LAHORE: Bay colt Prince Albert cemented credentials as the Lahore turf’s top rated three-year-old sprinter when rivals spectacularly failed to match his pace as he clinched the Jashn-e-Azadi Cup during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

The son of Denmark-bred sire Chapter One backed at 3-2 beat filly Sparking by two lengths with overwhelmingly favourite colt Conquest third another three-fourth of a length back.

Ridden by Shakeel Mahmood, the Aleemuddin-trained colt Prince Albert posted a fast time of one minute 6 2/5 seconds over the 1,100-metre distance on the velvet green turf following Saturday’s heavy rains in the city. Accolade seems certain to fall on the colt who registered his second successive win on the trot and the fourth of a short career for owner Haji Chaudhry Asghar Ali, who received the cup amidst glory.

The supporting event, the Kashmir Cup run over 1,100 metres was won by filly Miss Bulbul, ridden by jockey Mohammad Hanif, in a runaway success.

The 80-100 favourite filly Costa Rica continuing her failure streak to finish second for the seventh successive run.

Owned by Malik Salman Khalid, Miss Bulbul was trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

The Kashmir Cup was instituted to express racing fraternity’s firm resolve and expression of solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris struggling to denounce scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomous status by India and the reign of terror let lose by Indian forces in the occupied state.

The Kashmir and Pakistan flags fluttered atop the winning post symbolizing the Pakistan’s un-stinted support for the just cause of Kashmiris.

Present on the occasion were Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz, former Governor of Punjab Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud, stewards and members of the club.

The LRC stewards warned off riding boy Ali Imran from the club premises for his dangerous riding of Nice Moon who won the second race. Coming out of the starting gates Imran rammed his mount into chestnut colt Bau Jee, who broke his front leg and had to be destroyed.

Results:

THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 1,000M:

Golden Stamp (Ahmed Yar Dogar) 9-0, Ghaus Bakhsh 1; Meri Sahiba 8-8, Mohammad Atif 2; Naroobi 8-2, Javed Iqbal 3; Janab 8-6, Sunny Babu 4.

Won by 1½ L, 5 L, ¾ L. Time: one minute 4 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Abbas.

THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 1,000M:

Neeli The Great (Asim Raza) 8-8, Babar Rehman 1; Turab Prince 8-10, Ghulam Haider 2; Madiha 8-10, Tahir Abbas 3; Lucky Time 8-6, Ghaus Bakhsh 4.

Won by 2½ L, ¾ L, 1½ L. Time: one minute 3 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.

THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Nice Moon (Shehzad Aslam) 8-8, Ali Imran 1; New Sonia 8-8, Deenar Mirwani 2; Noor-e-Sehar 8-10, S. Raza 3; Zil Prince 7-4, Mohammad Jahangir 4.

Won by 5 L, 4 L, 2½ L. Time: one minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Khawaja Qamar Hameed.

THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Big Foot (Mohammad Yaqoob) 8-2, Ghulam Haider 1; King Queen 8-4, Deenar Mirwani 2; Naadan 9-0, Bilal Ahmed 3; Banjo 9-0, Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 4½ L, Short-head, 2 L. Time: one minute 1 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Abid.

THE JASHN-E-AZADI CUP CLASS VI — 1,100M:

Prince Albert (Haji Chaudhry Mohammad Asghar) 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Sparking 8-12, Tahir Abbas 2; Conquest 8-8, Aamir Pervez 3; Madhuri Dixit 7-8, Mohammad Hanif 4.

Won by 2 L, ¾ L, 6 L. Time: one minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

THE KASHMIR CUP CLASS VII DIV I — 1,100M:

Miss Bulbul (Malik Salman Khalid) 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 1; Costa Rica 8-10, Aamir Pervez 2; Abdullah Princess 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Wali Choice 8-4, Deenar Mirwani 4.

Won by 2¼ L, Neck, 2 L. Time: one minute 7 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,100M:

Best terms (Mirza Latif Baig) 8-12, Deenar Mirwani 1; JF Thunder 8-12, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Natalia 8-2, Babar Rehman 3; After Hero 8-10, Pervez Bhatti 4.

Won by 4 L, 2 L, 6 L. Time: one minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zahid Khan.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019