LAHORE: Bay colt Paras Love won the Monsoon Cup during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting in balmy conditions amid drizzle here at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Half-an-hour before the start of the first race it started drizzling which continued till the end of the fifth and last race of the day.

Paras Love, the four-year-old country-bred colt, took a flying start under apprentice Haroon Gulzar and kept on well finally warding off the challenge from the 25-100 favourite filly Fall In Line by three-fourth of length at the finish line.

Bay colt Rana Gee came slithering away third, another seven lengths back in this second race of the day run over 900 metres.

In the supporting event, the Kaghan Plate Class VII Division I (Class VI included) contested over 1,000 metres, chestnut horse Surkhab put up a scintillating display of speed to land a memorable victory to make it two wins on the trot.

The winner piloted by seasoned jockey Aamir Pervez beat the on-rushing bay Silent Assassin by half-a-length. Bay Drums Of War led the field for nearly four furlongs to eventually finish third, two lengths further away.

Trainer Rashid Latif was accredited with a fine double when he sent out Surkhab in the fourth and Ammar Love in the fifth race to end the day in a blaze of glory.

The even-money favourite filly Ammar Love in a close encounter beat stable-mate Sehar.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2022