LAHORE: Luck smile on chestnut colt Olympus as it clinched the Barsat Cup during the Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

As the feature race started three-year-old colt Punjabi Babu took a flying start and comfortably led the pack with quickening strides as he progressed to the finish line but nature was not on his side when nearing the 200-metre marker he stumbled and broke his ankle while sending down rider Aftab Chaudhry to the ground.

Punjabi Babu was seen whirling on three legs pathetically. In the meantime Olympus won the race, defeating rank outsider bay colt Beat The Best by a big margin of distance in 900-metre event. Bay colts Road Runner and On Your Own completed the frame in a small field of five left in after the last-minute withdrawal of Moon Star and Tarannum.

The winner clocked 54 1/5seconds over the distance.

Lucky owner Makhdoom Saad Asfandyar Ali received the cup from Lahore race club (LRC) senior member Khalid Mahmood soon after the race.

It was a strange coincidence that the city received heavy showers in the morning to herald the staging of Barsat Cup.

A race earlier 80 to 100 favourite colt Sixth Sense underlined a remarkable improvement while powering to victory in the supporting event, the Khyber Plate class VII division I and II over 900 metres in a start-to finish style. He beat colt Honey The Great by two lengths.

The race-goers endured a muggy weather with bright sunshine throughout the proceedings when a card of seven races was gone through with five favourite horses obliging the backers of form.

Results:

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Al Bilal (Khalid Nazeer Chughtai) 8-4, Abdul Rehman 1; Salanty 8-10, Alam Sher 2; Accurate Child 7-10, Rifaqat Ali 3; Abid Love 8-10, M. Atif 4.

Won by 3 L, 6 L, 2 L. Time 59 seconds. Winner trained by M. Kamal.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 900M:

Tera Karam (Shaharyar Hatim) 9-0, Abdul Wahab 1; Accurate Baby 7-12, M. Sajjad 2; I. Wish 8-12, Khalid 3; Motor Way 8-4, Raheel Sabir 4.

Won by Neck, 1½ L, 6¼ L. Time 58 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 900M:

Kali Ghata (Chaudhry Naeemuddin Warraich) 8-12, Pervez Bhatti 1; Queen Esmeralda 8-8, Alam Sher 2; I Hope 8-6, M. Hussain 3; Right Time 8-2, Imran Pervez 4.

Won by 7 L, ¾ L, 1¼ L. Time 57 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV III-A — 900M:

Mehbooba (Mohammad Akhtar) 8-8, Babar Rehman 1; Amir Queen 9-0, Bilal Ahmed 2; Rasha Rasha 8-8, Abdul Rehman 3; Jutt Bahadur 8-12, Javed Chaudhry 4.

Won by 3½ L, ¾ L, ¾ L. Time 55 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Faisal.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV I & II — 900M:

Sixth Sense (Usman Gujjar) 9-0, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Honey The Great 9-0, Ahmed Shah 2; Face The Moon 8-10, S. Raza 3; Prince Of Niaz Baig 7-10, Munir Hussain 4.

Won by 2 L, ½ L, ¾ L. Time 55 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Khawaja Asif Hasan.

THE BARSAT CUP CLASS VI DIV III & IV — 900M:

Olympus (Makhdoom Saad Asfandyar Ali) 9-0, M. Zulfiqar 1; Beat The Best 8-4, Abdul Rehman 2; Road Runner 8-8, Tahir Abbas 3; On Your Own 9-0, Rifaqat Ali4.

Won by Distance, Distance, Neck. Time 54 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Mumtaz.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV III-B — 900M:

Sher Babbar (Iqbal Ahmed Butt) 8-10, Munir Hussain 1; Artghal 8-8, S. Raza 2; Lucky Sohna 8-6, Tahir Abbas 3; Sana Mare Jan 8-10, Zameer 4.

Won by 5 L, 3 L, 3 L. Time 57 seconds. Winner trained by Abdullah.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2016