LAHORE: Favourite filly Can’t Deny underlined vast improvement to avenge her defeat on last outing when getting the better of a dozen rivals to win the Fan Tan Cup during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.

The three-year-old 30 to 100 chestnut filly, who was defeated by unknown pedigree colt Salam-e-Bhakkar on Oct 9 by a distance had tarnished her bloodline image, ran like a champion filly under the same rider Aamir Pervez to salvage her dented impression.

She fought with bay colt Dogar Prince and chestnut colt Moon Star in the initial stages and collared both while entering the straight and went on to win easily by over three lengths from Dogar Prince in the event run over 1,000 metres.

Moon Star finished third, one-and-a-half lengths back. Roan colt Banjo completed the frame close on heels.

The winner, trained by Haji Abid Mahmood and owned by Shahid Hussain, was fractious at the starting gates but once she entered the box she made a neat start to produce a fine performance to win in a smart timing of one minute 0 4/5 seconds over the race distance.

A race later, dark-bay colt Naughty Striker beh­aved very gently to win the supporting event, the Bhalwal Plate for class VII run over 1,000 metres.

Owned by Shafiq Sadiq and ridden by Tahir Abbas, the colt backed at 30 to 100, registered his second successive victory with in a fortnight. He beat Amir Queen by three lengths with Stone Queen and Kali Ghata completing the frame among eight runners.

The victory capped a marvellous day for Tahir, who had earlier brought in bay gelding Bahar Ul Kahil edging out bay horse Virsa (Mohammad Hanif up) at the finish line in the third race.

It was a profitable for punters when five favourite horses obliged them in a card of six races.

Results:

THE BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Aye Anmole (Ameer Haider) 7-8, Babar Rehman 1; Accurate Child 7-4, Mohammad Abrar 2; Chal Samney 7-8, Sunny Babu 3; Accurate Game 8-0, Mohammad Javed 4. Won by 5 L, 5 L, 5 L. Time 58 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Liaquat Ali.

THE BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV & V — 900M:

Al Bilal (Khalid Nazeer Chughtai) 8-12, Babar Rehman 1; Karam Pay Karam 8-4, Sunny Babu 2; Abid Love 8-8, Mubashir Bhatti 3; Derby Brown 9-0, Mohammad Jahangir 4. Won by Neck, 2 L, Neck. Time 59 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Kamal.

THE BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1,000M:

Bahar Ul Kahil (Fauzi Mairaj) 8-8, Tahir Abbas 1; Virsa 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 2; Sweet Sania 8-12, Allah Rakha 3; Right On the Money 8-10, Munir Hussain 4. Won by Head, ½ L, 6½ L. Time one minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sajid Mahmood.

THE BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1,000M:

Top Shot (Junaid Ahmed Cheema) 8-8, Alam Sher 1; Happiness Moment 8-4, Mohammad Hanif 2; Party Time 8-2, Tahir Abbas 3; Shot Gun 8-8, Babar Rehman 4. Won by 2 L, 1½ L. Time one minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.

THE FAN TAN CUP CLASS VI DIV II, III AND IV — 1,000M:

Can’t Deny (Shahid Hussain) 9-0, Aamir Pervez 1; Dogar Prince 8-2, Babar Rehman 2; Moon Star 8-0, Munir Hussain 3; Banjo 8-4, Tahir Abbas 4. Won by 3½ L, 1½ L, ¾ L. Time one minute 0 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

THE BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIV I & II — 1,000M:

Naughty Striker (Mohammad Shafiq Sadiq) 8-8, Tahir Abbas 1; Amir Queen 8-0, Babar Rehman 2; Stone Queen 8-0, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Kali Ghata 8-10, Sunny Babu 4. Won by 3 L, 3 L, 2 L. Time one minute 3 seconds. Winner trained by Shakir Hussain.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2016