August 01, 2008	Friday	Rajab 28, 1429

LAHORE, July 31: Fancied six-year-old bay horse Rough Tough sprang a big surprise when he landed the feature event run over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres during the day/night midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the rain-drenched Racecourse on Wednesday.

Saddled by riding boy Munir Ahmed, the 5-1 chance Rough Tough fought with Amazonia and Mera Chan in the final 200 metres to score a three-and-a-half lengths’ victory over Amazonia Mera Chan and Unter who completed the frame among eight runners. Amazonia was

5-4 favourite with Mera Chan and Unter as second

favourites in this first race of the day’s card.

The city was hit by a heavy downpour a few hours before the races. The downpour turned into an intermittent light drizzle with fast wind blowing across the racecourse. As the track was not affected much the races began 45 minutes behind the scheduled time.

In the next race, the long shot bay gelding Black King won the supporting event defeating odds-on favourite chestnut gelding Red Carpet by about two lengths. As it looked, Red Carpet was not allowed to run on merit by the jockey Aamir Pervez. Earlier, Bubbly and Aaja Bulbul were withdrawn from the race at the last moment leaving nine runners in the field.

Immediately, after the race the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards called Aamir, and not being satisfied with his explanation, suspended him for six months and fined him Rs10,000. The LRC stewards’ decision was unanimous and hailed as such by the race-goers.

Aamir is well known for his riding skills. He is perhaps the only jockey stood down for pulling a horse in the Pakistan Derby, a race whose victory every rider, trainer or the owner longs for.

Later, the stewards withdrew the license of riding boy M. Zulfiqar for good for his wilful pulling of Khan Baba in the fifth race. The stewards had at the starting gates replaced M. Atif with M. Zulfiqar ordering him to ride his mount on merit but he ignored the instructions.

LRC steward, Khawaja M. Arif, while talking to Dawn, said the stewards are vigilant to take action against riders found indulging in malpractices to maintain good standard of racing and cleans the equine sports.

He said that they keep in view, the form of a runner, his chance in the event he is contesting and judge his performance in true perspective.

To a question about engaging a good rider on a horse, who has less chance of winning or being placed, Khawaja, who is also an owner, said sometimes a good rider is engaged on a horse, which has no chance to evaluate his true capability and his future prospects as only a good rider can be a good judge.

In his opinion if an ordinary rider is put on a horse, he will not be good in his assessment about the animal and there may be every chance he brings his mount lame.

With these fears in mind he prefers a good rider to ride his horse even if he has no chance. At least the animal remains safe. If he puts some weak rider there may be every chance the horse may go lame. “Can one afford to lose his horse?” he asked.

During Wednesday’s races, two riders excelled sharing riding honours. They were Munir Ahmed and Sajjad Hussain. Munir piloted Rough Tough and Pawan Princess in the first and fifth race while Sajjad Hussain rode Saad Prince and Come On in the fourth and sixth races, respectively.

Results:

SOHAWA PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1,000M:

Rough Tough (Iftikhar Malik) 9-2, Munir Ahmed 1l Amazonia 8-10, Alam Sher 2; Mera Chan 9-2, Naseer Ahmed 3l Unter 8-10, M. Tariq 4.

Won by 3 1/2 L, 1 L, 4 1/4 L. Time one minute 5 seconds. Winner trained by Malik Manga Khan.

SOHAWA PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV 1,000M:

Black King (Shah Nawaz Qaiser) 8-12, A. Rahim 1; Red Carpet 8-10, Aamir Pervez 2; Gypsy 7-4, Sikander Khan 3; Suleman Love 9-0, Bilal Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 3/4 L, 1 3/4 L, 3 L. Time one minute 7 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 900M:

Smore Choice (Ahmed Yar Smore) 9-0, M. Atif 1; Bagh-o-Bahar 7-10, Naseer Ahmed 2; Pretty 8-0, Munir Ahmed 3; Sohna Murad 8-10, Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 3 L, 1 1/2 L, 7 1/2 L. Time 59 seconds. Winner trained by M. Arshad.

JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 900M:

Saad Prince (Arif Mahmood Butt) 8-10, Sajjad Hussain 1; Muskar 8-2, Munir Ahmed 2; Pure Power 9-0, Naseer Ahmed 3; Miss Mano 8-10, M. Nasir 4.

Won by 3/4 L, 3 1/4 L, 3/4 L. Time one minute 0 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 900M:

Pawan Princess (Naeemuddin Warraich) 9-0, Munir Ahmed 1; Fakhar-e-Hazara 8-8, M. Jamil 2; Golden Falcon 8-8, Atif Javed 3; Kiss Of Love 8-6, Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 3/4 L, 3 L, 5 1/4 L. Time eone minute zero second. Winner trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

JHELUM PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV 900M:

Come On (Khalid Nazir Chughtai) 7-8, Sajjad Hussain 1; Cash Box 8-10, M. Atif 2; Waqas Prince 9-0, Majid Ali 3; Sana 8-6, Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 3/4 L, 1 3/4 L, Short-head. Time one minute 1 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Qaiser.