KARACHI: In a two-horse race, fast chasing outsider dark bay mare Saba overtook front-running favourite bay filly Sweet Victory by three quarter-of-a-length to lift the Splendid Cup in style during the summer Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

The four-year-old Sweet Victory had set the pace right from the start and looked set to oblige punters when Saba, who finished off the board last week, upset the applecart in home stretch to post an exciting win.

The triumph denied Sweet Victory’s pair of owner and trainer (Irfan Mehdi and Yousuf S) a treble as they ended the day with a double.

Owned by Kamal and trained by Nazir, the victorious Saba was powered to victory by rider Riaz Ahmed in the scale order III and IV combined race gone over four-and-a-half lengths.

Colt Salam-e-Kaif settled third four lengths behind while mare Tabdeeli completed the frame another four lengths away among half-a-dozen starters.

Making amends to the preceding loss, Sweet Victory’s stable mate bay horse and favourite Raging Victory returned to winning ways galloping to three-and-a-half lengths victory over dark bay horse Black Smoke to clinch the second race.

Another horse from the same connection favourite bay mare Poetry made it two wins on the trot, registering a facile four lengths victory over mare Dhannak as favourites and outsiders shared the day’s honours.

Pari and Little Rascal followed the two in the same order on the board.

At the outset, long shot dark bay horse Believe Me created quite a stir while getting the better of dark bay horse Big Boy Blue by five lengths to clinch the opening race that was preceded by a foul start as fancied Sarwan Rose settled third ahead of Fast Departure.

With a win under his belt, chestnut horse Sarwan Rose completed the four furlong race following a foul start as a result he looked exhausted in the re-run and failed to repeat last week’s feat.

Believe Me was ridden home by Mohammad Sajjad who excelled in his cadre with a double the other victorious horse being Poetry.

Results:

THE SPLENDID PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 F:

Believe Me (Yasmeen Azhar) 8-8, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Big Boy Blue 8-4, Mohammad Manzoor 2; Sarwan Rose 8-11, Sohail Ahmed 3; Fast Departure 8-8, Riaz Ahmed 4.

Won by 5 L, 1½ L, Dist. Time: 0.54 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE SPLENDID PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 4½ F:

Raging Victory (Irfan Mehdi) 8-2, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Black Smoke 7-9, Zaki Zakir 2; Cash Machine 8-8, Mohammad Sajjad 3; Shining Arrow 8-5, Wasim 4.

Won by 3½ L, 11 L, ¾ L. Time: 0.59 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE SPLENDID CUP SCALE ORDER III AND IV 4½ F:

Saba (Kamal) 8-13, Riaz Ahmed 1; Sweet Victory 7-11, Mohammad Sajjad 2; Salam-e-Kaif 8-2 (cr7-13), Mohammad Qais 3; Tabdeeli 7-7, Zaki Zakir 4.

Won by ¾ L, 4 L, 4 L. Time: 0.58 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nazir.

THE SPLENDID PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 4½ F:

Poetry (Irfan Mehdi) 8-3, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Dhannak 9-0 (cr8-11), Mohammad Qais 2; Pari 9-0, Zaki Zakir 3; Little Rascal 8-1, Riaz Ahmed 4.

Won by 4 L, 6 L, ½ L. Time: 0.57 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2018