LAHORE: Punters staged a peaceful demonstration before and after the fourth race during the winter meeting at the Lahore Race Club (LRC), to express their resentment at the dismal performance of favourite horse Dandy Boy here on Sunday.

Dandy Boy opened a 60 to 100 favourite, but his odds gradually went up to 3 to 2 when bay mare Red Bullet, was heavily backed from 5 to 2 to down 80 to 100 by the time all horses taking part in the race had reached the starting gate..

A section of the punters staged a demonstration fearing something had gone wrong with Dandy Boy.

The LRC stewards then changed his rider replacing Aftab Chaudhry with riding boy Qadeer Ahmed.

As the race ended, Red Bullet won the race and Dandy Boy occupied the fourth berth, a street behind the winner.

His dismal show prompted another demonstration by a section of the race-goers who had gathered outside the paddock demanding cancellation of the race.

The stewards cleared the race and an official announcement was made on the public address system saying Dandy Boy had gone lame during the race. The horse was brought in the paddock for the public.

After a little while the bookmakers went on strike and struck to operate their stalls alleging the race was a cooked up affair.

They were of the view that when the punters had raised alarm about Dandy Boy’s odds drifting upwards and the huge sums of money flowing on Red Bullet, not once but twice, the stewards should have got Dandy Boy examined by the veterinary officer and withdrawn from the race to avoid such an untoward happening or cancelled the race then and there when Dandy Boy took a late start starting sixth in a doubtful style. Dandy Boy had won a race on Sunday last easily.

The angrily bookmakers did not operate their stalls during the remaining races.

Three more races were held and the betting was conducted through Race Club operated automatic tote totalisator.

The eighth race was cancelled because of poor visibility.

Results:

THE FLORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B — 900M:

Mah-e-Doura (Aleemuddin) 8-6, Shafqat 1; Puma Dynasty 9-0, Zameer 2; Shahzaib 8-10. Majid Ali 3; Vezzali 7-8, Imran Hussain 4.

Won by 7 L, ¾ L, 6 ½ L. Time one minute 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

THE FLORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A — 900M:

Fist (Nazar Ali Amin) 9-0, Khalil Vicky 1; Phantom 8-8, Imran Hussain 2; Preetam 8-4, Zahid Ali 3; Shan-e-Usman 8-4, Taimur Saleem 4.

Won by 3 ½ L, Neck, 8 L. Time one minute 1 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Qaiser.

THE FLORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 900M:

Gul Bakowli (Khawaja Mohammad Atif) 9-0, Khalil Vicky 1; Rana Queen 8-2, Shafqat 2; Siraj 8-12, Sunny Babu 3; Winning Princess 9-0, Qadeer Ahmed 4.

Won by Neck, 4 L, 2 L. Time one minute 0 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

THE FLORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV II — 900M:

Red Bullet (Chaudhry Ghulam Sarwar) 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Captain Templar 8-8, M. Zulfiqar 2; Dark Lord 8-6, Javed Iqbal 3; Dandy Boy 8-12, Qadeer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1½ L, 9 L, Distance. Time 57 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.

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

Royal Pearl (Makhdoom Syed Ali Raza) 8-8,

Shakeel Mahmood 1; Suba-e-Noor 8-10, Khalil Vicky 2; Vixen 9-6, Aftab Hussain 3; Young Warrior 8-8, M. Wasim 4.

Won by 2 L, Neck, 3 L. Time 56 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Afzal.

THE FLORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 900M:

Mohal Da Pyar (Irshad Hussain) 9-2, M. Zulfiqar 1; Ready To Win 8-12, Shafqat 2; Raj Neti 8-2, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Mitzy 9-0, Taimur Saleem 4.

Won by Distance, 3 L, 5 L. Time 53 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Babar Bhatti.

THE TURBAT PLATE CLASS VI DIV II — 1,100M:

Miss Hattab (Nasir Mohammad Ali) 9-0, M. Hanif 1; Shamali 9-0, Khalil Vicky 2; Effective 8-2, M. Zeeshan 3; Tee Star 8-4, M. Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 8 L, 4 L, 2 L. Time one minute 10 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Kamal.

THE TURBAT PLATE CLASS VI DIV I — 1,200M:

Cancelled due to poor visibility.