August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha’aban 23, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 25: Fancied colt Pak Edition confirmed his class when he overwhelmed 11 opponents to win the feature event run over 1,200 metres during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday evening.

The three-year-old nimble-hoofed son of Dubai Edition out-of-Twichey took the lead at the top of the stretch and rolled on to over a length triumph in company which also included a couple of Pakistan Derby failure.

Bay horse Charismatic, whose charisma failed to tame the winner, finished second while the thoroughbred filly Mythical came third, another two lengths behind the runner-up.

Sunday’s victory gave the flaming chestnut Pak Edition a well-earned hat-trick of wins when earlier he had to his credit two straight first positions.

The Naseeruddin Siddiqui-owned colt, which was trained by Imran, was piloted by jockey Shakeel Mahmood. This was the class four handicap race and the sixth and last of the day.

A race earlier, four-year-old bay filly Born To Win performed to match her name’s worth as she won the supporting event contested over 1,100 metres.

Trained by Haji Abid Mahmood and ridden by jockey M. Zeeshan, Born To Win out-sprinted second-placed Lucky Cat by three lengths.

Favourite Pick Of The Day finished third another two lengths back among eight starters.

Filly Philogyny, beaten last time out, was the overwhelming choice by the bettors at the Racecourse, at last justified her bloodline followers winning the third race.

The daughter of Bahri out-of-Cheacheapeu, a French mare, ridden by relatively a weak jockey, Javed Iqbal, was tucked up in the straight behind front-runners’ pack but found the opening on to the rails to carve a splendid victory by a neck over Blue Fire. A big field comprising 15 runners faced the starter.

Lahore Race Club (LRC) steward, who says he keeps LRC interest supreme while taking any action, was proud to see two horses, flying his colours, cruising to victory – Philogyny and Iconic – in the third and fourth race, respectively.

Jockey M. Zeeshan, who returned to saddle after a two-week suspension, rode two winners – Royal Deal and Born To Run – in the second and fifth race, respectively.

Trainer Sohail Aziz took a lucky big leap eyeing next year’s trainers’ championship by saddling two winners. He sent out Scarlet Empress in the opener and Iconic in the fourth.

Scarlet Empress, ridden by Alam Sher, beat Suleman Love with Great Rythym and Malang Aya completing the board among eight runners.

It was a race between only two, placed first and second while the other runners just made the field to give the handicapper a chance to make a card of six races.

The bookmakers’ complaints seem genuine when one sees such races on the card in which there are only two genuine contenders while the other are just pretenders and not of the same class and division. The handicapper must be having second thought for such a handicapping.Some lively proceedings were seen in the betting ring with bookmakers offering good odds in each race barring one, the third race.

Four favourite horses won in the card of six events. They were: Scarlet Empress (70-100), Royal Deal (40-100), Philogyny (25-100) and Pak Edition (80-100). The filly, Iconic and Born To Win were available at five to one each.

Interestingly five races were won by fillies and a mare establishing female superiority in a muggy evening.

Results:

HYDERABAD PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,000M:

Scarlet Empress (Malik Mohammad Younis) 7-10, Alam Sher 1; Suleman Love 8-12, Naseer Ahmed 2; Great Rhythm 7-12, M. Jamil 3; Malang Aya 7-4, Munir Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 ½ L, Distance, ¾ L. Time one min 6 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

HYDERABAD PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,000M:

Royal Deal (Makhdoomzada Syed Abbas Mehdi) 8-12, M. Zeeshan 1; So Romantic 8-8, Munir Ahmed 2; Striker 9-0, Naseer Ahmed 3; Sona 8-4, Saqib 4.

Won by 8 L, Head, 3 ½ L. Time one min 5 1/5 sec.

Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

HYDERABAD PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,000M:

Philogyny (Syed Pervez Hussain) 8-4, Javed Iqbal 1; Blue Fire 8-6, Fareed Ali 2; Brave Heart 9-4, Sajjad Hussain 3; Stride To Moment 7-10, M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by Neck, 1 ¼ L, 2 ½ L. Time one min 5 3/5 sec.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

KARACHI PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,100M:

Iconic (Syed Pervez Hussain) 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 1; Diamond Sky 7-12, M. Wasim 2; Bold Act 9-0, Atif Javed 3; Rakshh-e-Raqeeban 8-2, Alam Sher 4.

Won by 2 L, 1 L, ½ L. Time one min 10 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

KARACHI PLATE CLASS V

DIV I 1,100M:

Born To Win (Malik Ghulam Qadir) 8-4, M. Zeeshan 1; Lucky Cat 9-2, A. Rahim 2; Pick Of The Lot 8-8, Shahid Rehman 3; Munsaf 8-6, M. Hussain 4.

Wn by 3 L, 2 L, 5 L. Tme one min 9 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

LANDHI PLATE CLASS IV 1,200M:

Pak Edition (Naseeruddin Siddiqui) 8-0, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Charismatic 8-4, Naseer Ahmed 2; Mythical 8-10, Atif Javed 3; Cut Throat 7-10, M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, 2 L, 4 L. Time one min 17 3/5 sec.

Winner trained by Imran.