KARACHI: Making his debut at the course, Lahore’s rank outsider thoroughbred five-year-old bay horse Class Leader outclassed favourite chestnut horse Whip’M to land the feature event in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

Running on the heels of Whip ‘M and Shan-e-Kaif, Class Leader kicked up speed in home stretch to post an enthralling 12 lengths victory for the honours.

The horse clocked a smart time of one minute 0.2/5 seconds for five furlongs scale order I and II race.

The race-goers believe that by winning the race hands down, Class Leader has sent a strong message that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the blue-ribbon Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup meeting next month.

They pointed out that they haven’t heard any horse clocked this timing for the same distance in the history of the course.

By doing so, Class Leader also halted the outstanding winning streak of Whip’M spread over seven races during the year.

Owned by Adam Khan Lango from Quetta and sent by trainer Shahzad, the victorious horse was piloted home by Lahore rider Bilal Ahmed in style.

A race earlier, second favourite four-year-old bay filly Sweet Victory created quite a stir galloping to a facile five lengths victory over Jan-e-Fida to lift the Autumn Cup and stretch her run.

Stable-mate mares Saba and Meri Saba were placed third and fourth respectively as favourite Dash In Queen failed to find a place on board.

Sweet Victory’s triumph helped owner Irfan Mehdi and trainer Yousuf S complete a back-to-back double.

Three-year-old filly Most Gifted had done the owner-trainer proud imposing to 10 lengths victory over Funky Twist in the third race.

Making amends of preceding loss long shot mare I. Gold sprinted to a two-length victory over Sarwan Rose as favourite Sonia Again finished third ahead of Killing Eyes in the opening race.

Owner-trained mare Lovely Baby obliged all and sundry while prevailing over Duran Duran to pick up spoils in the second race.

Results:

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 F:

I Gold (Fida Hussain) 8-13 (cr8-10), Shahzad Gul 1; Sarwan Rose 8-11, Mohammad Manzoor 2; Sonia Again 9-2 (cr8-9), Ali Raza II 3; Killing Eyes 7-5 (cr7-9), Ali Ehsan 4.

Won by 2 L, ¾ L, 3 L. Time: 0.53 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER IV, V AND VI 4½ F:

Lovely Baby (Sher Mohammad) 9-0 (cr8-7), Ali Raza II 1; Duran Duran 8-5 (cr8-2), Mohammad Qais 2; Believe Me 8-0, Zaki Zakir 3; Dhannak 8-6, Bilal Ahmed 4.

Won by 6 L, ¾ L, 2½ L. Time: 0.59 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER IV 5 F:

Most Gifted (Irfan Mehdi) 8-10, Wasim 1; Funky Twist 8-2, Bilal Ahmed 2; Pari 8-8, Mohammad Qais 3; Black Smoke 8-4, Aksir A, 4.

Won by 10 L, 9 L, 4½ L. Time: One minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE AUTUMN CUP SCALE ORDER III 5 F:

Sweet Victory (Irfan Mehdi) 8-8, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Jan-e-Fida 8-5, Sohail Ahmed 2; Saba 9-0, Nazil Hussain 3; Meri Saba 8-12, Riaz Ahmed 4.

Won by 5 L, 2 L, 4 L. Time: One minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE AUTUMN PLATE SCALE ORDER I AND II 5 F:

Class Leader (Adam Khan Lango) 8-0, Bilal Ahmed 1; Whip’M 10-0, Mohammad Manzoor 2; Shan-e-Kaif 7-0 (cr7-8), Riaz Ahmed 3; Olympus 10-0, Aksir A 4.

Won by 12 L, 1½ L, 8 L. Time: One minute 0.2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahzad.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018