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LAHORE, Dec 13: Fancied bay colt Kiss Of Luck justified his favouritism when winning the feature event run over a sprinting distance of 1000m during the season's first midweek gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.
The colt from Irish sire Francisco Guardi out-of-Mohny, Kiss Of Luck ran spiritedly, from start to finish, to beat long chaser Richy Dancer by three-fourth of a length in a handy position. Jago and Tornado came rushing from behind to complete the frame in the same order.
This was the colt's second victory in a row. Owned and trained by Rashid Latif the winner was guided to victory by the riding boy, Atif Javaid.
The best performer of the day was three-year-old bay colt, Azzam, who won the second successive victory under jockey Shahid Rehman in the supporting and fourth race of the day.He beat Aaja Bulbul comfortably by over six lengths. Beautiful Baby and King Of Murad finished third and fourth.
A lesser light among the riders, apprentice Ali Raza gave a superb display of horsemanship, riding home two winners, Royal Palace and Wah Bhai Wah in the first and second race.
Yet another apprentice, Aslam Khokhar, registered his maiden victory partnering Babbu The Great in the third race. He was given a tremendous ovation by his colleagues when he returned to unsaddling enclosure for weighing-in.
Interestingly Babbu The Great runs in the colours of owner Khadim Masih and was ridden by his son an apprentice rider , who broke his duck on the riders performance table.
Two firm favourites obliged punters in a small card of five events gone through smoothly. Meanwhile, the owners and trainers have largely welcomed the reintroduction of twice a month mid-week gymkhana races.
They have appealed to the Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman to make mid-week racing a permanent feature. They said that over 450 horses are at present in Lahore and there would be no shortage of entries for the twice a week races.
Next Lahore Winter Meeting races will be held on Sunday.
Results:
KHUSHAB PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 900M:
Royal Palace (M.S. Butt) 7-8 Ali Raza 1, Cherry's Own 9-0 A. Imran 2, Kind Minister 9-0 Azhar Hussain 3 and Shah Rani 7-9 M. Zeeshan 4.
Won by 2 L, 1/2 L, short-head. Time 59 secs. Winner trained by S. Butt.
KHUSHAB PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 900M:
Wah Bhai Wah (Khalid Malik) 8-0 Ali Raza 1, Murad King 8-12 Azam Hussain 2, First Passion 8-6 Shahid Mustafa 3 and Stride By Stride 8-4 Sajjad Hussain 4.
Won by 2 L, 1 1/4 L, 3 1/2 L. Time 59 secs. Winner trained by Azhar Ali.
LODHRAN PLATE CLASS V DIV II-B 1000M:
Babbu The Great (Khadim Masih) 8-0 Azhar Hussain 1.Major Rana 8-10 Waseem Khan 2. Faryal 9-0 M. Zeeshan 3. Cheeta Aya 8-6 Ahmad Shah 4.
Won by 2 1/4 L, 7 L, 2 L. Time one min 6 secs. Winner trained by Mohammad Shafiq.
LODHRAN PLATE CLASS V DIV II-A 1000M:
Azzam (Asif Ali Khan) 8-10 Shahid Rehman 1, Aaja Bulbul 8-10 Aamir Parvaiz 2, Beautiful Baby 8-10 Abdur Rahim 3 and. King Of Okara 8-9 Salahuddin 4.
Won by 6 1/2 L, 3 1/2 L, 1/2 L. Time one min 5 1/5 secs. Winner trained by Abdur Rashid.
LODHRAN PLATE CLASS V DIV I 1000M:
Kiss Of Luck (Rashid Latif) 9-0 Atif Javed 1, Richy Dancer 8-11 Azhar Hussain 2, Jago 7-13 Ali Raza 3 and Tornado 7-8 M. Zeeshan 4.
Won by 3/4 L, 5 L, % L. Time one min 5 1/5 secs. Winner trained by the owner.
