LAHORE: Bay colt Al-Khalid made amends for his last week’s with a hard-fought win by half-a length victory in the Sardar Atif Rasheed Memorial Cup, which was contested over 1,100 metres during the day/night race meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.
Al-Khalid beat edged past bay filly Hassan’s Heights after a ding-dong struggle in the final 100 metres. The winning colt was ridden by Tahir Abbas who a race earlier won on Champion of Mind to complete a well-earned double.
Chairman Jockey Club of Pakistan (JCP) Mohammad Nawaz Tiwana gave away the cup to the winning owner.
The main supporting event, the Summer Cup, a class VII division V (maidens) run over 1,000 metres was won by favourite chestnut colt Statue of Liberty. He beat chestnut filly Frulati by over a length in a close contest.
Earlier before the start of the opening race, Lahore Race Club (LRC) steward Mahmood Khan advised the owners, trainers and riders taking part in Sunday’s races to let their horses run on merit and perform truly to make the sport competitive.
He said LRC chairman Makhdum Syed Ahmad Mahmud expected of them to make races competitive, transparent, and keenly contested. By their action and in doing so, they will prove that racing is justly regarded as a genteel sport. It is all the more necessary because at present the racing and breeding industry is passing through a testing period of economic crunch due to lockdowns caused by the third wave of the coronavirus (Covid-1) pandemic.
“For early recovery it is imperative that all stake holders jointly struggle to overcome the situation,” Mahmood told Dawn.
All owners, trainers and riders gave spontaneous positive response to this timely advice in the best interest of the entire racing and horse-breeding industry in the country.
Results: THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1,000M: Khabib (Mohammad Zaman Haider Saleem) 8-6, Mazhar Ali 1; Master Prince 8-4, Deenar Mirwani 2; Finisher 8-13, Mohammad Zulfiqar 3;Wahab’s Choice 8-10, Babar Zaman 4. Won by 4 L, 2 L, Head. Time: one minute 3 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Khawaja Qamar Hameed. THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 1000M: Faizi Choice (Mohammad Ibrahim Butt) 8-12, Munir Hussain 1; Red Boy 9-0, Bilal Ahmed 2; Zaman Sahib 7-11, Javed Iqbal 3; Jonti Road 8-4, Mohammad Sajjad 4. Won by 1¼ L, 1½ L, 5 L. Time: one minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif. THE SUMMER CUP CLASS VII DIV V (MAIDENS) — 1,000M: Statue of Liberty (Khawaja Mohammad Atif) 8-10, Mohammad Hanif 1; Frulati Queen 8-6, Babar Rehman 2; Easy Go 7-12, Sunny Babu 3; Salam-e-Mohabbat 8-12, Munir Hussain 4th. Won by 1¼ L, 1½ L, 5 L. Time: one minute four seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif. THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 1,000M: Champion of Mind (Zain-ul-Abideen) 8-10, Tahir Abbas 1; Prince of Arab 8-4, Mohammad Zulfiqar 2; Jee Aya Nu 8-5, Munir Hussain 3; Chand Pari 7-12, Mohammad Hanif 4. Won by 2 L, 2 L, 4 L. Time: one minute 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Hussain. THE SARDAR ARIF RASHEED MEMORIAL CUP CLASS VII DIV I (CLASS VI DIV IV INCLUDED) — 1,100M: Al-Khalid (Malik Salman Khalid) 8-8, Tahir Abbas 1; Hassan’s Heights 8-0, Deenar Mirwani 2; Believe Me 8-2, Mohammad Hanif 3; Salam-e-Dera 8-10, Safdar Ali 4. Won by ¾ L, 2¼ L, 9 L. Time: one minute seven seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood. THE FAIR MAGIC PLATE CLASS VII – DIV II — 1,100M: Hash Tag (Mohammad Ahsan Irfan) 8-8, Aftab Chaudhry 1; Gondal Prince 8-8, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Amazing Runner 9-0, Tahir Abbas 3; Ask Me 7-12, Safdar Ali 4. Won by 2 L, ½ L, 1 L. Time: one minute seven seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2021
