KARACHI: Favourite bay horse Tip Top obliged owner and punters alike while lifting the Long Stream Cup during the winter Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Tip Top, who had to be content with a fourth-place finish in his last run after winning the preceding race, justified his billing by galloping to a facile seven-length victory over mare Duran Duran.

The victorious horse was ridden home by its regular rider Zohaib Qamar.

Mare Lovely Baby occupied third place on board followed by another mare Pari among eight starters including two debutants, two-year-old thoroughbred filly Renu Devi and filly Hi Honey who had their maiden run.

Having finished nowhere in the last two runs, yet another favourite six-year-old bay horse Toofan kicked up speed in home stretch to post a commendable eight-length triumph over challenger Ayaash to grab the next race which was also the day’s feature event.

Toofan’s triumph marked a happy ending for the race-goers who have suffered in the first two races of the day.

The opening race had gone into the annals of the course as it featured only two horses following the last-minute withdrawal of the remaining three contenders — Justify, Sala Star and Murad Queen — in the morning declaration.

Mare Mehak got the better of favourite Sarwan Rose by a length to win the opening event.

Two more horses — Black Smoke and Tiger Jet — were pulled out in the morning declaration for the next race, leaving half-a-dozen horses in fray.

Three-year-old bay filly Whats App lowered the colours of public fancy Don Khalifa by five lengths to clinch that race.

Meanwhile, the KRC has come down hard on the owners of the five withdrawing horses and penalised entries of their animals in the competition for a period of one month.

Results:

THE LONG STREAM PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII — 4 F:

Mehak (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-5, Mohammad Qais 1; Sarwan Rose 9-2, Ali Raza II 2.

Won by 1 L. Time: 0.55 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE LONG STREAM PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII — 4½ F:

Whats App (Yasmeen Azhar) 8-5, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Don Khalifa 9-0, Mohammad Sajjad 2; Sonia Again 8-7, Mohammad Rashid 3; Fakhr-e-Kashmir 7-10 (cr8-2), Farjad Habib 4.

Won by 5 L, 2½ L, 3 L. Time: 0.59 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE LONG STREAM CUP SCALE ORDER IV AND V — 4½ F:

Tip Top (Ali Raza Zia) 8-7 (cr8-3), Zohaib Qamar 1; Duran Duran 8-3, Riaz Ahmed 2; Lovely Baby 9-0, Nazil Hussain 3; Pari 7-13, Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by 7 L, 3 L, Neck. Time: 0.59 seconds. Winner trained by Nasim.

THE LONG STREAM PLATE SCALE ORDER I, II AND III — 5 F:

Toofan (Haji Sahib Jan) 8-11, Mohammad Nasir 1; Ayaash 9-0, Tariq Baran 2; Swarovski 7-8, Zaki Zakir 3; Dhannak 7-10, Sohail Ahmed 4.

Won by 8 L, 1½ L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2018