KARACHI: Ace rider Sohail Ahmed stole the limelight by galloping home a brace of winners in a small four-event card as Gymkhana race meeting resumed after a break at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

He opened the day by guiding favourite unknown pedigree bay colt Hassan Choice to a facile six-length victory over mare Blue Fairy for a repeat performance in the opener.

Fresh from the triumph, he then steered another public fancy bay filly Touch N Go to success by edging filly Lacoste by distance in a close finish in the fourth and last race which was also the feature event to complete the feat.

Co-favourite bay filly Lovely Baby obliged punters while storming to a dazzling seven lengths victory over filly Duran Duran to pick up spoils in the second race.

In the only upset, long shot seven-year-old bay horse Don upset the applecart by sprinting to an eight-length victory over mare Hooram in the third race.

Don was among those who also ran in the last outing on his debut.

Results:

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4½ F:

Hassan Choice (M. Iqbal) 9-4, Sohail Ahmed 1; Blue Fairy 9-1, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Sher Khan 8-1, Zaki Zakir 3; Almeer 8-9, Mohammad Sajjad 4. Won by 6 L, 5½ L, 4½ L. Time: 0.58 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER VI AND VII 5 F:

Lovely Baby (Sher Mohammad) 8-12 (cr8-9), Nazil Hussain 1; Duran Duran 8-13, Pervez Ali 2; Rana The Great 8-7, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Follow My Shadow 9-4 (cr8-11), Zohaib Qamar 4. Won by 7 L, 1¾ L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 6 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 5 F:

Don (Zia-ur-Rehman) 9-2, M. Manzoor 1; Hooram 7-7 (cr7-8), Mohammad Sajjad 2; Sonia Again 7-9, Nazil Hussain 3; My Beauty 9-0, Ghulam Shabbir II 4. Won by 8 L, 2½ L, 5½ L. Time: One minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER I, II AND III 5 F:

Touch N Go (Zainab Ali and Iman Ali) 8-2, Sohail Ahmed 1; Lacoste 9-1, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Neem Tree 10-0, Mohammad Amjad 3; Blue Chip 8-7, Pervez Ali 4. Won by Distance, 6½ L, 10 L. Time: One minute 2 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sharif.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2016