KARACHI: Two favourites obliged all and sundry after racegoers were stunned by a shock result upfront when a horse with no form worth won the first race at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

Punters suffered heavily when rank outsider unknown pedigree chestnut mare I Gold pulled off a major upset imposing to a fluent seven lengths victory over public fancy chestnut horse Justify to upset the applecart.

Before Saturday’s triumph, the victorious horse had featured in three races since making her debut on July 21 with one fourth place to her credit. The anger was quite visible on the faces of punters who suffered heavily in the first event of a three-race card.

Mare Murad Queen fell one length behind to grab third place followed by another mare Fast Departure who finished two-and-a-half lengths away among seven starters.

Unfortunately, second favourite bay horse Kaka became lame at one furlong and was destroyed after the race. Rider Mohammad Manzoor escaped unhurt.

The victory of unknown pedigree dark bay horse Little Rascal over second favourite mare Sanam Kaif by five lengths in the next race gave some respite to the fraternity.

Believe Me settled for third spot, two-and-a-half lengths behind followed by Big Boy Blue who fell a length-and-a-half away.

Another unknown pedigree bay horse Sher Khan made it two wins on the trot after galloping to a facile eight lengths success over colt Salam-e-Kaif to claim the third race which was also the day’s feature event.

Debutant mare Jan-e-Fida from Lahore seized third place followed by mare Dhannak on board.

Results:

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 F:

I Gold (Fida Hussain) 7-9 (cr8-0), Shahzad Gul 1; Justify 8-2, Sohail Ahmed 2; Murad Queen 7-3 (cr7-7), Ashiq Ali 3; Fast Departure 8-5, Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by 7 L, 1 L, 2½ L. Time: 0. 55 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 4 F:

Little Rascal (Shahmeer Shah) 7-11, Asad Aksir 1; Sanam Kaif 7-10 (cr8-5), Pervez Ali 2; Believe Me 8-12, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Big Boy Blue 7-7 (cr7-8), Mohammad Sajjad 4.

Won by 5 L, 2½ L, 1½ L. Time: 0.52 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Mazhar.

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER II, III AND IV 4½ F:

Sher Khan (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 7-9, Asad Aksir 1; Salam-e-Kaif 9-0, Pervez Ali 2; Jan-e-Fida (formerly Baab-e-The Rani) 7-12, Shahzad Gul 3; Dhannak 7-5, Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by 8 L, 6½ L, 5 L. Time: 0. 57 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sharif.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018