KARACHI: Outsider mare Sonia Again shot into prominence by capturing The Soul Cup to the sheer surprise of punters in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.
Owned and trained by Sher Mohammad and ridden home by Abdul Hakeem Sonia Again overcome mare Sweet Sereena by two lengths and-a-half as the favourite Cash N Carry had to be content with third place ahead of the Black Tiger.
Sonia Again has remained consistent by mostly occupying a place on board since beginning of the year. This was her second win of the year after Feb 12 meeting.
Earlier, the field was reduced to four following withdrawal of Popular Song.
For the second successive week, public again protested for what they called ‘foul play’ as mare Blue Fairy stretched her run while claiming the feature event in the next race.
Four-year-old bay colt Luck Pass was opened favourite and tipped to oblige all and sundry when suddenly odds of Blue Fairy surged. According to race goers, Blue Fairy was no match to Luck Pass who was unfortunately not on job.
Blue Fairy gets the better of Fantastic Game by four lengths as Doctor was placed third a length away and Luck Pass completed the frame half-a-length further behind.
So What was withdrawn before the race leaving five horses in fray.
At the outset, the opening two races revolved around owner-trainer-rider (Rana Babar Hussain, Yousuf. S and Mohammad Qais) who celebrated a back-to-back double.
Qais first piloted home second favourite mare Happiness to a dazzling 10 lengths victory over first favourite mare Sab Key Pasand and then galloped home mare Loot Lo by seven lengths over co-favourite King’s Hand to complete the feat.
Results:
THE SOUL PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 ½ F:
Happiness (Mr. Rana Babar Hussain) 8-4(cr7-13) Mohammad Qais 1, Sab Key Pasand 9-1 M. Manzoor 2, Race 9-5(cr8-12) Zohaib Qamar 3, Bijli 8-11(cr8-9) Ghous Bux 4.
Won by 10 L, 3 ½ L, 2 L. Time: 0.59 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.
THE SOUL PLATE SCALE ORDER III, IV AND V 5 F:
Loot Lo (Mr. Rana Babar Hussain) 8-5(cr7-13) Mohammad Qais 1, King’s Hand 9-2(cr8-12) Aftab Chaudhry 2, Lovely Baby 7-7(cr7-9) Ali Ehsan 3, Popular Pride 8-8 M. Sajjad 4.
Won by 7 L, 5 L, Dist. Time: One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.
THE SOUL CUP SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 5 F:
Sonia Again (Mr. Sher Mohammad) 8-2(cr8-0) Abdul Hakeem 1, Sweet Sereena 7-6(cr7-9) M. Sajjad 2, Cash N Carry 9-0 M. Manzoor 3, Black Tiger 8-8 Aftab Chaudhry 4.
Won by 2 ½ L, 4 ½ L, 2 ½ L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.
THE SOUL PLATE SCALE ORDER I, II AND III 5 F:
Blue Fairy (Mr. Ather Abbas) 7-12 M. Manzoor 1,Fantastic Game 8-12 Ghulam Shabbir II, 2, Doctor 10-0 Yousuf Ikram 3, Luck Pass10-0 Sohail Ahmed 4.
Won by 4 L, 1 L, ½ L. Time: One minute 5 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir 11.
Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2017
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