LAHORE: Dark-bay colt Falling Rain lived up to his supreme breeding by easily winning the Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed Nishan-i-Haider Cup during day/night races at the Racecourse here on Tuesday evening.

The powerfully-built three-year-old, ow­ned by Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mah­mud, simply outclassed his six rivals leaving them slithering a street’s distance behind in a runaway style in event run over 1,200 metres.

His scintillating display was completed in a time of one minute 12 seconds, the quickest of the current season and only three fractions of a second less than the record fastest time of one minute 11 2/5 seconds set by the filly, Trace Hit in 2006.

Trained by Shahid Rehman, recorded a cup double besides a hat-trick of victories for the owner, trainer and jockey M. Hanif.

The owner’s son received the cup from the Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz amidst spontaneous applause from the equine sports lovers.

Six other cup events were staged named after the recipients of the highest gallantry award, the Nishan-i-Haider, were also held.

Defying the top weight of ten stones in the handicap, chestnut filly Goldee proved worth her name when she powered to victory in the Major Mohammad Akram Shaheed, Nishan-i-Haider Cup defeating bay colt Makk by a neck at the finishing line in a photo-finish verdict.

Rank outsider chestnut colt, Magic One spell bound the race-goers with a four-length runaway success in the Captain Mohammad Sarwar Shaheed Nishan-i-Haider Cup gone over 1,000 metres.

Bay filly Mun Ki Malka won the Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed, Nishan-i-Haider Cup put up yet another high class performance defying 10 stones weight in the handicap defeating filly Momoco, her nearest rival by eight lengths in a 15-strong field.

Bay filly Raj Neti scored a stunning victory to bag the Major Tufail Mohammad Shaheed, Nishan-i-Haider, Cup in a come- from- behind style while the Lance Naik Mohammad Mahfooz Shaheed Nishan-i-Haider cup went to chestnut filly Spirit Jim, who beat bay colt Sahil by over five lengths.

Results: THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A — 1,000M:

Jawwad Love (Mohammad Ijaz) 8-2, Shafqat 1; Shan-e-Nisar 8-12, Babar Rehman 2; Winning Princess 8-2, Pervez Bhatti 3; Black Rose 8-8, Shahnawaz 4. Won by Short-head, 3½ L, Short-head. Time one minute 5 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by G. Hassan.

LANCE NAIK MOHAMMAD MAHFOOZ SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VII DIV III — 1,000M:

Spirit Jim (Irshad Ahmed Ranjha) 8-4, Shafqat 1; Sahil 9-4, Sunny Babu 2; Excellent 8-7, M. Hanif 3; King Khan 8-4, M. Zulfiqar 4. Won by 5½ L, 3 L, 3¼ L. Time one minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Khawaja Asif Hassan.

MAJOR TUFAIL MOHAMMAD SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VII DIV I — 1,000M:

Raj Neti (Mian Mohammad Ashraf) 9-4, M. Zulfiqar 1; Abbas Prince 9-0, A. Raza 2; Samara 9-0, M. Hanif 3. Choco Bar 8-2 Aamir Pervez 4. Won by ½ L, 3½ L, 1 L. Time one minute 3 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahzad Ali.

MAJOR MOHAMMAD AKRAM SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VI DIV I — 1,000M:

Goldee (Mohammad Saeed Butt) 10-0, Ali Raza 1; Makk 8-4, A. Raza 2; Sattiana Prince 9-2, Aamir Pervez 3; Desert Pearl 9-0, Shafqat 4. Won by Neck, 4 L, 4 L. Time one minute 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by S. Butt.

MAJOR SHABBIR SHARIF SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS V DIV III — 1,200M:

Falling Rain (Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mahmud) 9-0, M. Hanif 1; Special Time 8-10, M. Zulfiqar 2; So Little 8-10 A. Raza 3; Unanimous 9-4, Umar Saleem 4. Won by Distance, 1½ L, 3½ L. Time one minute 12 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Rehman.

CAPTAIN MOHAMMAD SARWAR SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VI DIV II — 1,000M:

Magic One (Mian Khan) 8-12, M. Zulfiqar 1; Miss Freddy 8-6, M. Hanif 2; Al Fajre 9-2, Aamir Pervez 3; Sweet Sarrow 8-4, Pervez Bhatti 4. Won by 4 L, ¾ L, 3 L. Time one minute 1 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

MAJOR RAJA AZIZ BHATTI SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VI DIV III — 1,000M:

Mun Ki Malka (Malik Mohammad Asad Kohawar) 10-0, Aamir Pervez 1; Momoco 8-0, A. Raza 2; Effective 8-2, M. Hanif 3; Excuse Me 8-2, M. Zeeshan 4. Won by 8 L, 1 L, 1½ L. Time one minute 2 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Muhammad Afzal.

PILOT OFFICER RASHID MINHAS SHAHEED NISHAN-I-HAIDER CUP CLASS VII DIV II — 1,000M:

Fist (Nazar Ali Amin) 8-12, Sunny Babu 1; Heart Beat 9-4, Shafqat 2; Dera Dubai 9-0, A. Raza 3; Sheamus 9-4, M. Hanif 4. Won by 4 L, Short-head, ½ L. Time one minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Qaiser.

THE KHYBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B — 1,000M:

Chand Pari (Shabbir Ahmed) 8-10, Shafqat 1; Brave Khan 9-0, Ali Raza 2; Danish Prince 9-2, Allah Rakha 3; Preetam 9-0, Tahir Abbas 4. Won by 1 L, 3 L, 4 L. Time one minute 6 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014