KARACHI, June 12: Teenage riding boy Mohammad Essa stole the racing limelight once again, when he piloted home a brace of winners at the Winter Gymkhana Race Meeting held on Sunday afternoon at the Karachi Racecourse.

Partnering the chestnut colt Leo Again, Essa managed to hold off the belated challenge by top weight High Light, after the colt was involved in a hectic struggle with Power Of Tiger and Silver City earlier in the five furlong sprint.

Not satisfied with his earlier success, young Essa rose to the occasion once again, riding home the bay colt Fantastic Again to a splendid victory in the sixth, flying home with giant strides after the much talked about Butter Fly and Arab Hi Arab, battled each other for most part of the race for the spoils.

This victory enabled owner-trainer Yaqoob Butt to share in the celebrations. Yaqoob also trained Leo Again and seemed to be a happy individual with his success on the bay colt Fantastic Again.

In the opener, Super Time partnered by M. Amjad, never gave the supporters any jitters, galloping home to victory in the opener, ahead of Piyari Mehooba, Royal Wisdom and Baby Tabassum.

As mentioned in these columns the roan horse Sea Biscuit, finishing on the board in his last three starts, finally hit the victory trail beating the fast approaching Ghabra in a start to finish bid with young Fahim Karim in the saddle.

The top weight three-year-old bay colt Sher Garh won the third event as he pleased, beating Azam the Great by seven lengths with still plenty to spare. Lucky One coming in from behind, grabbed the third spot from National Lining. The winner was smartly ridden by jockey Rafiq, a rider from Lahore.

The fifth race on the afternoon’s programme was bagged by the bay filly Hassena-e-Arab, with riding boy Nazil Hussain astride, beating stable companion Arabian Queen after the thoroughbred colt Super Salute taking over the running while approaching the bend and sprinting for home in the straight, suddenly fizzled out in the straight and finished a bad fourth.

Yet another mishap was in store for the racing fans. The four-year-old bay colt Rahil Jan with Naeem Ahmed astride, took over the running from the whole field turning for home seemed to be on his way to victory half a furlong from home in this six furlong contest.

Suddenly to the surprise of one and all watching the proceedings, Naeem losing his balance tumbled out from the colt’s back and fell heavily on the track right in front of the pack following behind.

Rahil Jan however, still running along finished the race riderless as the chestnut horse Sarazen, with a lightening turn of speed grabbed the outcome of the race from King Of Arab and Penny edging out Prime Panther for a place berth.

Jockey Naeem recently arrived in Karachi after a long stint in Dubai.

The young rider has already ridden two winners in his two rides over here and was on song of completing a hattrick of wins when tragedy struck a cruel blow.

The rider was rushed off to the hospital in the an unconscious condition in the racecourse ambulance. At the time of writing, it was stated that his condition was stable.

The next race meeting will be held on Sunday June 19.

Following were the results:

SOHNI PLATE CLASS VII DIV V & VI 5F

Super Time (Malik Abdul Haleem) 8-10 M. Amjad 1, Piyari Mehbooba 8-9 Fahim Karim 2, Royal Wisdom 8-7 Faiz Mohammad 3, Baby Tabassum 8-6 Abdul Rahim 4.

Won by 3 1/4L, 1 1/4L, 8 1/4L. Time 1 min 8 sec. Winner trained by A. Hannan.

SOHNI PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B 5F

Sea Biscuit (Mr. A. Rasheed) 8-6 Fahim Karim 1, Ghabra 9-0 Latif 2, Quite Arrival 7-9 M. Alam 3, Golden Copy 8-1 Nazil Hussain 4.

Won by 2L, 2 1/2L, 2 1/2L. Time 1 min 7 3/5 sec. Winner trained by Asif Qamar.

SOHNI PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A 5F

Sher Garh (Mr. Reyan Ahmed) 9-1 Rafiq 1, Azam The Great 8-13 Shahanawaz 2, Lucky One 8-12 M. Akram 3, National Lining 8-8 Nadim Akhtar 4.

Won by 7L, 1 1/2l, Neck. Time 1 min 5 4/5 sec. Winner trained by Shahjehan.

SOHNI PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 5F

Leo Again (Mr. Tauseef Ali Siddiqui) 8-2 Mohammad Essa 1, High Light 9-5 M. Yousuf 2, Power Of Tiger 8-3 Ghous Bux 3, Run And Pray 7-11 Zaki Zakjar 4.

Won by Sh-hd, 1 1/4L, 1L. Time 1 min 6 sec. Winner trained by M. Yaqoob Butt.

SOHNI PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 5F

Haseena-e-Arab (Syed Nadeem Akhtar) 8-6 Nazil Hussain 1, Arabian Queen 9-1 Ghulam Shabbir II 2, Princess J.T.M. II 8-10 Manzoor Ali 3, Super Salute 8-6 M. Nasir 4.

Also ran: Al Zarrar, Order Of the Day and Thanks Naeem.

SOHNI PATE CLASS IX DIVI 5F

Fantastic Again (Mr. M. Yaqoob Butt) 8-6 Mohammad Essa 8-6 1, Butter Fly 7-11 Saif Mohammad 2, Arab Hi Arab 8-12 Ghulam Shabbir II 3, Midnight Moonlight 8-1 Waheed Baran 4.

Won by 1 1/4L, 1 1/2L, 9 1/2L. Time 1 min 5 ½ sec. Winner trained by Owner.

SOHNI PLATE CLASS V & VI DIV II 6F

Sarazen (Mr. Irshad Ali Siddiqui) 8-7 Nisar Ahmed 1, King Of Arab 9-2 M. Manzoor 2, Penny 8-9 Fahim Karim 3, Prime Panther 7-10 Riaz Mohammad 4.

Winner trained by Aurangzeb Khan.