LAHORE: Making amends, long shots two-year-old colt Welcome Home and three-year-old filly Town Girl created quite a stir by lifting the Dominator Cup and the December Cup, respectively, during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.
Welcome Home, who was among those who also ran in her maiden appearance, rose to fame by lowering the colours of favourite filly Sara Jamoot by a length and three quarter to clinch the Dominator Cup, a term race for two-year-old thoroughbred and half-bred horses gone over 1,000 metres.
Owned by Mian Mahir Ahmed and sent by trainer A.B. Malik, the victorious filly was piloted home by rider Tahir Abbas to open her account.
Lorenzo and Dream Secret were placed third and fourth, respectively, on board.
The December Cup, class VI div III and IV race, ended in a blaze of glory for three-year-old filly Town Girl who edged another filly Big Act by Neck.
Like Welcome Home, Town Girl also finished off the frame in her last run.
Favourite Last Dance had to be content with third place while co-favourite Sahib finished nowhere.
Aftab Chaudhry, who rode favourite Skype to success in Karachi on Saturday, was on song while partnering Town Girl to triumph.
Four favourites and as many outsiders evenly shared the eight-race card.
At the outset, three-year-old filly Secret Lady atoned to her last loss while ending the pretensions of favourite filly Wahab Choice registering three-quarter-of-a-length victory to annex the opening race.
Public fancy horses — Afzaal Choice, Almas Choice and Silent Warrior — obliged all and sundry in the next three races to give relief to the race-goers.
Four-year-old filly Helena and three-year-old colt Big Foot sprang surprises by stretching their winning run in the last two races.
Riders Sunny Babu, Ghulam Haider and Tahir Abbas excelled in their cadre by partnering smart doubles so did trainer Shakir Hussain.
Meanwhile, the next meeting will be held on Saturday.—AZ
Results:
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV V-B — 1,000M:
Secret Lady (Mian Mohammad Farrukh) 8-12, Sajjad Hussain 1; Wahab Choice 8-2 Sunny Babu 2; Janab 7-10, Munir Hussain 3; Dance of Life 7-4, Mohammad Jahangir 4.
Won by ¾ L, 1¼ L, 6 L. Winner trained by Rana Mohammad Arshad.
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV V-A — 1,000M:
Afzaal Choice (Mohammad Afzaal) 7-1, Sunny Babu 1; Music Boy 8-6, S. Raza 2; Queen Esmeralda 8-6, Ghulam Haider 3; Golden Apple 8-8, Munir Hussain 4.
Won by 3¾ L, S. Head, I L. Winner trained by Shakir Hussain.
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV AND V — 1,000M:
Almas Choice (Najeeb Ahmed Bagri) 7-10, Ghulam Haider 1; Anmole One 8-12, Dinar Mirwani 2; Big Lady 8-2, Munir Hussain 3; She Is Rawal 8-10, Shakeel Mahmood 4.
Won by Neck, I L, I¼ L. Winner trained by Shakir Hussain.
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV III AND IV — 1,000M:
Silent Warrior (Sajid Ali Khan Tiwana) 8-12, Ghulam Haider 1; Sweet Miracle 8-6, Tahir Abbas 2; Chota Saeen 7-10, Dinar Mirwani 3; Safdar Princess 8-6, Sunny Babu 4.
Won by Neck, 3½ L, ½ L. Winner trained by Nadeem Raza.
THE DOMINATOR CUP — A TERM RACE FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD THOROUGHBRED AND HALFBRED HORSES — 1,000M:
Welcome Home (Mian Mahir Ahmed) 8-8, Tahir Abbas 1; Sara Jamoot 8-5, Mohammad Hanif 2; Lorenzo 8-8, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Dream Secret 8-5, Dinar Mirwani 4.
Won by 1¾ L, ¾ L, 1¾ L. Winner trained by A.B. Malik.
THE DECEMBER CUP CLASS VI DIV III AND IV — 1,200M:
Town Girl (Shahid Hussain) 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Big Act 8-0, Bilal Ahmed 2; Last Dance 8-12, Aamir Pervez 3; Salam-e-Dera 8-2, Sunny Babu 4.
Won by Neck, ¾ L, 1½ L. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV I AND II — 1,000M:
Helena (Sabir Ali) 8-4, Sunny Babu 1; Nadaan 8-4, A. Imran 2; Bet Fair 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 3; The Mighty Plunkit 7-12, Ghulam Haider 4.
Won by S. Head, 4½ L, 2¼ L. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.
THE ABERDONIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV II AND III — 1,000M:
Big Foot (Saqibullah Khan) 8-8, Tahir Abbas 1; Neeli The Great 8-4, Sunny Babu 2; Golra Pride 8-6, Dinar Mirwani 3; Miss Ravi Road 8-10, Ghulam Haider 4.
Won by 2 L, ½ L, 2½ L. Winner trained by Mohammad Akram.
Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2018
