KARACHI: Thoroughbred three-year-old filly Smart Girl lowered the colours of favourite halfbred chestnut horse Aya Sultan by galloping to facile four-and-a-half lengths victory to lift the Leap Year Cup and end the month on a high in the winter Gymkhana race meeting at THE Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

Owned by KRC patron Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara and sent by trainer Mohyuddin, Smart Girl was smartly piloted home by rider M. Manzoor who had earlier partnered the horse to triumph in the Kashmir Cup on Feb nine.

Seven-year-old bay mare Abdullah Princess fell third three lengths behind with bay horse Raven occupying the fourth slot on board

But it was seasoned jockey Aftab Chaudhry from Lahore who was on song with a double in a five-race card. Unfortunately, he missed a treble by having been content with second place finish in two races on Aya Sultan and Golra Pride besides a third place on debutant Star-e-Sehr.

Aftab, who set a new mark by guiding Big Bravo to third successive victory in the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup two months back to register hat-trick, obliged all and sundry powering public fancy Secret Of Life to eight lengths victory over Hawwaam in the second race.

He completed a double when mare Risky defeated another mare Darshan as she pleased by nine lengths in the next race. Both the victorious horses were sent by trainer Zia-ur-Rehman.

Second favourite dark bay horse King Of Kohistan clinched the fifth and concluding race by getting the better of fancied Golra Pride by three-quarter-of-a-length.

At the outset, unknown pedigree bay horse Usman Chandiwala pulled off the biggest upset by sprinting to one length victory over Velocity as co-favourite pair of Star-e-Sehr and Sana Choice followed the two in same order.

Rider M. Sajjad was suspended for two months and imposed a fine of Rs20,000 for unsatisfactory riding on his mount Meri Chahat in the third race.

Meanwhile, the next Gymkhana race meeting will be held n Thursday (March five).

Results:

THE LEAP YEAR PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII (MAIDEN) 4 F:

Usman Chandiwala (M/s Ehtisham Malik and Waiz Malik) 7 -12 Sohail Ahmed 1, Velocity 8-6 Safdar Hussain 2, Star-e-Sehar 9-0 Aftab Chaudhry 3, Sana Choice 7-12 Zaki Zakir 4.

Won by 1 L, 3 L, 3 ½ L. Time: 0.53 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Usman Sadiq.

THE LEAP YEAR PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 F:

Secret Of Life (Mr. Ali Raza Zia) 8-10 Aftab Chaudhry 1, Hawwaam 8-10 M. Manzoor 2, Tahzeeb 8-4 Riaz Ahmed 3, Kamyaab 9-0 Yousuf Ikram 4.

Won by 8 L, 4 L, 9 L. Time: 0.52 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zia-ur-Rehman.

THE LEAP YEAR PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 F:

Risky (Mr. Ghulam Jilani) 8-10 Aftab Chaudhry 1, Darshan 8-12(cr8-7) Safdar Hussain 2, Meri Chahat 8-10 M. Sajjad 3, Fast Catcher 9-0 Waheed Baran 4.

Won by 9 L, 3 ½ L, 1 L. Time: 0.52 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zia-ur-Rehman.

THE LEAP YEAR CUP SCALE ORDER IV AND V 4 ½ F:

Smart Girl Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-8 M. Manzoor 1, Aya Sultan 8-4 Aftab Chaudhry 2, Abdullah Princess 8-6 Safdar Hussain 3, Raven 7-10 Waheed Baran 4.

Won by 4 ½ L, 3 L, 5 L. Time: 0.57 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE LEAP YEAR PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 4 ½ F:

King Of Kohistan (Mr. Mohammad Yameen) 8-12 Zaki Zakir 1, Golra Pride 9-6 Aftab Chaudhry 2, Sanobar 7-7(cr8-0) Raees Ahmed 3, Starka 8-10 Waseem 4.

Won by ¾ L, 2 ½ L, 5 L. Time: One minute 0 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nazir.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2020