LAHORE: Three-year-old filly Marmaris overwhelmed eight opponents in a thrilling finish to win the Mohammad Tughlaq Cup during the day/night Lahore Winter Meeting at the floodlit Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

Ridden by jockey Mohammad Hanif, the winner consolidated her lead at the top of home stretch and rolled on to a half-length victory over bay Amazing Winner, who really performed amazingly in the company of some highly bloodline thoroughbreds.

Brown horse Tiger Jet finished third, three-fourth of length back with favourite colt Exceptional One finishing a dismal fourth under jockey Aamir Pervez.

Prior to this race Aamir had ridden bay filly Your Flame In Me, who lost to bay colt Golden Gift Gondal Gift by four lengths.

Four-year-old bay filly Faizi Choice sprang a big surprise by winning the sixth race by outdueling the highly-rated colt Prince Of Arab by a neck.

Sunny Babu, under whom the colt had finished third behind Qalandra and Pehlwan on Sept 13, was handed a three-month suspension by LRC stewards.

The day’s best performance came from promising dark-brown colt Young Gun, who romped to a maiden success by beating highly-pedigreed filly Legacy and colt Galactic Star on an impressive debut. The Haji Abid Mahmood-trained colt was ridden by jockey Tahir Abbas.

A lesser light among riders Riaz Hussain created history when he brought home a brace on winners in Sure Trust and Madiha in the first two races.

Results:

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

Sure Trust (Imam Bakhsh) 9-0, Riaz Hussain 1; Days Gone 7-10, Safdar Ali 2; Mehrban 9-0, Zulfiqar 3; Tripple Action 8-4, Imran Pervez 4.

Won by 6 L, 4 L, 5 L. Time: one minute 2 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sajjad Hussain.

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

Madiha (Zain-ul-Abedin) 7-10, Riaz Hussain 1; After Hero 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 2; Princess Arab 8-6, Mazhar Ali 3; Bano 7-10, Munir Hussain 4.

Won by 4 L, 2½ L, Neck. Time: one minute 2 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nadeem Raza Khan.

THE PASTIME PLATE CLASS VII DIV II — 1,100M:

Gondal Gift (Chaudhry Asghar Ali) 9-0, Mazhar Ali 1; Your Flame In Me 8-12, Aamir Pervez 2; Qalandra 8-12, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Banaras Prince 7-10, Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 4 L, 3 L, ¾ L. Time: one minute 6 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

THE MOHAMMAD TUGHLAQ CUP CLASS VI DIV II, III & IV — 1,200M:

Marmaris (Asif Inayat Shahani and Syed Adeel Bukhari) 8-10, Mohammad Hanif 1; Amazing Runner 8-0, Zulfiqar 2; Tiger Jet 8-12, Tahir Abbas 3; Exceptional One 8-4, Aamir Pervez 4.

Won by ½ L, ¾ L, Neck. Time: one minute 13 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

THE PASTIME PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 1,100M:

Young Gun (Chaudhry Mahmood Ahmed) 8-4, Tahir Abbas 1; Legacy 8-4, Babar Rehman 2; Galactic Star 8-4, Wasim Khan 3; Madhuri Dixit 9-0, Aftab Chaudhry 4.

Won by 3½ L, 1 L, 4½ L. Time: one minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

THE PASTIME PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1,100M:

Faizi Choice (Mohammad Ibrahim Butt) 8-8, Munir Hussain 1; Prince Of Arab 9-0, Tahir Abbas 2; Crown Jewel 8-5, Mazhar Ali 3; Khan Jee 8-10, Mohammad Atif 4.

Won by Neck, 2½ L, 4 L. Time: one minute 8 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Saeed Butt.

THE PASTIME PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1,100M:

Wahab Choice (Muntazar Mehdi) 9-4, Babar Rehman 1; Chan Punjabi 8-10, S. Raza 2; Golden Pound 8-2, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Jalpana Prince 7-12, Zulfiqar 4.

Won by ¾ L, 5 L, Neck. Time: one minute nine seconds. Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2020