KARACHI: Outsider three-year-old chestnut filly Satisfy upset the apple cart while edging public fancy colt Drone by short head verdict in a close finish as rider Zaki Zakir piloted home a brace in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

In a neck-and-neck race Satisfy, with no form worth, finally opened her account after 10 successive failures this year.

Owned by the KRC steward Irfan Mehdi and trained by M. Hanif, the filly was ridden home by Zakir, who completed a back-to-back double.

Filly Be Cool was placed third a length away while filly My Time completed the frame. The field was reduced to five following withdrawal of mare Meri Sahiba.

A race earlier, Zakir had steered filly Snow Queen to a length and-a-half victory over co-favourite Rubai.

At the outset, long shot filly Pari Packer created the first upset of the day sprinting to half-a-length victory over colt Popular Prince as co-favourite pair of Sweet Sereena and Surprise had to be content with third and fourth places.

Punters shouted Star Gold Star Gold as the colt made amends while getting the better of co-favourite filly Zahrat Dubai to win honours in the last race.

Colt Cigar and bay horse My Power followed the two in same order.

Meanwhile, a considerable time was wasted firstly when the first race started about 40 minutes behind schedule and secondly the rider of Zahrat Dubai was changed for the third time.

Rider Faiz Mohammad was supposed to ride Zahrat Dubai but was changed by Sohail Ahmed. Later, M. Manzoor replaced the former at the starting gate.

Filly Lacoste was withdrawn before the race leaving six horses in fray.

Results:

THE AUGUST PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII-UK 4 ½ F:

Pari Packer (M. Rana Babar Hussain) 9-0 Mohammed Essa 1, Popular Prince 9-3 Ghulam Shabbir II, 2, Sweet Sereena 8-6 Waseem 3, Surprise 8-1 Abdul Rahim 4. Won by ½ L, 3 L, 8 L. Time: One minute 0 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Mazhar.

THE AUGUST PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 4 ½ F:

Snow Queen (Mr. Imamuddin Shouqeen) 7-2 Zaki Zakir 1, Rubai 9-2 Abdul Rahim 2, Urban Lady 7-0(cr6-9) M. Qais 3, Zeenat 8-11(cr8-8) Ghous Bux 4. Won by 1 ½ L, 6 L, Neck. Time: 0.58 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE AUGUST PLATE SCALE ORDER IV 5 F:

Satisfy (Mr. Irfan Mehdi) 8-6 Zaki Zakir 1, Drone 8-6 Asad Aksir 2, Be Cool 9-0 Abdul Rahim 3, My Time 8-8 Sohail Ahmed 4. Won by S. Head, I L, 4 L. Time: One minute 5 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Hanif.

THE AUGUST PLATE SCALE ORDER III AND IV 5 F:

Star Gold (Mr. M. Shakeel) 7-11 Waseem 1, Zahrat Dubai 8-5 M. Manzoor 2, Cigar 7-7(cr7-1) M. Qais 3, My Power 7-7 Zaki Zakir 4. Won by 3 L, 1 ¼ L, 1 ¾ L. Time: One minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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