LAHORE: The highly bred bay colt, Sultan One reigned supreme when he won the 70th running of the Pakistan Derby to keep intact his invincible record at the Racecourse in the presence of a strong holiday crowd of about 10,000 equine sports connoisseurs here on Sunday.

The son of prominent sire, Assassi, Sultan one, burst to the front while entering in to the straight and then sprinted clear of the pack to win the biggest classic race of the country run over 2400 metres.

The Haji Abid Mahmood trained winner, was ridden forcefully by jockey Aamir Pervez, who made it seven wins in as many outings, a feat rarely achieved by a colt or a filly.

The bay colt, Prince Of Gowalmandi finished strongly to grab the second spot after some anxious moments in which both the colts fought a fierce battle for supremacy, ultimately Sultan One returned triumphant by a length with the filly, Gujrat One, nosed out to third place, neither the Prince Of Gowalmandi nor Gujrat One could stop Sultan One from entry in to history books.

The 40 to 100 favourite Sultan One received a hero’s welcome with a thunderous applause from the crowd as he returned to the paddock led by the owner, Mian Khan, who received the cup from the Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz at a make-shift ceremony. This was the seventh race in racing order.

A race earlier, the other important classic race, the National Breeders Cup run over 1400 metres was won by dark-bay colt, Al Akbar, who showed a remarkable improvement to register his second straight success in as many outings.

The son of Tybalt, a USA imported sire, Al Akbar had earlier won the two-year-old race. His National Breeders Cup triumph has brought in to limelight the sire Tybalt, whose progeny had won the same classic last year and proved a very successful sire on the victory rating.

Owned by Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud, Al Akbar was trained by Shahid Rehman and piloted by Mohamamd Zulfiqar to post a six lengths victory over rank outsider filly, Phenomenal One.

His success gave the owner, breeder and LRC steward, Makhdum, Syed Ahmad Mahmud and trainer Shahid Rehman a grand double when earlier their bay filly Loving Memory, also a daughter of Taybalt registered a two length victory over bay horse, Timbo in the fifth race..

In the following race the owner-trainer duo was denied a victory when bay filly, Arnaaj, was narrowly beaten by bay colt Street Smart by a short-head at the finish line in the 9th race..

The other important event, the Queen Elizabeth, the second, Challenge Cup run over 2000 metres was claimed by a home-bred, Big Bravo to make his career score nine wins and one place in ten outings.

Running in the imported thoroughbred category Big Bravo beat imported thoroughbred, Rising Dawn by half-a-length with the odds-on favourite imported bay gelding, Right To Dream third, another two lengths back. Shahid was the most successful trainer of the Derby day races, sending out three winners-Loving Memory, Al Akbar and Zoaq in the 5th, 6th and 10th race.

Results.

Indus Plate Class VII Division V-1000M.

Stella (Mian hamid Mahmood) 8-10 Babar Rehman 1. Free My Heart 8-10 Dinar Mirwani 2. Sweet Miracle 9-0 Shakeel Mahmood 3. On the spot Win 8-8 S. Raza 4.

Won by 2 ½ L, 2 ¼ L, Neck. Time one minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Hammad Hanif.

Indus Plate Class VII Division Iv & V-1000M.

Dhandhla Queen (Khan Meer) 8-2 Kashif Rehman 1. Sign Of Blessing 8-10 Munir Hussain 2. Lead Them Homme 8-8 Dinar Mirwani 3. Turab Prince 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by ¾ L, 2 ¾ L, Head. Time one minute 3 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Choudhry Javaid Iqbal.

Indus Plate Class VII Division Iv-1000M.

Real Commando (Asim Raza) 8-8 Pervaiz Bhatti 1. Right Time 8-8 Ghous Bakhsh 2. Zaheer Princess 8-8 Mohamamd Amjad 3. Very Special 8-10 S. Raza 4.

Won by 3 L, 1 ¼ L, 2 L. Time one minute 2 seconds. Winner trained by Tanveer Aslam.

Indus Plate Class VI Division III & IV-1200M.

Chan Makhna (Aashiq Hussain) 9-0 Mohamamd Hanif 1. California 9-0 A. Raza 2. Town Girl 9-0 Aamir Pervez 3. Tatla Queen 9-0 Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 4 L, 1 L, 3 L. Time one minute 12 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

Indus Plate Class VI Division II & III-1200M.

Loving Memory (Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud) 8-10 Aftab Choudhry 1. Timbo 8-4 Mohamamd Zulfiqar 2. Marshal Attack 9-0 Bilal Ahmad 3. Voice Of Silence 8-6 Aamir Pervez 4.

Won by 2 L, 6 L, 1 ¾ L. Time one minute 11 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Rehman.

The National Breeders Cup , a term race for three-year-old Pakistani colts and fillies -1400M.

Al Akbar ()Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmuyd) 8-2 Mohamamd Zulfiqar 1. Phenominal One 7-7 Mohamamd Hanif 2. Goleke Queen 7-12 Tahir Abbas 3. Victim Of Love 8-11 Aamir Pervez 4.

Won by 6 L, 2 ½ L, 7 L. Time one minute 26 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Rehman.

Pakistan Derby 2018, a term race for Pakistani colts and fillies-2400M.

Sultan One (Mian Khan) 9-0 Aamir Pervez 1. Prince Of Gowalmandi 9-0 Aftab Choudhry 2. Gujrat One 8-11 Bilal Ahmad 3. Big Faith 9-0 Mohammad Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 1 L, Short-head, 2 ½ L. Time two minutes 39 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

Queen Elizabeth, the second, Challenge Cup, a handicap race for four-year-old and above including imported thoroughbreds. 2000M.

Big Bravo ( Ali Raza and S. M. Razi) 7-12 Aftab Choudhry 1. Rising Dawn 8-8s Aamir Pervez 2. Right To Dream 9-2 Mohamamd Hanif 3. Dardawan 8-9 Mohamamd Zulfiqar 4.

Won by ½ L, 2 L, 5 L. Time two minutes 3 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohamamd Afzal.

Tarbela Dam Cup Class VI Division I & II-1200M.

Street Smart (Shahid Hussain) 8-0 Mohamamd Hanif 1.Arnaj 8-12 Aftab Choudhry 2. Light The Way 8-10 Aamir Pervez 3. Yakeen 8-6 Mohamamd Hanif 4.

Won by Short-head, 3 ½ L, 8 L. Time one minute 11 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

Ziarat Cup Class VII Division I-1000M.

Zoaq (Zaid Raheem) 8-8 Mohamamd Zulfiqar 1. Mighty Satiana 9-0 Aftab Choudhry 2. Gulistan-e-Niaz Baig Babar Rehman 3. Shan-e-Sikandar 8-7 Pervaiz Bhatty 4.

Won by ½ L, 4 ½ L, ½ L. Time one minute 0 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Rehman.

Indus Plate Class VII Division II & III-1000M.

Piyara Saeen (Sajid Ali ) 7-12 Babar Rehman 1. Tatla Pride 8-2 Tahir Abbas 2. New Sonia 8-0 Mohamamd Sajajd 3. Sweet Sania 7-12 Ghulam Haider 4.

Won by 4 L, ½ L, 1 ½ L. Time one minute 2 seconds. Winner trained by Mohamamd Abbas.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2018