloted three to one chance Little Love in the third race, defeating favourite Tree Of Love by a big margin of five lengths.

The luckless Tree Of Love was leading comfortably at 900 metres but in the next 100 metres his speed slowed down to fall easy prey to Little Love, an unknown six-year-old horse.

Murad The Great was great to the extent to finish third with Jewna completing the board.

Chestnut filly Thanks For Nothing was withdrawn from the race leaving nine runners in the field.

Whereas the entries in races and the attendance of race fans was thin, this too had its effect on the stewards when only two — Mian Abdul Waheed and Syed Pervez Hussain Shah were seen sitting in their room.

Steward Masood Pervez, who never misses races, was conspicuous by his absence. It is learnt on good authority of no less than a steward that he has differences on the mode of handicapping of horses “in clear violation of the demotion rules agreed to by the LRC stewards earlier”.

During the races, the race-goers saw another interesting scene involving representatives of turf accountants, including their president, Arif Qureshi and Mirza Khurshid Baig, who met the stewards voicing their resentment against horses, who according to them were not being tried by their respective owners.

They expressed no trust over the handicapping of horses, which they say result in causing losses to them. But no one spoke a word about the horses who in majority are owned directly or indirectly by the bookmakers and not tried until a gamble is laid. The race-goers have a genuine grievance against them.

Secondly, the stewards change riders at bookmakers’ request and often a race ends in an upset. At that bookmakers are very much pleased with the booty?

The bookmakers deduct five per cent tax on winning bets. A bookmaker running his stall titled “Welcome” would deduct Rs10 even if a punter wins Rs200 only. With everything going their way, it is astonishing that bookmakers are still crying hoarse. Race-goers have suggested the Punjab government that instead of levying tax on entry (Rs200 per person), the government should levy 10 per cent betting tax on bookmakers.

This way the government would be getting far more amount of money in tax. When the Race Club was situated at its Gulberg Road Complex, the Punjab Government had levied a 7.5 per cent betting tax on each winning bet.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should look into the matter.

Results:

MURREE PLATE CLASS VI

DIV 1,000M:

Basant Mayla ( Iftikhar-uz-Zaman) 8-12, Tariq Habib 1; Chocolate Boy 8-8, M. Wasim 2; Noor Pari 8-4, Sikander Khan 3; Sharoon Prince 9-2, S. Ammad 4.

Won by 1 ¾ L, Distance, 2 ½ L. Time one min 8 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Chaudhry Khurram Hussain.

MURREE PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III 1,000M:

First Dream (Mian Mohammad Farrukh) 8-6, Fareed Ali 1; Black King 8-12, M. Zeeshan 2; Dream Memories 9-0, M. Jamil 3; Free Hit 8-4, Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 6 L, 2 ½ L, 8 L. Time one min 5 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

MURREE PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,000M:

Little Love (Chaudhry Mohammad Rafiq) 8-10, Tariq Habib 1; Tree Of Love 9-0, Atif Javed 2; Murad The Great 8-6, Waqas Hadi 3; Jewna 8-12, Hidayat Hussain 4.

Won by 5 L, 2 L, 4 L. Time one min seven sec.

Winner trained by the owner.

MURREE PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,000M:

Diamond Sky (Malik Manga Khan) 8-6, Shahid Rehman 1; Blitz 8-0, Alam Sher 2; Naseeb Apna Apna 8-6, M. Atif 3; Faryal 8-10, M. Wasim 4.

Won by Distance, 2 L, 3 ½ L. Time one min 5 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by the owner.

MIRPUR PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,100M:

Secret Memories (Arif Javed) 9-0, Atif Javed 1; Brave Heart 8-2, Majid Ali 2; Al Ain 8-0, Naseer Ahmed 3; Arzoo 8-2, Bilal Ahmed 4.

Won by 3 L, 4 ¾ L, Neck. Time one min 11 3/5 sec.

Winner trained by the owner.

MIRPUR PLATE CLASS V DIV I (CLASS IV INCLUDED) 1,100M:

Noor (Faraz Ahmed Chaudhry) 9-6, Majid Ali 1; Harry Can View 9-10, Hidayat Hussain 2; Bold Act 8-2, Imran Pervez 3; Don’t Follow 8-0, M. Atif 4.

Won by 3 L, 4 ½ L, ½ L. Time one min 11 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.