LAHORE: Favourite mare Benevolent made all the running to win the Quetta Cup, which was the feature event during the pre-Derby Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.

Owned by Sohrab Khan, the Amjad Ali II-trained Benevolent was sent off at 30 to 100 to win the first race of the season under jockey Aftab Chaudhry.

The daughter of Dunhill Star, Benevolent lived up to her star-billing, holding off by about four lengths a late surge from dark-bay horse Jabbar Prince, the mount of riding boy Ghulam Haider.

Third place went to chestnut colt Atlantic Ocean who was so exhausted to fall back another seven lengths behind with bay filly Miss Mohni Road a dismal fourth.

The winner clocked one minute 13 4/5 seconds over the 1,200-metre distance on the wet grass course following rains this week.

Lahore Race Club (LRC) member Mahmood Khan gave away the cup to the winning owner at a makeshift ceremony soon after the race.

The supporting event, the Trace Hit Plate, Class VII Division I run over 1,200 metres was won by bay mare Samore Princess in a runaway style. The rank outsider unleashed a devastating early sprint and kept on increasing her margin of lead over five rivals to spare five lengths over dark-bay colt Four Char Hai at the finish line.

Her victory earned a grand double for jockey Aftab Chaudhry, who had earlier romped home on the cup winner in the fifth race.

Riding boy Mohammad Wasim shared the day’s racing honours with Aftab by riding home a brace of winners through bay colt Qalandara in the second race and bay filly Dimple in the following event.

It was more a day of upset victories. The pace was set by rank outsider mare Bano who belied all calculations to register a facile victory in a front-running style. The Qaiser-trained mare was given a perfect ride by apprentice Assad Akbar to record his maiden success.

Only three firm favourites won in a card spread over seven races. — Bay colt Qalandara (second race), Benevolent (fifth race) and Khan Jan (sixth race).

Results:

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 1,000M:

Bano (Mohammad Akram) 8-2, Assad Abbas 1; Baa Aitbar 8-8, Wasim Khan 2; Public Fancy 7-4, Babar Rehman 3; Bholi Bhali 8-2, S. Raza 4.

Won by 4½ L, 1 L, 1½ L. Time one minute 4 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Qaiser.

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV & V — 1,000M:

Qalandara (Mian Mohammad Hafeez) 8-10, Mohammad Wasim 1; On The Spot Win 8-12 Mohammad Atif 2; Maradona 8-6, Ghulam Haider 3; Good Action 8-12, S. Raza 4.

Won by 1 L, 4 L, 1¾ L. Time one minute 4 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Mumtaz.

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV & V — 1,000M:

Dimple (Mohammad Nadeem Abbas) 8-6, Mohammad Wasim 1; Neeli De Malika 8-4, Babar Rehman 2; Golden Apple 8-4, Dinar Mirwani 3; Furious 9-0, Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 2 L, ½ L, 4 L. Time one minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Cameo (Mohammad Muntansir Billah) 8-12, S. Moin 1; Natalia 7-4, Babar Rehman 2; Lisbon 8-10, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Chan Punjabi 9-0, Ali Imran 4.

Won by 4½ L, 1½ L, 2½ L. Time one minute 2 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Ubaid.

THE QUETTA CUP CLASS VI DIV III & IV — 1,200M:

Benevolent (Sohrab Khan) 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Jabbar Prince 8-2, Ghulam Haider 2; Atlantic Ocean 8-2, Babar Rehman 3; Miss Mohni Road 8-2, S. Raza 4.

Won by 3¾ L, 7½ L, 3¾ L. Time one minute 13 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,200M:

Khan Jan (Mohammad Rafiq Khan) 9-0, Mohammad Atif 1; Wali Choice 8-2, Ghulam Haider 2; Candle 9-0, Sunny Babu 3; Naadan 9-0, Ali Imran 4.

Won by 2½ L, 1½ L, 2¼ L. Time one minute 15 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Akram.

THE TRACE HIT PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 1,200M:

Samore Princess (Mohammad Zafar Ali Khan) 8-4, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Four Char Hai 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 2; Madhuri Dixit 8-12, Ghulam Haider 3; One Four Seven 8-4, Bilal Ahmed 4.

Won by 5 L, 2 L, 1½ L. Time one minute 14 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2019