KARACHI: Fancied dark bay colt Saphire lived up to his credentials by winning The Defence Day Cup — his second cup triumph in a span of three weeks — in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse here on Sunday.

Having won the last three races on the trot, including The Independence Day Cup on Aug 14, the 60 to 100 favourite obliged all and sundry by galloping to a fluent six-length victory in the fifth race, which was also the feature event.

The victorious horse, which belonged to the stables of owner Zaid Rahim, was piloted home by seasoned jockey Mohammad Essa and saddled by trainer Sher Mohammad. The rider and trained have partnered Saphire in his last three victories too.

The success also enabled Essa and Sher to end the day with a treble apiece after a long layoff.

Earlier, the rider-trainer combination had guided bay mare Meri Sahiba to three-quarter-of-a-length victory over co-favourite filly Khazana in the opener and dark bay horse Arkadian to three lengths victory over Loyal Lady in the fourth race.

Outsider bay horse Business Man crated quite a stir by getting the better of bay horse Lucky Lyna by half-a-length to claim the second race as co-favourites Tejori and Janisar settled for the third and fourth places on board, respectively.

In yet another upset, filly Sensational registered first win of her career under new owner P.K. Ahuja as co-favourites Medusa and Simple Lady followed in the next two places.

Favourite four-year-old colt Gold City produced awesome performance winning the sixth and concluding race as he pleased by 14 lengths in a start-to-finish battle.

He interrupted colt Sher-Dil’s winning streak for the honours. Frankestein and Dream Girl followed the two in same order.

Results: THE PAK AIR FORCE PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 5 F:

Meri Sahiba (Tariq Aziz) 7-13, Mohammad Essa 1; Khazana 9-0, Wasim 2; Beautiful Rose 8-10 (cr8-5), Abdul Hakeem 3; Vieto Power 9-2, Riaz Ahmed 4. Won by ¾ L, 12 L, Neck. Time: One minute 7 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE PAK AIR FORCE PLATE SCALE ORDER IV, V AND VI 5 F:

Business Man (Mir Khan) 8-9, Riaz Ahmed 1; Lucky Lyna 7-11, A. Qayyum 2; Tejori 8-13, Zubair Ahmed 3; Janisar 9-2, Pervez Ali 4. Won by ½ L, 2½ L, Neck. Time: One minute 7 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zia-ur-Rehman.

THE PAK AIR FORCE PLATE SCALE ORDER III AND IV 5 F:

Sensational (P.K. Ahuja) 7-13, Asad Aksir 1; Medusa 9-2, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Simple Lady 8-5, Zubair Ahmed 3; Hello Cuttie 8-1 (cr8-3), Pervez Ali 4. Won by 2¾ L, 5 L, 8 L. Time: One minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali.

THE PAK AIR FORCE PLATE SCALE ORDER II AND III 5 F:

Arkadian (Tariq Aziz) 8-13, Mohammad Essa 1; Loyal Lady 9-2, Wasim 2; Jal Pari 8-6, Abdul Hakeem 3; All The Way 8-1, M. Amjad 4. Won by 3 L, Distance, 2½ L. Time: One minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE DEFENCE DAY CUP SCALE ORDER I 6 F:

Saphire (Zaid Rahim) 7-3, Mohammad Essa 1; Touching Star 8-10, M. Amjad 2; Hot Man 7-11, Sohail Ahmed 3; Gold Horse 8-10, Zubair Ahmed 4. Won by 6 L, 2½ L, 1½ L. Time: One minute 16 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE PAK AIR FORCE PLATE SCALE ORDER I AND II 5 F:

Gold City (Haji Khuda Bux Rajar) 8-9, Zubair Ahmed 1; Sher Dil 9-4, Abdul Hakeem 2; Frankestein 9-4, Asad Aksir 3; Dream Girl 9-1, Latif 4.
Won by 14 L, Distance, 2½ L. Time: One minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2014