LAHORE: Chestnut colt Special One lived up to his star billing by powering to victory in the prestigious Jinnah Cup during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.

The son of Irish sire Kavango, favourite Special One, ridden by jockey Deenar Mirwani and trained by Haji Abid Mahmood, gave the co-owners Mian Khan and Asif Mahmood their third win in seven outings to date He emphatically beat filly Rapunzel Beauty by five lengths with colt Ibram Prince third, another over three lengths back. Filly Sajni lost stamina nearing the finish post to be content with fourth place, a length back.

The winner recorded one minute 6 2/5 seconds over the 1,100-metre race distance. The owners received the cup from Lahore Race Club (LRC) co-opted steward retired Col Naeem Sarwar amidst roars from the jubilant crowd.

The winner was a 50-100 favourite.

The equally important Christmas Cup was won by bay filly Widad, which was astutely ridden by jockey Tahir Abbas to give the trainer Haji Abid Mahmood double honour of winning both the cup races on a big occasion.

It was a tale of fluctuating fortune as a quartet fought for the top honours and the winner owned by Malik Salman Khalid came from behind to overtake front running trio to manage a two length success over Royal Solution owned by Syed Sibghatullah Shah 111 Pir Pagara VIII. Breaking Bad running ahead of the field in most of the distance of 1,100-metre race fell back to third position with Mr Gondal completing the board. The race was run at a slow pace and the time recorded was one minute 15 4/5 seconds for 1,200 metres. The winning owner received the cup from steward Mahmood Rafi Khan.

Shortly before the start the city received light shower that made the race track wet and the stewards delayed the start of races by an hour.

Meanwhile, LRC announced to hold the next winter meeting on Saturday than Sunday.

Results:

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

Zahid Love (Zaman Khan) 7-10, Javed Iqbal 1; Golden Pound 8-10, Ali Raza 2; Anmole One 7-10, Munir Hussain 3; Bright Gold 9-0, Mohammad Sajjad 4.

Won by 1½ L, 3 L, ½ L. Time: one minute 73/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

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

Taha Princess (Ansar Abbas) 8-10, Mubashir Bhatti 1; Royal Ascot 9-2, Tahir Abbas 2; Easy Go 7-10, Kashif Arshad 3; Black Storm 7-10, Safdar Ali 4.

Won by 1¼ L, 3 L, 3 L. Time: one minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Asad.

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

Ask Me (Asim Raza) 8-0, Deenar Mirwani 1; Neeli The Great 8-0, Safdar Ali 2; Stella 8-6, Shahbaz Ahmed 3; Sweet Golden 8-6, S. Raza 4.

Won by 1½ L, 3 L, 1½ L. Time: one minute 10 seconds. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.

THE BLUE ERA PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,100M:

Lorenzo (Mohammad Ahsan Irfan) 8-10, Tahir Abbas 1; Chota Dera 7-10, Safdar Ali 2; Banaras Prince 8-12, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Chota Jharra 7-12, Mubashir Bhatti 4.

Won by 4½ L, Short-head, 2¼ L. Time: one minute 8 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

THE JINNAH CUP CLASS VI DIV III & IV — 1,100M:

Special One (Mian Khan and Asif Mahmood) 8-12, Deenar Mirwani 1; Rapunzel Beauty 9-4, Tahir Abbas 2; Ibram Prince 8-0, Babar Rehman 3; Sajni 8-6, Mohammad Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 5 L, 3½ L, 1½ L. Time: one minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

THE CHRISTMAS CUP — A TERM RACE FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND FILLIES (MAIDENS) — 1,200M:

Widad (Malik Salman Khalid) 8-5, Tahir Abbas 1; Royal Solutions 8-8, Ghaus Bakhsh 2; Breaking Bad 8-8, Deenar Mirwani 3; Mr Gondal 8-8, Ali Raza 4.

Won by 2 L, Short-head, ¾ L. Time: one minute 15 43/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

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

Baland-O-Bala (Shabbar Mukhtar) 8-6, Mubashir Bhatti 1; Prince Of Arab 8-8, Munir Hussain 2; Gondal Prince 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Raining Fairy 8-12, Mazhar Ali 4.

Won by 3 L, Short-head, 6 L. Time: one minute eight seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2020