September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 17: Fancied bay mare Cleopatra easily landed the feature event of the Lahore Gymkhana midweek races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

The 60 to 100 favourite eight-year-old daughter of Trace Creek took up the running shortly after the gates opened and set up a hot pace to finally win by a length from bay horse Victory King in the sixth race of the day.

Jang Ju and Dream Memories completed the frame among nine runners.

The winner defied the top handicap of nine stones three pounds. Piloted by jockey A. Imran Cleopatra was trained by Mohammad Hanif.

Three-year-old dark-bay colt Megabite, who was favourite and was heavily backed, was withdrawn from the race.

The backers of the colt shortly before start of the race approached Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards and expressed their apprehensions about the colt.

The stewards called in his trainer, A. B. Malik, and got the colt examined by club’s veterinary officer who in his report recommended that Megabite be withdrawn from the race.

The stewards’ decision was largely hailed by the race-goers.

A race earlier, four-year-old bay colt Geo Bhakkar put up a smashing performance sprinting home ahead of his field.

He beat mare Mahima by one-and-a-half lengths. High Quality and Little Smile completed the board among a dozen runners.

Geo Bhakkar was trained by Rashid Latif and ridden by M. Jamil. Four-year-old bay filly Sana My Love proved a vamp for the favourite backers when she caused the biggest upset of the day in the third race.

The filly beat the odds on favourite colt, Golden Falcon, who failed to cope up with the pace set by her. Client and Kiss Of Love completed the frame.

Another long shot, Al Dar, led from the start to the finish line to give owner Haroon Ali a victory after a long time.

Al Dar beat Delux by two lengths. Filly Pretty and mare Muskan finished third and fourth respectively.

Riding boy Munir Ahmed stole the lime light by bringing home a brace of winners.

He sailed long priced filly Sana My Love and four to one chance Al Dar in the third and fourth race respectively.

Three favourites obliged the punters in the card of six events.

All the events were contested over 1,000 metres.

Results:

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV 1,000M:

Pattola (Lahore Race Club) 7-11 Sajjad Hussain 1, Lal Pari 7-10 Khalil Vickey 2, Pakistani 8-11 Alam Sher 3, Raftar-e-Sehar 9-0 M. Jahangir Khan 4.

Won by 4 ¼ L, 2 ½ L, ¾ L. Time one min 9 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Qaiser.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 1,000M:

Book Bet (Saeed Ahmed) 8-13 M. Atif 1, Boby Love 8-12 Majid Ali 2, Leader’s Wing 7-12 Naseer Ahmed 3, Shandar 9-0 S. Ammad 4.

Won by Neck, 2 ½ L, 2 ¾ L. Time one min nine sec.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 1,000M:

Sana My Love (Liaquat Ali) 8-11 Munir Ahmed 1, Golden Falcon 8-7 Atif Javaid 2, Client 8-7 Fayyaz Choudhry 3, Kiss Of Love 8-5 Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, 4 ½ L, 2 L. Time one min 8 1/5 sec.

Winner trained by the owner.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 1,000M:

Al Dar (Haroon Ali) 7-11 Munir Ahmed 1, Delux 9-0 Fareed Ali 2, Pretty 8-3 M. Zulfiqar 3, Muskan 8-1 M. Jamil 4.

Won by 2L, 2 L, 1 L. Time one min 7 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by Choudhry Khurram Hussain.

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

Geo Bhakkar (Malik Bashir) 8-6 M. Jamil 1, Mahima 7-13 Sajjad Hussain 2, High Quality 8-0 Munir Ahmed 3, Little Smile 8-8 Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 ½ L, 2 L, ½ L. Time one min 6 2/5 sec.

Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

CHAMAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1,000M:

Cleopatra (Naeem Saleem) 9-3 A. Imran 1, Victory King 8-3 Sajjad Hussain 2, Jang Ju 8-10 Parvaiz Bhatti 3, Dram Memories 8-6 Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 L, 2 L, 4 L. Time one min 6 4/5 sec.

Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.