KARACHI: Favourite three-year-old chestnut colt Thunder King outpaced challenger Glittery Eyes by seven lengths to lift the Early Bird Cup and stretch his winning run in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.
With a hat-trick already under his belt, Thunder King justified his credentials by obliging race goers yet again in a smart time of one minute 1 1/5 seconds for five furlongs distance.
He set the pace right from the word go and increased his lead to win hands down.
By virtue of successive triumphs Thunder King has emerged as a strong contender for three-year-old 2000 Guineas of Pakistan which takes place next month.
The fancied horse from the stables of Athar Abbas and sent by trainer Nazir was piloted home by its regular rider Zaki Zakir.
Another form horse Gladiator fall back eight lengths back while Piyara Faisal completed the frame three-quarter-of-a-length away among eight starters.
All in all three favourites returned victorious in a small four-race card in closely fought contests.
Public fancy three-year-old bay filly Artemisia edged filly Spirit by neck to make it three on trot.
The victorious horse was ridden home by M. Sajjad who had powered the horse to victory in earlier two races.
Soldier Queen and Piyara Faisal followed the top two in same order.
At the outset, favourite debutant Royal Duke posted one length victory over Arabian Queen to clinch the first race under rider Safdar Hussain. Rank outsider Balam Bhai upset the applecart registering one length triumph over Super Quetta to claim the second race.
Results:
THE EARLY BIRD PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII — 4 F:
Royal Duke (Rana Jawad Sarwar) 9-0 (cr8-9), Safdar Hussain 1; Arabian Queen 9-0 (cr8-9), Ali Raza II, 2, Princess of Arab 8-4 Zaki Zakir 3; Thomas 8-10 (cr8-3), Mohammad Ramzan 4.
Won by 1 L, Head, S. Head. Time: 0.52 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Irfan.
THE EARLY BIRD PLATE SCALE ORDER VI & VIII — 4 F:
Balam Bhai (Fasihuddin Ghori) 7-10 (cr7-6), Mohammad Ramzan 1; Super Quetta (ex-Zorawar) 9-0, A. Raza 2; Haseena-e-Arab 9-0, Mohammad Sajjad 3; Take A Side 8-3, Latif 4.
Won by Head, 2 L, S. Head. Time: 0.52 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.
THE EARLY BIRD PLATE SCALE ORDER IV & V — 4½ F:
Artemisia (Nand Kumar Goklani) 8-4, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Spirit 9-0, Waheed Baran 2; Soldier Queen 8-1, Latif 3; Piyara Faisal 7-7, Zaki Zakir 4
Won by Neck, 9 L, ½ L. Time: 0.55 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.
THE EARLY BIRD CUP SCALE ORDER II & III — 5 F:
Thunder King (Athar Abbas) 9-2, Zaki Zakir 1; Glittery Eyes 8-4, Asad Aksir 2; Gladiator 7-10, Safdar Hussain 3; Piyara Sayeen 7-11 (cr9-3), Ali Raza II 4.
Won by 7 L, 8 L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 1 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nazir.
Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2020
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