KARACHI: Long shot chestnut horse Whip’M has made winning a habit. This once again came true on Saturday when he lowered the colours of favourite four-year-old bay colt Street Smart while galloping to two-and-a-half lengths victory to land the Eid-ul-Azha Cup and stretched his unbeaten run in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse.

While outpacing the frontrunner Street Smart in the home stretch, the speedy Whip’ M registered a sixth victory on the trot including fourth cup success. The victorious horse already had the June Cup, the Eid Milan Cup and the Independence Day Cup under his belt. Rider Mohammad Manzoor had partnered all the cup winners.

Owned by Yasmeen Azhar and sent in by trainer Ghulam Shabbir II, Whip’M has left a lasting impact.

Chestnut horse Olympus seized a third place seven lengths behind pushing Ayaash to fourth by three-quarter-of-a-length among half-a-dozen starters.

The Eid-ul-Azha Cup also served as a feature event, scale order I, II and III.

Meanwhile, riders Sohail Ahmed and Manzoor equally shared the riding honours by piloting home a brace of winners.

Sohail partnered favourite chestnut horse Sarwan Rose and mare Winter while Manzoor registered victories on his mounts Dazzling Diva and Whip’M. .

Sarwan Rose obliged all and sundry by getting the better of Believe Me by one and three-quarter-of-a-length to claim the opening race.

Winter was on song by claiming fifth and concluding race prevailing over colt Salam-e-Kaif as she pleased by 14 lengths to stretch her unbeaten run.

Besides Whip’M triumph, mare Dazzling Diva upset the applecart by getting the better of favourite Raging Victory by half-a-length in the second race with Manzoor astride as Talha Prince and Sanam Kaif were withdrawn

Unknown bay may mare Poetry who was placed fourth on her debut also put up splendid performance imposing to a 14-length victory over Sher Khan with Dhannak and favourite Golden Guest following in the same order.

Results:

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 F:

Sarawan Rose (Abu Bakar Siddique) 8-5, Sohail Ahmed 1; Believe Me 8-12, Mohammad Sajjad 2; Kaka 9-0, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Murad Queen 7-10, Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by1¾ L, 3 L, 5 L. Time: 0.53 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Tufail.

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 F:

Dazzling Diva (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-6, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Raging Victory 8-10, Asad Aksir 2; Black Smoke 8-6, Aksir A 3; Sweet Sereena 8-10 (cr8-7), Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by ½ L, Head, Dist. Time: 0.52 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER IV, V, VI AND VII 5 F:

Poetry (Irfan Mehdi) 7-5 (cr7-6), Mohammad Sajjad 1; Sher Khan 8-9, Sohail Ahmed 2; Dhannak 9-2, Mohammad Nasir 3; Golden Guest 8-10 (cr9-2), Tariq Baran 4.

Won by 14 L, 2 L, Head. Time: One minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE EID-UL-AZHA CUP SCALE ORDER I, II AND III 5 F:

Whip’M (Yasmeen Azhar) 9-8, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Street Smart 7-8, Asad Aksir 2; Olympus 10-6, Aksir A 3; Ayaash 8-12 (cr9-2), Tariq Baran 4.

Won by 2½ L, 7 L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 2 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER IV 5 F:

Winter (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 8-12, Sohail Ahmed 1; Salam-e-Kaif 8-6, Pervez Ali 2; Sweet Victory 8-4, Mohammad Sajjad 3; Pari 8-4, Zaki Zakir 4.

Won by 14 L, 1½ L, 1 L. Time: One minute 3 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sharif.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018