KARACHI: Favourite three-year-old filly Spirit shot into fame with a facile six-length victory over mare Galileo Lady in the Hash Tag Cup in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

Spirit, who was among those who also ran in her last two outings, became favourite and justified that status by posting a maiden victory.

Rider Safdar Hussain presented owner M.R. Hussain and trainer S.A. Zaidi with the cup.

Earlier, challenger Galileo Lady was opened favourite but later odds of Spirit went up.

Mare Lindi occupied third place on board beaten by two-and-a-half lengths with nare Risky falling back by one length to seize fourth spot.

Gladiator and Piyara Faisal were withdrawn before the race leaving seven horses in fray.

With three wins, including the Defence Day Cup, under his belt another favourite three-year-old colt Thunder King stretched his unbeaten run winning as he pleased by nine lengths over Abdullah Princess to claim the feature event.

Thunder King was piloted home by its regular rider Zaki Zakir in style.

Parachuter and Black Gold followed the two on board respectively in a short field of five starters.

At the outset, mare Little Darling created quite a stir by capturing the opening race by getting the better of Wifi as favourite Balam Bhai finished third.

Mare Soldier Girl clinched the second race while imposing to three lengths victory over co-favourite Hawwaam.

In another race on an eventful day, favourite Kuwait Prince made it two triumphs on the trot while powering to three-and-a-half lengths victory over Justify.

Results:

THE HASH TAG PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII — 4 F:

Little Darling (Mohammad Owais Abro and Nadeem Abro) 8-7 (cr8-2), Majid Ali II 1; Wifi 8-12, Mohammad Sajjad 2; Balam Bhai 9-0 (cr9-3), Tariq Baran 3; Pinza Way 8-2, Mohammad Manzoor 4

Won by 1¼ L, 1½ L, 2½ L. Time: 0.53 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nadeem Abro.

THE HASH TAG PLATE SCALE ORDER VII — 4 F:

Soldier Girl (Mohammad Shakeel) 8-5, Yousuf Ikram 1; Hawwaam 8-10, Waheed Baran 2; Soldier Star 9-0, Ali Raza II 3; Public Fancy 8-2, Wasim 4.

Won by 3 L, 2½ L, 4 L. Time: 0.53 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.

THE HASH TAG PLATE SCALE ORDER VI & VIII — 4 F:

Kuwait Edition (Ehtisham Malik and Waiz Malik) 8-2, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Justify 8-5, Mohammad Manzoor 2; Kamyaab 8-11, Tariq Baran 3; Take A Side 8-12, Latif 4.

Won by 3½ L, 5 L, 5½ L. Time: 0.51 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Naseem.

THE HASH TAG CUP SCALE ORDER IV & V — 4½ F:

Spirit (M.R. Hussain) 8-0, Safdar Hussain 1; Galileo Lady 8-11, Asad Aksir 2; Linda 7-10 (cr7-5), Mohammad Ramzan 3; Risky 8-7 (cr8-3), Zohaib Qamar 4.

Won by 6 L, 2½ L, 1 L. Time: 0.57 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by S.A. Zaidi.

THE HASH TAG PLATE SCALE ORDER II & III — 4½ F:

Thunder King (Athar Abbas) 8-1, Zaki Zakir 1; Abdullah Princess 9-0, Zohaib Qamar 2; Parachuter 8-13, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Black Gold 8-6, Yousuf Ikram 4.

Won by 9 L, 3 L, 2 L. Time: 0.56 seconds. Winner trained by Nazir.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2020