LAHORE: Odds-on favourite colt Royal Ransom put up a scintillating display of form and speed to gallop home with the prestigious Khalid Bin Waleed Cup during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.

The colt started a bit slow in the beginning of the 1,400-metre race and was running at the sixth position behind the pack of front-runners. But gradually covered the lost ground and grabbed the lead after entering into the straight before running away with the cup to deny unlucky bay filly Costa Rica — a usual second-spot finisher — by three and a half lengths. Bay colt Sahil finished a close third while chestnut horse Gondal Prince completed the frame over a length back.

Owner Mohammad Shahrukh received the cup from Lahore Race Club (LRC) steward Abdul Qadir Mamdot.

The winner was piloted by jockey Tahir Abbas, who enjoyed a very successful weekend as he rode home four winners, including a fine hat-trick of victories. He had ridden chestnut colt Double O Seven a race earlier and then followed it up with a well-calculated victory on bay colt Double Action in the sixth race and bay filly User in the seventh and the last race.

Results:

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

Faizi Choice (Malik Sajjad Ahmed) 8-0, Mohammad Hanif 1; Artghal 7-8, Deenar Mirwani 2; Goloo Prince 7-4, Babar Rehman 3; Easy Go 8-0, Munir Hussain 4.

Won by 2¼ L, 5 L, 4 L. Time: one minute 2 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Abbas.

THE GWADAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1000M:

Neeli The Great (Asim Raza) 8-10, Babar Rehman 1; Only Jutt 9-0, Munir Hussain 2; Dancing Beauty 8-12, Deenar Mirwani 3; Lahori Badshah 8-8, Ghaus Bakhsh 4.

Won by 2 L, 2½ L. ½ L. Time: one minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.

THE GWADAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 1000M:

Wahab Choice (Muntazir Mehdi) 8-0, Babar Rehman 1; Zoaq-e-Yaqeen 8-2, Munir Hussain 2; Chan Punjabi 8-8, Zain Manzoor 3; King Queen 8-2, Deenar Mirwani 4.

Won by 3 L, 2¼ L, 6 L. Time: one minute 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

THE GWADAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1,000M:

Double O Seven (Syed Amir Raza Shah) 9-0, Tahir Abbas 1; Big Foot 9-0, Babar Rehman 2; Safdar Princess 8-2, Zain Manzoor 3; Rashk-e-Qamar 9-2, Aftab Chaudhry 4.

Won by 4 L, 2 L, Short-head. Time: one minute 1 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by A.B. Malik.

THE KHALID BIN WALEED CUP CLASS VI — 1,400M:

Royal Ransom (Mohammad Shahrukh) 8-12, Tahir Abbas 1; Costa Rica 8-0, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Sahil 7-12, Mohammad Hanif 3; Gondal Prince 9-4, Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by 3½ L, ½ L, 1¼ L. Time: one minute 25 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

THE GWADAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV I & II — 1,000M:

Double Action (Mirza Latif Baig) 8-10, Tahir Abbas 1; Sinner 9-0, Aamir Pervez 2; Aya Sultan 8-4, Mohammad Hanif 3; Salam-e-Bhakkar 8-2, Babar Rehman 4.

Won by 1¾ L, Short-head, 3½ L. Time: one minute 0 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zahid Khan.

THE GWADAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,000M:

User (Khawaja A. Ahmed) 8-2, Tahir Abbas 1; Salam-e-Lahore 8-8, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Abdullah Princess 9-0, Aamir Pervez 3; Goti 7-12, Babar Rehman 4.

Won by 3½ L, Dead-heat. 2 L. Time one: minute one second. Winner trained by Nadeem Raza Khan.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2019