LAHORE: The favourite backers enjoyed the proceedings happily when five well-backed horses won in a card of seven races during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.

Eight races were scheduled to be held in the afternoon but one, the sixth and the main event was cancelled before it was run by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards who anticipated lack of true competition.

The Blooming Plate, a term race for three-year-old colts and fillies to be gone over 1,300 metres had 10 runners but only one, Now Or Never, came under heavy betting inviting great concern from stake-holders.

The favourites to win were M R. Khan-trained colt Naseeb Aya, Sajid-trained bay horse Raja Gee Tauqir Ahmed-trained chestnut colt Nambardar in the opening three races; bay horse Lucky Winner Again, trained by Afzaal Ahmed, and dark-bay filly Simran, trained by Abdul Rasheed, emerged winners in the last two events.

Long shot bay filly Royal Spirit and bay horse Abbas Prince caused upsets in the fourth and fifth races to give some respite to turf accountants who were seen busy at the pay out.

Results:

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B — 900M:

Naseeb Aya (Mohammad Fayyaz) 8-8, Imran Pervaiz 1; Jungle Da Raja 9-0, Shafqat 2; Princess Resham 8-6, S. Raza 3; Well In Time 8-12, Taimur Hussain 4. Won by 1 L, 6L, Neck. Time one minute 2 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M.R. Khan.

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A — 900M:

Raja Gee (M.R. Khan) 9-0, Irfan Yousuf 1; Black Rose 7-8, Imran Pervez 2; God Father 8-2, Tahir Abbas 3; Koail Of Tajpura 8-10, Kamran II 4. Won by 6½ L, 2¼ L, ¾ L. Time one minute 2 seconds. Winner trained by Sajid.

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1,000M:

Nambardar (Chaudhry M. Hanif) 8-4, Javed Iqbal 1; Daniel Bryan 8-6, S. Raza 2; Lucky Sohna 8-8, Rifaqat Ali 3; Hurraira Prince 9-0, M. Assad 4. Won by 2 L, 3 L, Distance. Time one minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmad.

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,000M:

Royal Spirit (Makhdoom Syed Abbas Mehdi) 7-12, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Honey The Prince 8-0, M. Hanif 2; Daud King 7-8, S. Raza 3; Young Warrior 9-0, M. Wasim 4. Won by Short-head, 1 L, 3½ L. Time one minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Afzal.

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VII DIV I & II — 1,000M:

Abbas Prince (Rashid Rasool) 9-0, Shafqat 1; Early Pride 8-12, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Nikita 8-6, Javed Iqbal 3; Bukhara Pride 8-12, Aftab Chaudhry 4. Won by 1½ L, 9 L, Neck. Time one minute 1¾ seconds. Winner trained by Malik Zafar Iqbal.

THE BLOOMING PLATE — A TERM RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND FILLIES — 1,300M:

(Cancelled due to lack of competition).

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VI DIV I & II — 1,300M:

Lucky Winner Again (Jamshed Ali) 8-6, M. Hanif 1; Al Fajre 8-2, Imran Pervez 2; Sattiana Prince 8-6, Shafqat 3; Angel Eye 8-10, Aftab Chaudhry 4. Won by 1¼ L, 1½ L. 5 L. Time one minute 22 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Afzaal Ahmad.

THE MURREE PLATE CLASS VI DIV III — 1,300M:

Simran (Arbab M. Zahoor Khan) 7-12, Shafqat 1; Thanks Dad 9-2, Javed Iqbal 2; Raj Neti 8-6, Tahir Abbas 3; New Tear 7-12, Shakeel Mahmood 4. Won by 4 L, Distance, 3½ L. Time one minute 22 seconds. Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2015

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