October 13, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 13, 1429

LAHORE, Oct 12: Fancied bay colt Desert Prince earned glory when he set a new record by winning the supporting event run over the 1,100 metres distance with a fastest record timing during the 6th Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Off to a fine start, the four-year-old colt set his own pace and sped away from his eight opponents to win the race, clocking one minute, six seconds, two factions of the second faster than the previous record of one minute, 6 2/5 seconds set up by the chestnut colt Lucifer owned by Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz on Dec 24, 2006.

The handsome colt Desert Prince owned jointly by Mirza Khurshid Baig and Zaheer Aslam and trained by Tauqir Ahmed, was piloted by jockey A. Imran to beat favourite colt Punjabi by four clear lengths.

Sunday’s big triumph underlined the son of English sire Bedouin Invader, Desert Prince’s claim as the top four-year-old colt in Lahore over the sprinting distance. This was the sixth and last race of the day.

A race earlier, the five-to-two chance colt Shock Wave outclassed his seven rivals to win the Super Cup gone over 1,100 metres.

Turning the home bend, Shock Wave hit the front on the rails and continued accelerating his speed to finally beat Miss Play by five lengths. The filly Eve and the colt Harry Can Run completed the frame.

The half money favourite filly Twinky ran dismally to finish among the also ran. Twinky was ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman.

Owner Syed Pervez Hussain and trainer Sohail Aziz shared the day’s honours when both were associated with a double through Raksh-e-Raqeeban and the colt Dubai Fan, the winner of the first and fourth race of the day.

The beauty of the fourth race was that the runners placed first, second and third – Dubai Fan, Iconic and Philogyny – were all owned by Pervez Shah and trained by Sohail Aziz.

Owners Javed Khalid and Zaheer Aslam had a good day when each of them saw his two winners crossing the finishing post first. The former has his double through Extravagant and Shock Wave while the latter’s winners were Hermatic and Desert Prince.

Since the elections of the LRC stewards are just a fortnight away, the rival groups in the field have intensified their election campaign to win LRC members’ maximum support.

One group is led by Mr Tariq Aziz, who did not attend Sunday’s races, and in his absence Choudhry Ahmed Saeed deputised for him. The rival group is led by Syed Fakhar Imam, former speaker of the National Assembly and his wife Begum Abida Hussain, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US. They both were present. Fakhar Imam, who is a senior LRC steward, also reviewed the club’s daily reports of income/expenditure presented by LRC secretary Shahzad Akhtar. That showed his seriousness and interest in the welfare of the club. A majority of the stewards were also present.

Results:

PATTOKI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,000M:

Raksh-e-Raqeeban (Syed Alamdar) 9-4, Khalil Vicky 1; Blue Fire 8-2, Fareed Ali 2; So Romantic 8-0, Sajjad Hussain 3; Dam Dama Dam 8-6, Ali Raza 4.

Won by 3 L, 4 L, Distance. Time one minute 2 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

PATTOKI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,000M:

Hermatic (Zaheer Aslam) 8-2, Javed Iqbal 1; Naseeb Apna Apna 8-3, Naseer Ahmrd 2; Golden Falcon 7-12, Alam Sher 3; Black King 8-10, S. Ammad 4.

Won by 2 L, 1/2 L, Distanec. Time one minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed 4.

PATTOKI PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,000M:

Extravagant (Javed Khalid) 8-10, Anjum 1; Little Smile 9-4, M. Atif 2; Super Sonic 8-3, A. Wahab 3; Chocolate Sunday 8-9, Khalil Vicky 4.

Won by 4 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L, Head. Time one minute 3 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

SHALIMAR PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,100M:

Dubai Fan (Syed Pervez Hussain) 8-4, Shahid Rehman 1; Iconic 8-4, Khalil Vicky 2; Philogyny 7-10, Javed Iqbal 3; Royal Gesture 8-3, Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 2 3/4 L, 4 L, 6 L. Time one minute 8 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

SUPER CUP CLASS V DIV I 1,100M:

Shock Wave (Javed Khalid) 8-6, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Miss Play 8-7, Naseer Ahmed 2; Eve 8-8, Javed Iqbal 3; Harry Can View 8-11, Hidayat Hussain 4.

Won by 5 L, Head, 2 1/4 L. Time one minute 7 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

Bhalwal Plate Class IV

Div I, II & III 1,100M:

Desert Prince (Mirza Khurshid Baig and Zaheer Aslam) 9-8, A. Imran 1; Punjabi 7-4, Naseer Ahmed 2; Chill 7-11, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Noor 8-0, S. Moin 4.

Won by 4 L, 8 1/2 L, 1 1/2 L. Time one minute 6 seconds.