KARACHI: With two wins already under her belt, three-year-old bay filly Celebrity completed a hat-trick when she lowered the colours of fancied colt See The Light to lift the Shah Mardan Shah II Pir Pagara VII Memorial Cup at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

After running neck-and-neck with challenger See The Light for some distance in the cup race run over one mile, Celebrity shot into the lead and maintained it to post a length and a three quarter victory over him covering the distance in one minute 43 4/5 seconds.

This was the first run of Lahore’s See The Light at the Karachi Racecourse and it was opened favourite when the betting commenced. The rates of Celebrity also surged with minor difference.

Celebrity also had handicap advantage as it carried weight of 7-5 on her back as against 8-9 carried by See The Light on its back.

Filly Games Over was placed third four-and-a-lengths away while bay horse Don completed the frame beaten by eight lengths among 10 starters.

Owned by late Pir Pagara’s eldest son, Syed Sibghatullah Shah, the victorious filly was tactfully piloted home by rider Zaki Zakir and trained by Mohyuddin.

This was the third Pir Pagara Memorial Cup which was introduced after his death in Jan 2012.

Meanwhile, champion rider Mohammad Essa stole the limelight piloting home a treble in a five-race card.

He opened his campaign by guiding bay horse Sher Khan to two-and-a-half lengths victory over Lahore’s co-favourite filly Tanya in the opener.

He completed a double when he steered filly Sonia Again to three-quarter-of-a-length victory over co-favourite bay horse Follow My Shadow in the next race.

Essa went on to complete treble while piloting three-year-old bay filly to a length-and-a-quarter victory over Doctor to land the concluding race.

Sohail Ahmed was the other ri­der, who piloted Don’t Touch Me to two lengths victory over Popular Prince.

Three horses from Lahore — Grace Bhakkar, See The Light and Yes My Lord — appeared in Sunday’s races. The other horses — My Guest, Jahalwan Blue and Gold Horse, who have also arrived here from Lahore will appear later.

Results:

THE KINGREE PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4½ F:

Sher Khan (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 8-4, Mohammad Essa 1; Tanya 9-0, Sohail Ahmed 2; King’s Khan 8-3 (cr8-5), Ghous Bux 3; Jugni G 8-13 (cr8-6), Zohaib Qamar 4. Won by 2½ L, 6 L, 9 L. Time: One minute 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Sharif.

THE KINGREE PLATE SCALE ORDER VI AND VII 5 F:

Sonia Again (Sher Mohammad) 9-1, Mohammad Essa 1; Follow My Shadow 9-2 (cr8-13), Ghous Bux 2; Rana The Great 7-10, Zohaib Qamar 3; Choco Bar 7-7 (cr7-9), Mohammad Sajjad 4. Won by ¾ L, 12 L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 7 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KINGREE PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 5 F:

Don’t Touch Me (Mohammad Iqbal) 8-13, Sohail Ahmed 1; Popular Prince 8-8, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Luck Pass 8-12, Pervez Ali 3; Lovely Baby 8-3, Mohammad Essa 4. Won by 2 L, 3½ L, 3½ l. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.

SHAH MARDAN SHAH II PIR PAGARA VII MEMORIAL CUP – A HANDICAP RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD AND ABOVE PAKISTANI HORSES –1 MILE:

Celebrity (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 7-5, Zaki Zakir 1; See The Light 8-9, Aamir Pervez 2; Gamez Over 8-7, Ghulam Shabbir II 3; Don 8-13, Ghous Bux 4. Won by 1¾ L, 4½ L, 8 L. Time: One minute 43 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE KINGREE PLATE SCALE ORDER II, III AND IV 5 F:

Quicken Away (Haji Khuda Bux Rajar) 8-0, Mohammad Essa 1; Doctor 7-9, Sohail Ahmed 2; Rainbow 8-12, Ghulam Shabbir II 3; Wait A Second 7-7, Mohammad Sajjad 4. Won by 1¼ L, Dist, 4½ L. Time: One minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2016