September 29, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 28, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 28: Fancied three-year-old colt Punjabi galloped to an easy victory to land the Mohammad Tughlaq Cup, run over 1,100 metres, during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Stalking the early pace setters Shock Wave and Don’t Follow, the colt moved in contention after the home turn to out sprint both in the final 200 metres.

He beat Shock Wave by five lengths while Chinkara finished third another seven lengths behind. The mare Don’t Follow occupied the fourth position among the 10 runners.

Ridden by Shahid Rehman, the winner was trained by A.B. Malik. His owner Choudhry Mohammad Qasim received the cup from the Lahore Race Club (LRC) senior steward and former speaker of the National Assembly Syed Fakhar Imam. This was the fifth race in the racing order.

Hot favourite filly Twinky, a race earlier, was found injured at the starting gates shortly before the beginning of the race and under the orders of the LRC stewards, was withdrawn from the Mohammad Tughlaq Plate. Subsequently the race was won by the three-to-one shot, the filly Eve, ridden by Javaid Iqbal and trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

She beat Nishat Malook by 1 1/2 lengths. Nishat Malook, meanwhile, nosed out Royal Gesture to third place.

Three-year-old bay colt Cut Throat staged a stirring charge in the home stretch to win the Minchanabad Plate, a class IV, division II & III handicap race, run over the sprinting distance of 1,200 metres.

He beat the favourite filly, Velocity by a length. Tuba First and Victory Hero completed the frame. Ten ran for the event. Trained by Sohail Aziz the winner was ridden by Khalil Vickey.

Velocity’s defeat was the biggest disappointment. It brought an end to her four-win streak. The filly succumbed under pressure of top weight of nine stones four pounds. Secondly she was also not up front at the start and had to chase the leaders, who set a hot pace. Both the filly and her jockey Shahid Rehman finally ran out of stamina.

The LRC stewards stopped the bay colt Megabite’s entry for three months due to his low-standard performance in the second race. They also fined his trainer A.B. Malik Rs20,000 for sending out the colt in an unfit condition.

Master trainer Sohail Aziz highlighted day’s races by sending out two winners both at attractive odds, namely, Raksh-e-Raqeeban and Cut Throat in the third and six race, respectively.

Ace jockey Shahid Rehman toiled for the day and could only win one race out of his three rides, proving true the old saying that horses make jockeys.

The pre-Eidul Fitr winter meeting proved disastrous for the punters when only one favourite romped home in a card of six events. The only favourite to win was Punjabi in the fifth race.

Results:

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,000M:

First Passion (Rai Ali Zlqarnain) 8-0 Alam Sher 1; Mah-e-Nau 8-0 Naseer Ahmad 2; Fakhar-e-Sialkot 8-2 Imran Parvaiz 3 and Naseeb Apna Apna 8-7 M. Atif 4.

Won by 3 1/4 L, 1/2 L, 2 L. Time one minute 5 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Qaiser.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,000M:

Dream Memories (Sohrab Khan) 9-4 M. Waseem Khan 1; Scarlet Empress 9-0 Khalil Vickey 2; Trump Coup 9-0 Shakeel Ahmad 3 and Aaja Bulbul 8-12 Hamid Raza 4.

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

Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,000M:

Raksh-e-Raqeban (Syed Alamdar) 8-2 Parvaiz Bhatty 1; Geo Super 9-4 Aamir Parvaiz 2; Al Ain 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 3 and Rough Tough 8-8 Munir Ahmad 4.

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

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

MOHAMMAD TUGHLAQ PLATE

CLASS V DIV II 1,100M:

Eve (Zaheer Aslam) 8-8 Javaiz Iqbal 1; Nishat Malook 8-12 M. Waseem Khan 2; Royal Gesture 8-2 Sajjad Hussain 3 and Munsaf 8-2 Mazhar Ali 4.

Won by 1 1/2 L, Head, Distance. Time one minute 10 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

MOHAMMAD TUGHLAQ CUP

CLASS V DIV I 1,100M:

Punjabi (Choudhry Muhammad Qasim) 8-12 Shahid Rehman 1; Shock Wave 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 2; Chinkara 9-0 A. Imran 3 and Don’t Follow 8-2 Bilal Ahmad 4.

Won by 5 L, 7 1/2 L, 2 L. Time one minute 9 seconds.

Winner trained by A. B. Malik.

MINCHANABAD PLATE CLASS IV

DIV II & III 1,200M:

Cut Throat (Syed Tasweer Hussain) 8-0 Khalil Vickey 1; Velocity 9-4 Shahid Rehman 2; Tuba First 8-4 Naseer Ahmad 3 and Victory Hero 7-4 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 1 L, 9 L, 7 L. Time one minute 14 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.