LAHORE: Four-year-old bay fily Tarar Queen put up a spirited challenge inside the home stretch to win the Eid Cup during the Lahore Summer Meeting at the floodlit Racecourse here on Monday evening before a fairly large gathering of the equine sports connoisseurs.

The daughter of prominent sire, Assassi, Tarar Queen — whose previous run had seen her finish fourth — beat favourite colt Four Char Hai by two clear lengths at the finish line after nosing out bay horse Carry On Jutta to third spot.

None of the other dozen runners could make any impression slithering over five lengths behind the third placed horse.

Owner Najeeb Haider Bagri received the cup from the Lahore Race Club (LRC) member Mian Maahir Ahmed, who was perhaps the last to be inducted in the ranks of LRC embers by the former LRC chairman Tariq Aziz. This was the fifth race of the day.

Earlier favourite unknown pedigree colt Sayban-e-Bhakkar registered his maiden success lifting the Ramazan Cup.

The Ali Raza-owned colt, partnered by riding boy S. Raza, managed to nose out rank outsider Queen Esmeralda in a tight finish. Had there been a good rider on Queen Esmeralda there would have been a different story to tell.

Filly Neeli De Malika, also coming under betting, ran disappointingly to finish third with chestnut colt Successful fourth. Fifteen runners took part in the second race in racing order.

Well-backed, bay filly Abdullah Choice won the fourth race in a front-running style defeating co-favourite colt Atlantic Prince fairly and squarely. However S. Raza, the rider of Atlantic Prince, lodged objection against the winner’s rider Mohammad Hanif for not allowing his mount a free run in the initial stages of the race.

After a minute review of the race video the LRC stewards overruled the objection. Raza seemed to have must gone giddy while lodging the objection as the video showed nothing as alleged by him in the objection.

The incident spurred Mohammad Hanif in to further action when he cruised to victory on chestnut filly Bajwa Choice in the sixth and last event to complete his tally of three winners after having already piloted home colt Baa Waqar in the third and Abdullah Choice in the fourth race.

The veteran jockey is at present the most sought after rider in Lahore these days.

Baa Waqar, who had performed dismally in his last outing on May 20, alleged to have fallen a victim of vicious race mafia, who drugs-filled favourite horses to slow their performance to make easy money. The incidence spotlights the presence of mafia tarnishing the image of the sports and race-goers have stressed the need to deal with it with an iron hand to curb this menace.

Results:

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV & V — 800M:

Fancy Boy (K.A. Ahmed) 9-0, Ghaus Bakhsh 1; Manu Jutt 8-10, Tahir Abbas 2; Gambler Boy 8-12, Pervez Bhatti 3; Uzair Prince 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by 5 L, 2¾ L, ½ L. Time 52 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nadeem Raza Khan.

THE RAMAZAN CUP CLASS VII DIV V — 800M:

Sayban-e-Bhakakr (Ali Raza) 7-8, S. Raza 1; Queen Esmeralda 8-4, Shafqat 2; Neeli De Malika 8-6, Sunny Babu 3; Successful 8-2, Ghaus Bakhsh 4.

Won by Neck, 4½ L, 1¾ L. Time 54 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 800M:

Baa Waqar (Hamza Kashif Butt) 8-7, Mohammad Hanif 1; Power of Dream 8-12, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Stone Queen 8-10, Ghulam Haider 3; Zobi The Great 8-6, Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 1¼ L, ½ L, 1½ L. Time 53 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by S. Butt.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 800M:

Abdullah Choice (Mohammad Qasim) 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 1; Atlantic Prince 8-8, S. Raza 2; Heads Will Turn 9-0, Bilal Ahmed 3; Rashk-e-Qamar 8-10, Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 3½ L, 5 L, 3½ L. Time 49 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Malik Zafar Iqbal.

THE EID CUP CLASS VI DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Tarar Queen (Najeeb Haider Bagri) 7-12, Sunny Babu 1; Four Char Hai 8-0, Mohammad Hanif 2; Carry On Jutta 8-0, Bilal Ahmed 3; Timbo 8-8, Mohammad Wasim 4.

Won by 2 L, Neck, 3 L. Time one minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 800M:

Bajwa Choice (Mohammad Ashraf) 8-4, Mohammad Hanif 1; Satpara 8-2, Tahir Abbas 2; Blue Max 9-0, Sunny Babu 3; Happiness Moment 8-6, Bilal Ahmed 4.

Won by ½ L, 1 L, Short-head. Time 53 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Abbas Shah.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018