KARACHI: Favourite four-year-old colt Chief Sahab obliged all and sundry by lifting the Skyline Cup, his second major triumph of the season, in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

With Revolution Cup already under his belt, Chief Sahab galloped to a fluent six-length over colt Salam-e-Kaif to justify his billing. Bay horse Doctor settled third five lengths behind with 11-year-old dark bay horse King of Kashmir completing the frame among four starters.

By virtue of victory, the victorious horse had done the owner, trainer, rider — Farhan Essa, Ghulam Shabbir II and Mohammad Sajjad — proud. The race was also the feature event.

In the supporting and next race, fast chasing Black Tiger overtook frontrunner co-favourite Don Khalifa in the home stretch to post a three-and-a-half lengths victory while making welcome return to winning ways.

It may be mentioned that Black Tiger was denied victory last weekend when he was on course for a hat-trick.

Black Tiger was piloted home efficiently by rider Wasim, under whom the horse had met with success twice.

K. Al Arab fall back 10 lengths away to grab third spot while pushing New Hope to fourth two further lengths away among five horses.

At the outset, Lahore’s dark bay mare Rawal Naz coasted to maiden victory at the course by getting the better of bay mare Clarity by one and three-quarter-of-a-length to land the opening race.

Jugni G was placed third followed by debutant Dazzling Diva. Earlier, the field was reduced to five following withdrawal of Raging Victory.

Mare Saba, formerly Zain Love, lived up to the billing reposed in her by the punters by galloping to a dazzling five lengths victory over Snow White to pick up spoils of the second race.

Millansar and Boogey man followed the two in same order.

Results:

THE SKYLINE PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 F:

Rawal Naz (Mohammad Ramzan) 8-5, Mohammad Qais 1; Clarity 8-6, Mohammad Sajjad 2; Jugni G 7-13, Mohammad Amjad 3; Dazzling Diva 9-0, Zohaib Qamar 4.

Won by 1¾ L, 7 L, 5 L. Time: 0.57 seconds. Winner trained by S. Khan.

THE SKYLINE PLATE SCALE ORDER V AND VI 4 F:

Saba (Chaudhary Abdul Hameed Jutt) 8-6, Waheed Baran 1; Snow White 9-0, Mohammad Amjad 2; Millansar 8-1, Asad Aksir 3; Boogey Man 8-3, Mohammad Manzoor 4.

Won by 5 L, 7 L, 3 L. Time: 0.53 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Shahzad.

THE SKYLINE CUP SCALE ORDER III AND IV 4½ F:

Chief Sahab (Farhan Essa Abdullah) 7-8, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Salam-e-Kaif 7-7, Mohammad Qais 2; Doctor 8-5, Sohail Ahmed 3; King of Kashmir 9-4, Farjad Habib 4.

Won by 6 L, 5 L, 5½ L. Time: 0.57 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE SKYLINE PLATE SCALE ORDER V 4½ F:

Black Tiger (Shahzad Emanual) 8-13, Wasim 1; Don Khalifa 8-13, Mohammad Sajjad 2; K. Al Arab 8-11, Mohammad Rashid 3; New Hope 8-11, Nazil Hussain 4.

Won by 3½ L, 10 L, 2 L. Time: 0.59 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2018