KARACHI: Never-say-die Lava Man, an 11-year-old chestnut horse, overcame victory jinx by lowering the colours of public fancy three-year-old chestnut filly Miss Oscar to land the day’s feature event in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Lava Man and Miss Oscar ran a neck-and-neck race but the former having handicap advantage edged the latter at the winning post by head to make amends besides denying his challenger to complete hat-trick. The P.K. Ahuja-owned horse was ridden home by Abdul Hakim.

Having won the last race, four-year-old dark bay colt Tejori had a handicap disadvantage of nine (9-0) stones, 22 over as compared to previous 7-6 and settled third four-and-a-half lengths behind pushing five-year-old bay horse Countach to fourth further four length away among five starters.

At the outset, another outsider filly Sonia Again upset the apple cart by getting the better of bay horse Lucky Lyna by a length and-a-quarter to pick up spoils in the opener.

The pair of second favourite Risky Business and favourite Sher-e-Sindh had to be content with third and fourth places respectively among four horses.

Ride Zaki Zakir powered bay horse Vieto Power to victory in the second race. The eventual champion got past co-favourite filly Fly Free by head as mare Beautiful Rose and bay horse Grey Song occupied third and fourth places respectively. Sugar Sweet was withdrawn before the race leaving four horses in the fray.

Colt Soldier King obliged all and sundry making it two wins on the trot imposing to two lengths victory over Wait A Second by three lengths to claim honours in the third race. Colt Cigar and mare Dancing Queen followed the two in same order. Sher Dil was withdrawn before the race as six horses faced the starter at the gate.

Results:

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 ½ F:

Sonia Again (Ghulam Mustafa) 9-1, M. Nasir 1; Lucky Lyna 7-11 (cr8-2), Mohammad Essa 2; Risky Business 7-13, Riaz Ahmed 3; Sher-e-Sindh 7-4 (cr7-5), Ashiq Ali 4. Won by 1¼ L, 1½ L, short head. Time: One minute 2 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Tufail.

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

Vieto Power (Qadeer Ahmed) 8-2, Zaki Zakir 1; Fly Free 9-10, Wasim 2; Beautiful Rose 7-12 (cr8-1), Abdul Hakim 3; Grey Song 9-0, Mohammad Essa 4. Won by Head, 4 L, 5½ L. Time: One minute 7 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER IV 5 F:

Soldier King (M. Shakeel) 8-5, Farjad Habib 1; Wait A Second 8-12, M. Nasir 2; Cigar 9-2, Asad Aksir 3; Dancing Queen 8-7, Zaki Zakir 4. Won by 3 L, 1½ L, 6 L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER II 5 F:

Lava Man (P.K. Ahuja) 8-9, Abdul Hakim 1; Miss Oscar 8-13, M. Nasir 2; Tejori 9-0, Asad Aksir 3; Countach 8-6, Ghous Bux 4. Won by Head, 4½ L, 4 L. Time: One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2015

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