KARACHI: In his maiden appearance at the course, unfancied chestnut colt Thunder Star sprang the biggest surprise in winning the Eid-ul-Azha Cup at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

The thoroughbred horse, who is stablemate of celebrated Thunder King, defeated colt Torrent by seven lengths to present owner Athar Abbas with the cup that unfortunately could not take place last year due to lockdown owing to a Covid-19 pandemic.

Displaying awesome endurance and speed apart from tactful handling by rider Adnan Khan, Thunder Star emerged in front in home stretch to post an exciting victory in the six furlongs round bend race. He clocked one minute 16 2/5 seconds.

The victorious horse was sent by trainer Nazir.

Filly Amazing Lips, who was co-favourite with Torrent, grabbed third place beaten by two-and-a-half lengths while Wonderful Smile completed the frame finishing off another three-and-a-half lengths behind.

It was an upset galore as rank outsiders swept the four-race card to the dismay of racegoers.

Making amends of her last defeat, Mehbooba romped home by a length-and-a-quarter over her fellow mare Faster to clinch the earlier race as public fancy Recovery was not on job and occupied third place. He was followed by Starka.

At the outset, mare Star Queen running on the heels of fancied bay horse Awaz-e-Sehar overtook him after negotiating the bend to post length-and-a-quarter victory in the opening race.

Similarly, long shot bay horse The Finisher led the field from the front and galloped home by a length-and-a-half over favourite Dictator to win the second race.

Pair of riders Waheed Baran (Star Queen and Mehbooba) and Adnan Khan (The Finisher and Thunder Star) shared day’s riding honours with a brace of winners apiece.

Quartet of horses — Albania, Soldier Girl, Easy Paisa and Ghaiyyath — could not make it due to scratching. The first two horses were scratched in morning declaration while the other two were scratched at the starting gate.

Results:

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII — 4 F:

Star Queen (Mohammad Shakeel) 8-4, Waheed Baran 1; Awaz-e-Sehar 9-1, Zohaib Qamar 2; Usman Chandiwala 7-12, Mohammad Qais 3; Shabnam 9-5, Mohammad Sajjad 4.

Won by 1¼ L, 1¼ L, 2½ L. Time: 0.54 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER VII — 4 F:

The Finisher (Amjad Ali) 8-8, Adnan Khan 1; Dictator 9-0, Waheed Baran 2; Meri Chahat 8-3, Mohammad Asim 3; Punjabi Munda 8-9, Zohaib Qamar 4.

Won by 1½ L, ¾ L, 2 L. Time: 0.52 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE EID-UL-AZHA PLATE SCALE ORDER V & VI — 4 F:

Mehbooba (P. K. Ahuja) 7-10 Waheed Baran 1, Faster 8-5 Riaz Ahmed 2, Recovery 8-13, Mohammad Qais 3; Starka 9-4 (cr8-11), Mohammad Asim 4.

Won by 1¼ L, 2½ L, Neck. Time: 0.52 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.

THE EID-UL-AZHA CUP SCALE ORDER I, II, III & IV ROUND BEND — 6 F:

Thunder Star (Athar Abbas) 7-2, Adnan Khan 1; Torrent 8-12, Safdar Hussain 2; Amazing Lips 9-1, Waheed Baran 3; Wonderful Smile 7-2, Kashif Arshad 4.

Won by 7 L, 2½ L, 3½ L. Time: One minute 16 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Nazir.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2021