KARACHI: The quartet of horses belonging to the powerful Pir Pagara clan, which dominate the Karachi Race Club (KRC), swept all but one races in a five-race card of the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

After long shot bay horse Vieto Power had created quite a stir by winning the opener by half-a-length over favourite filly Khazana, it was an all family affair in the remaining four races.

Two of the winners — eight-year-old chestnut mare Sherzad and six-year-old bay horse Janab Sahab — were from the stables of Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara, four-year-old filly Medusa is owned by his nephew Syed Ismail Shah and bay colt Sher Dil belonged to latter’s uncle Syed Ali Gohar Shah.

Veteran rider Riaz Ahmed celebrated his comeback after a layoff by guiding Vieto Power to victory over fancied Khazana among eight starters. Beautiful Rose finished third while Hot Boy completed the board.

Both Pir Pagara’s horses, Sherzad and Janab Sahab, obliged punters by storming to victories in the second and fifth races to present their proud owner with a double. The former got the better of colt Bugash Bugash by two lengths and-a-half while the latter come from behind to beat bay horse Shan-e-Sindh by three-and-a-half lengths.

Ridden by riders Wasim and Pervez Ali respectively, the two victorious horses were saddled by trainer Mohyuddin.

Re-betting occurred in the fifth and concluding race after Touching Star was scratched on the grounds that while going towards starting gate he ran away from the horse groomer which left only four runners in fray.

Seasoned rider Ghulam Shabbir II piloted home public fancy Medusa to a facile four lengths victory over Simple Lady.

Fast running Sher Dil pulled off second upset of the day when he overtook frontrunner and favourite Shah Rukh by three lengths to make it two wins on the trot.

Results:
THE AMAN PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII-UK 5 F:

Vieto Power (Mir Khan) 8-7, Riaz Ahmed 1; Khazana 9-1, Pervez Ali 2; Beautiful Rose 9-0 (cr8-9), Abdul Hakim 3; Hot Boy 7-13, Latif 4.
Won by ½ L, 6 L, 12 L. Time: One minute 9 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zia-ur-Rehman.

THE AMAN PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 5 F:

Sherzad (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 9-4, Wasim 1; Bugash Bugash 7-5, Asad Aksir 2; Lucky Lyna 7-12, A. Qayyum 3; Business Man 9-0, Riaz Ahmed 4.
Won by 2½ L, S. Head, 3½ L. Time: One minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE AMAN PLATE SCALE ORDER III AND IV 5 F:

Medusa (Syed Ismail Shah) 7-11 (cr8-2), Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Simple Lady 7-10, Wasim 2; Jal Pari 9-1, Zaki Zakir 3; Janisar 7-10 (cr7-13), Naeem Amjad 4.
Won by 4 L, 11 L, Head. Time: One minute 5 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Rafiq K.

THE AMAN PLATE SCALE ORDER II 5 F:

Sher Dil (Syed Ali Gohar Shah) 8-6, Abdul Hakeem 1; Shah Rukh 9-4, M. Sajjad 2; Cigar 8-9, Faisal Qamar 3; Chal Baaz 8-9, Zubair Ahmed 4.
Won by 3 L, distance, distance. Time: One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Manzoor Baran.

THE AMAN PLATE SCALE ORDER I 5 F:

Janab Sahab (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 9-0, Pervez Ali 1; Shan-e-Sindh 9-0, Mohammad Essa 2; Snow Fairy 8-9, M. Naeem 3; Frankestein 8-2, Zaki Zakir 4.
Won by 3½ L, 6 L, distance. Time: One minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014