LAHORE: Favourite filly Heron landed the feature event in an emphatic victory over her six rivals during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the floodlit Racecourse here on Sunday.

The visibly sound confirmation which belies the four-year-old Heron’s registration as an unknown pedigree brown Pakistani filly was evident when in motion she literally ran away with the 1,000 metres event in the Kaghan Plate for class VII. She clocked a fast timing of one minute 1/5 seconds matching in performance with only pedigree animals.

Striding on a fast pace she sank her six rivals in the dust to beat the nearest rival, bay mare Satpara by a big margin of six lengths.

Chestnut filly Day’s Best finished third close on heels and gelding One Man Show edged out to fourth position, half-a-length further back.

What made Heron’s show all the more brilliant was the completion of her hat-trick of victories for owner Malik Khalid Mahmood Paracha on Sunday after having successive races previously.

Her victory brought punters and turf accountants level in the day’s proceedings with three favourite horses winning in six events.

The punters began the day’s racing on a dismal note as they got shocks when heavily backed chestnut mare Risky Business proved worth her name to edge the board in the opener and favourite bay filly Rawal Naaz beaten to second place by outsider bay filly New Sonia in the following event.

Favourite bay mare Kali Ghata‘s triumph in the third race gave punters some respite registering an easy victory for trainer Tauqir Ahmed, who is recuperating from injuries suffered in a road accident some time back.

Back in stables after sometime Tauqir sent his maiden winner of the new season which began on July 2.

The punters’ joy proved short-lived when in the fourth and fifth races as public fancies Mr Danzing and New Prince were beaten hoping for a further respite in the last and feature race.

Midway through the programme, the race-goers expressed their heartfelt condolences over the sad demise of Lahore Race Club (LRC) senior steward Malik Hamid Ali Noon who passed away in Lahore on July 16.

Following an announcement on public address system the race-goers observed a one-minute silence as mark of respect for the late steward while in another meeting attended by owners and trainers and convened by LRC member Mahmood Khan, rich tributes were paid to late Noon for his meritorious services rendered as a long-serving steward, horse-breeder and race-horse-owner owning arrays of brilliant thoroughbreds.

Results:

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Daniel Bryan (Shaharyar Hatim) 7-8, Mohammad Jahangir 1; Malika 8-4, Dinar Mirwani 2; Love Master 9-0, Mohammad Wasim 3; Risky Business 8-10, Alam Sher 4.

Won by ¾ L, ½ L, 2 L. Time 58 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 900M:

New Sonia (Mohammad Aamir Butt) 8-6, Mohammad Hussain 1; Rawal Naaz 8-8, Mohammad Wasim 2; White Pearl 8-6, Alam Sher 3; Crazy Cat Lady 8-0, Babar Rehman 4.

Won by 1 L, 1¾ L, 6 L. Time 56 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ramzan Ali

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

Kali Ghata (Chaudhry Naeemuddin Warraich) 9-0, Alam Sher 1; Queen Esmeralda 8-6, Dinar Mirwani 2; Kashmir Queen 8-12, Ghulam Haider 3; Bahar-ul-Kahil 8-12, Qadeer Ahmed 4.

Won by 6½ L, 2 L, 4½ L. Time one minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Punjabi Munda (Khawaja Mohammad Atif) 7-12, Mohammad Hanif 1; Mr Danzing 8-0, Mohammad Zulfiqar 2; Usman Love 8-6, Alam Sher 3; National Time 8-6, Dinar Mirwani 4.

Won by 1 L, 1 L, Neck. Time one minute 2 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

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

Power of Dream (Raja Shaharyar Khan) 8-6, Mohammad Wasim 1; New Prince 8-2, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Aye Anmole 8-12, Babar Rehman 3; Bredon Hill 8-0, S. Raza 4.

Won by 6 L, 6 L, ¾ L. Time one minute 2 seconds. Winner trained by Shehzad Ali.

THE KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 1,000M:

Heron (Malik Khalid Mahmood Paracha) 8-12, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Satpara 9-7, Dinar Mirwani 2; Day’s Best 9-0, Aamir Pervez 3; One Man Show 8-4, S. Raza 4.

Won by 6 L, ¾ L, ½ L, 2½ L. Time one minute 1 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Liaquat Ali.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017