July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

LAHORE, July 28: Fancied three-year-old chestnut Pak Edition lived up to his star billing, capturing the feature event during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse on a partially cloudy Sunday evening.

Prior to the race, it was a general opinion of the race fans that the odds-on favourite colt Pak Edition’s stamina would be put to test over the 1,200 metres distance as he has not yet raced over this distance.

As a result the colt’s odds eased up to evens from 30 to 100. But the race turned out a one-sided affair with the colt winning by a distance easily.

His opponents came staggering far behind, the bay mare Don’t Follow finishing second. Bold Act finished third a length further behind while Pick Of The Lot completed the frame.

In all, eight ran for the sixth race, the Jhang Plate, class V division I and II combined. Jockey Shakeel Mahmood rode the winner, trained by Imran.

Bay horse Big Bird proved really big when he overwhelmed his seven rivals to win the fourth race. The three-year-old colt Life, a much-talked about prodigy installed as the favourite finished second four lengths back.

When, Life, a progeny of Grandy Pinz out-of-Mahnoor, was installed favourite it came as a great surprise for the knowledgeable ones when the colt had no such previous performance. Some people made fool either to the connections or the backers.

Big Bird took a flying start and ended the race in the same manner Mian Ashraf, who had two runners — Snow Fall and Love Minister, backed the latter for a place, who obliged by finishing a framed third.

The Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards suspended for two months, riding boy Pervez Bhatti for dangerous riding on chestnut mare, Rana Choice in the race.

Upcoming riding boy Naseer Ahmed once again stole the limelight by bringing home a brace of winners to keep his march on top of the riders’ statistics table.

He partnered Umar Prince and Mera Chan in the second and third race, respectively. His handling of Mera Chan in particular was highly praise-worthy.

At one stage he was in third position from where he galvanized Mera Chan in to action and he responded quickly to win the race by half a length from Cleopatra. He received thunderous applause on return to paddock.

Imran excelled among trainers. He sent out two winners in Big Bird and Pak Edition in the fourth sixth and last race.

With the three horses — Diamond Sky, Darnaz and High Jet — opting out of the field for the fifth race, the chestnut Horse Al Ain was installed a favourite on his previous performance.

Al Ain, was beaten from The News by a length. The winner took a flying start and built up a commanding lead to win in the same style He is jointly owned by Munir Dar and Abdul Sattar Khan, was trained by A.B. Malik and partnered by the riding boy Majid Ali.

Results:

GUJRAT PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 900M:

Dam Dama Dam (Chaudhry Riazuddin) 8-10, M. Atif 1; Rough Tough 9-0, Hamid Raza 2; Dream Memories 8-12, Naseer Ahmed 3; First Dream 8-6, Fareed Ali 4.

Won by Short-head, 3 L, 1 L. Time 58 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Aamir Azad.

GUJRAT PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I-B 900M:

Umar Prince (Liaquat Ali) 8-2, Naseer

Ahmed 1; Blitz 8-10, Alam Sher 2; Bird Fly 8-8, Mazhar Ali 3; Last Option 8-8, Javed Iqbal 4.

On by 2 L, 6 1/2 L, Head. Time 57 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by the owner.

GUJRAT PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II & III 900M:

Mera Chan (Chaudhry Qamar Iqbal) 9-4, Naseer Ahmed 1; Cleopatra 9-0, M. Atif 2; Scarlet Empress 8-6, Majid Ali 3; Credit Card 7-8, Hamid Raza 4.

Won by 1/2 L, 3 L, 1/2 L. Time 58 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Chaudhry Mohammad Rafiq.

GUJRAT PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 900M:

Big Bird (Shahid Mahmood Doga) 9-0, Fareed Ali 1; Life 8-2, Aamir Pervez 2; Love Minister 8-4, A. Rahim 3; Snow Fall 8-10, Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by 4 L, 1 3/4 L, 4 L. Time 57 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Imran.

JHANG PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,200M:

The News (Munir Dar and Abdul Sattar Khan) 8-4, Majid Ali 1; Al Ain 8-4, M. Zeeshan 2; Arzoo 8-2, Bilal Ahmed 3; Shim Jim 8-8, Shahid Rehman 4.

Won by 1 L, 8 L, Distance. Time one minute 19 seconds.

Winner trained by A.B. Malik.

JHANG PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I & II 1,200M:

Pak Edition (Naseeruddin Siddiqui) 7-8, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Don’t Follow 8-4, M. Atif 2; Bold Act 8-10, Naseer Ahmad 3; Pick Of The Day 8-12, Munir Ahmed 4.

Won by Distance, 1 L, 6 L. Time one minute 17 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Imran.