LAHORE: Four-year-old Princess Anabia put up a performance of highest standard to reaffirm her superiority over her nine well-bred speedsters by winning the feature event during a day/night meeting at the flood-lit Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

A lively and potentially brilliant daughter of sire Celebration, Princess Anabia set a strong pace to dominate the prestigious bloodline field defeating brown horse Tiger Jet by three-and-a-half lengths easily in the Fantastic Plate, Class VI Division II, III and IV combined handicap race contested over 1,100 metres.

Sparking finished third, three-fourth of a length back with Salam-e-Dera completing the frame.

Owned by turf accountant Mohammad Shafiq Sadiq, the winner was trained by Shakir Hussain and guided by emerging riding sensation Wasim Khan.

With five wins and placed six times in 18 outings, Princess Anabia is a strong contender for the big events in the coming winter meetings as the strong pace she showed on Sunday is invariably a pre-requisite if the classic horses are to dominate rivals such events. The filly is bred at the Jamal Din Wali stud farms.

The supporting event, the Fantastic Plate, Class VII Division I was annexed by colt Galactic Song, who quashed the claim of chestnut mare Anibal after the latter emerged as a sprinting and has already performed a hat-trick of victories.

Weighing nine stones six pounds, the mare succumbed under the heavy impost of top weight to mark the end her winning streak. Bay filly Slightly Different finished third with Legacy fourth.

Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Mahmud’s shapely colt Manthar registered his maiden success causing a big upset of recent meetings powering to victory in the sixth race.

This son of USA sire, Tybalt and bred at owner’s farms beat bay horse Qalandra by three-fourth of a lengths. Manthar was totally ignored in betting to the extent that a 100 rupee win tote ticket paid a handsome dividend of 2390 to each ticket-holder, leaving the favourite backers scratching heads in amusement.

Three favourite horses won in a card of seven races. The 60-100 gelding, Lucky Is Me, set the pace proving worth his name in the opener. The even-money favourite Zoaq-e-Yaqeen followed in the second race but in the next four races, favourite backers fortunes fluctuated with long shots coming to the fore. Then the only respite came for them when 60-100 mare Rang-e-Hina won the last race edging out Khan Jee on the line.

LRC stewards suspended riding boy Khatki for three months for not allowing to run his mount, Big Foot on merit in the third race.

Midway through the proceedings the LRC announced that the next race meeting will be an all-day affair.

Results:

THE FANTASTIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV V (MAIDENS) — 1,000M:

Lucky Is Me (Syed Salman Akbar) 8-8, Zulfiqar 1; Shining Armour 8-2, Deenar Mirwani 2; Days Gone 7-12, Safdar Ali 3; Piyari Guriya 8-0, Riaz Hussain 4.

Won by 8 L, 5 L, ¾ L. Time: one minute 6 4/5 seconds. Winner trained privately by Arsalan Khan.

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

Zoaq-e-Yaqeen (Usman Gujjar) 8-12, Bilal Ahmed 1; Golden Apple 8-6, Shahzad Bhatti 2; Princess Arab 8-6, Mazhar Ali 3; Tell Me 8-2, Khatki 4.

Won by 6 L, 2¼ L, Neck. Time: one minute 6 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Abbas Shah.

THE FANTASTIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1,000M:

Sure Trust (Imam Bakhsh) 8-10, Riaz Hussain 1; Bright Gold 8-10, Babar Rehman 2; Red Boy 7-12, Safdar Ali 3; Big Foot 8-2, Khatki 4.

Won by ½ L, 1½ L. 2¼ L. Time: One minute 6 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sajjad Hussain.

THE FANTASTIC PLATE CLASS VI DIV II, III & V — 1,100M:

Princess Anabia (Mohammad Shafiq Sadiq) 9-3, Wasim Khan 1; Tiger Jet 8-12, Tahir Abbas 2; Sparking 8-11, Mohammad Hanif 3; Salam-e-Dera 7-10, Babar Rehman 4.

Won by 3½ L, ¾ L, 1 L. Time: one minute 6 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shakir Hussain.

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

Galactic Star (M.V. Malik and Tahir Rafiq) 8-4, Ghaus Bakhsh 1; Anibal 9-6, Aamir Pervez 2; Slightly Different 8-4, Tahir Abbas 3; Legacy 8-6, Mubashir Bhatti 4.

Won by 5 L, Short-head, 1 L. Time: one minute 6 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Zahid Khan.

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

Manthar (Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud) 9-0, S. Raza 1; Qalandra 8-12, Deenar Mirwani 2; Prince Of Arab 8-0, Mohammad Hanif 3; Parwaz-e-Hassan 8-0, Munir Hussain 4.

Won by ¾ L, 1 L, Neck. Time: one minute 7 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Rehman.

THE FANTASTIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1000M:

Rang-e-Hina (Ghulam Shabbir Khan) 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Khan Jee 8-6, Mohammad Atif 2; Wahab Choice 9-0, Babar Rehman 3; Lilly 8-10, Aftab Chaudhry 4.

Won by Short-head, ¾ l. 1 L. Time: one minute 2 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2020