October 09, 2008	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1429

LAHORE, Oct 8: Long shot dark bay filly Little Smile upset all calculations when she won the feature event run over 900 metres during the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

Ridden by apprentice riding boy Bilal Ahmad, the filly came from behind to beat favourite colt Jang Ju by two lengths. Murad King finished third after nosing out Love Minister to fourth position.

The winner clocked 58 2/5 seconds over the sprinting distance.

The fancied filly Pawan Princess tipped as the best proposition was the best performer of the day in the fourth race. Leading all the way home, the filly ridden by the riding boy Azam Hussain beat long chaser Pretty by one and a half lengths. Muskan and Red Baron completed the frame among the 11 runners. The 60-to-100 favourite filly Pawan Princess was trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

The riding boy Naseer Ahmad, who is leading the statistics table for the 2008-09 season, with 22 wins kept his march safely by riding home a brace of winners. He rode the bay gelding Pure Power in the second race and then followed it up with a magnificent victory over 12-year-old gelding Black King in the fifth and supporting event. His riding on Black King was a treat to watch. With 200 metres to go, Black King was trailing in the third position by a distance but Naseer Ahmad galvanised his mount into action, who responded quickly in a grand fight back to win the race amidst great applause from the crowd. Black King was a 70-to-100 favourite. Naseer now heads the list of riders with 24 wins far ahead of Shakeel Mahmood (11) and Shahid Rehman (10).Two favourites and as many second favourites won in a card of six events, all gone over 900 metres.

The opener was won by a long shot bay horse Independence Day, ridden by the riding boy Alam Sher. Owned by Munir Ahmad Dar, Independence Day beat stable mate chestnut Sudden Attack by about five lengths.

In this race, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards changed the riders of five horses, namely, Fredy’s Café, Anar Kali, Raza The Great, Trigger Happy and Naemat Aie but ironically not even one could win a place.

The bay mare Pure Power, a second favourite, beat Come On by one and a half lengths to win the second event.

The two-to-one chance six-year-old chestnut Changer, showed a surprising improvement winning the third race. He beat Kiss Of Love by seven lengths. The favourite bay gelding Client, ridden by Naseer Ahmad finished a hopeless third.

Results:

SAMUNDARI PLATE CLASS VII

DIV IV 900M:

Independence Day (Munir Ahmad Dar) 7-8 Alam Sher 1; Sudden Attack 7-8 Imran Parvaiz 2; Blank Cheque 8-2 M. Jamil 3 and Trigger Happy 8-0 Ali Raza 4.

Won by 4 1/2 L, 3 3/4 L, 1 1/4 L. Time one minute 0 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Zahid Rashid.

SAMUNDARI PLATE CLASS VII

DIV III 900M:

Pure Power (M.S. Butt) 8-8 Naseer Ahmad 1; Come On 8-1 Sajjad Hussain 2; Bobby 7-9 Bilal Ahmad 3 and Candidate 9-0 Majid Ali 4.

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

Winner trained by S. Butt.

SAMUDARI PLATE CLASS VII

DIV II 900M:

Changer (Faisal Maqbool Khan) 8-10 M. Zulfiqar 1; Kiss Of Love 7-12 Sajjad Hussain 2; Client 9-2 Naseer Ahmad 3 and Gypsy 8-10 M. Atif 4.

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

SAMUNDARI PLATE CLASS VII

DIV I 900M:

Pawan Princess (Naeem-ud-Din) 9-4 Azam Hussain 1; Pretty 7-13 M. Zulfiqar 2; Muskan 7-8 Sajjad Hussain 3 and Red Baron 9-0 M. Jamil 4.

Won by 1 1/2 L, 4 L, 3 L. Time 59 seconds.

Winner trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

FAISALABAD PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 900M:

Black King (Mohammad Ibrahim Butt) 8-4 Naseer Ahmad 1; Basant Mayla 8-10 Alam Sher 2; Dogar Gift 7-12 Munir Ahmad 3 and White Oaks 7-8 Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 1/2 L, 5 1/2 L, 1/2 L. Time one minute 0 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by S. Butt.

FAISALABAD PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II & III 900M:

Little Smile (Malik Javaid Awan) 7-12 Bilal Ahmad 1; Jang Ju 8-10 Parvaiz Bhatty 2; Murad King 8-2 M. Jamil 3 and Love Minister 9-0 S. Ammad 4.

Won by 2 L, 3 L, Neck. Time 58 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Choudhry Mohammad Rafiq.