October 06, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 06, 1429

LAHORE, Oct 5: Fancied fillies Lovely Dunit and Twinky lived up to the expectations of their connections when they romped home as easy victors in their respective events to earn great applause from the connoisseurs of equine sports during the post-Eid Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The four-year-old filly Lovely Dunit won the feature event, the Eid Cup, over the middle distance of 1,400 metres. The filly owned by Khawaja M. Arif took up the running after entering into the straight chase leaving mare Noor behind by three lengths. Chill finished third, a distance away with Sher-e-Gujrat fourth.

Trained by Haji Abid Mehmood, Lovely Dunit partnered by jockey Shahid Rehman clocked one minute 26 4/5 over the middle distance of 1,400 metres. This was the fifth race in the racing order.

A race earlier, 60 to 100 favourite filly Tiwnky underlined her prowess as a fine sprinter, winning the fourth race in the over 1,000 metres distance.

Owned jointly by Mian Maahir Ahmad and Mahmood Khan, Twinky, who is named after a cartoon film character, beat chestnut colt Dubai Fan by five lengths.

Showing amazing speed under jockey Shahid Rehman, Twinky, trained by Abdul Rasheed, started accelerating when challenged by Dubai Fan, who then looked like no match. Harry Can Run ran third while Lighting Muqeem finished fourth. Twinky clocked one minute 1 4/5 seconds over 1,000 metres.

Jockey Shahid Rehman highlighted the day’s racing bringing home three winners -- Trump Coup, Twinky and Lovely Dunit -- in the second, fourth and fifth race, respectively. However, his triumphs were overshadowed by a big demonstration in the third race when his mount, the bay colt Zaafran, opened as the favourite and his odds eased upward.

Meanwhile, a large section of the crowd held a demonstration to protest the allegation that the colt was not on the job to win. One of the punters Mazhar alias Guddu, who had backed the colt, became unruly and damaged a bookmaker’s stall in a fit of fury.

The Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz, who was attending the races after a long time, immediately ordered Shahid Rehman to ride the colt on merit. The bay filly Soviet Song won the race defeating Raksh-e-Raqeeban by about three lengths. Zaafran, the colt in question, ended up third. The whole affair, a disgrace to genteel sports, left a bad taste in the mouth. The owner of the colt should not have selected a top rider and if it was done anyway, the rider too should have not accepted the ride.

Mr Tariq Aziz called in two big punters and warned them to behave properly in the future. The unruly punter Mazhar alias Guddu was warned off the Racecourse premises for six months.

Results:

BADAMI BAGH PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,100M:

Little Smile (Malik Javaid Awan) 8-4 M. Atif 1; Bubbly 8-0 Shakeel Mahmood 2; Black King 7-6 Naseer Ahmad 3 and Victory King 9-0 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 1 1/4 L, 4 L, 3 3/4 L. Time one minute 10 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Choudhry Muhammad Rafiq.

BADAMI BAGH PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,100M:

Trump Coup (Naseer-ud-Din Siddiqui) 9-1 Shahid Rehman 1; Blue Fire 9-0 Shakeel Mahmood 2; Scarlet Empress 9-0 Khalil Vickey 3 and Kamla 7-12 Munir Ahmad 4.

Won by 5 L, 4 L, 2 3/4 L. Time one minute 9 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

BADAMI BAGH PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,100M: Soviet Song (Fawad Ahmad Cheema) 7-12 Shakeel Mahmood 1; Raksh-e-Raqeeban 9-2 Khalil Vickey 2; Zaafran 9-0 Shahid Rehman 3 and Munsaf 9-0 Anjum 4.

Won by 2 3/4 L, 1/2 L, Distance. Time one minute 7 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Imran.

KALAM PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1000M:

Twinky ( Mahmood Khan & Mian Maahir Ahmad) 9-0 Shahid Rehman 1; Dubai Fan 8-4 Khalil Vickey 2; Harry Can Run 8-10 Naseer Ahmad 3 and Lighting Muqeem 8-7 Alam Sher 4.

Won by 5 L, 6 L, 1 1/4 L. Time one mionute 1 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

EID CUP CLASS IV

DIV I, II & III 1,400M: Lovely Dunit (Umar Zaman Khan) 9-0 Shahid Rehman 1. Noor 7-12 Naseer Ahmad 2. Chill 7-12 Shakeel Mahmood 3. Sher-e-Gujrat 9-0 M. Waseem Khan 4.

Won by 3 L, 9 L, 2 1/4 L. Time one minute 26 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Haji Abid Mehmood.

KALAM PLATE CLASS V

DIV I & II

1,000M:Emperor (Sheikh Qamar Ehsanullah) 8-6 Anjum 1; Richy Dancer 8-4 Naseer Ahmad 2; Chinkara 9-3 Shahid Rehman 3 and Big Bird 7-8 Shakeel Mahmood 4.Won by 2 1/2 L, 1/2 L, 2 1/4 L. Time one minute 1 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.