LAHORE: Long shot bay horse Well Done Pakistan, who produced disappointing shows in his last three outings, sprang a major surprise on Sunday when it powered to victory in the Eid Cup of the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting here at the floodlit Racecourse.

Well Done Pakistan, trained by Abid Mahmood, scored the victory by half-a-length ahead of favourite filly Sand Storm who could not take advantage of the soft turf conditions as she constantly hung towards the rails making things difficult for her champion jockey Aftab Choudhry to thwart a late challenge by the eventual winner.

Neglected colt Mera Gondal finished third in this fourth contest of the five-race card.

Earlier in the opener, 30-to-100 favourite colt Pride Of Chandrai was disqualified after he won the race on an objection raised by Ashfaq Liaquat, the rider of second-placed bay gelding Danial Prince. According to Ashfaq, The winner had bumped into Danial Prince near the one-and-a-half furlong post which caused a significant drawback resulting in the latter losing the race by less than two lengths.

Upholding the objection, the administrators awarded the race to Danial Prince.

Chestnut horse Noman The Great smartly ridden by female rider Alishba Mohsin earned the runner-up spot less than a length behind.

The third race was won by bay gelding Sehar who was given a two-pound concession on the appeal of the owner for harshly penalizing in the handicap. He beat favourite colt Chhota Bravo by half-a-length in a dramatic finish when Chhota Bravo looked a certain winner just five odd metres before the finish line. That proved handicap figures played a decisive role in the horse’s performance.

In the concluding event, the Sawan Plate Class VII Division I and II combined handicap race, favourite colt Lucky Sona led from start to the last 50 metres but was overtaken by bay horse Salam-e-Dera who responded well to the urging of his rider Mubashar Bhatti to land a two lengths success.

Bay filly Queen’s Gambit finished third.

The punters had a lean day as none of the favourite horses won in spite of the fact that a couple of them looked well-placed in the handicap or classification but even those slithered pathetically; perhaps soft turf conditions did not suit them.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022