LAHORE, Sept 7: Fancied roan gelding Zanjeer lived up to his star billing by winning the Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed Cup during the first Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The meeting was held to pay tribute to six national war heroes and recipients of the highest military award, the Nishan-i-Haider, in connection with Pakistan’s Defence Day. A large number of sports fans watched the events contested by a cream of thoroughbreds.

Owned by Khawaja M. Arif and trained by Abdul Rasheed, Zanjeer was piloted by jockey Shahid Rehman to beat bay colt Desert Prince by over three lengths to win the top honours of the day. The colt Chan and the filly Chill completed the board among seven runners.

The Mian Maahir Ahmad/Mahmood Khan’s jointly-owned bay filly Tinker Bell, also trained by Abdul Rasheed, put up a smashing performance in order to win the season’s first cup named after Major Tufail Mohammad Shaheed. The daughter of Bedouin Invader out-of-Nagan, Tinker Bell was off to a flying start, providing jockey Shahid Rehman an easy sail, to lead from start to finish, leaving Smore Choice behind by over five lengths.

However, the best performer of the day was the chestnut colt Velocity, who easily landed the Major Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Cup. He beat by a margin of eight lengths bay colt Cut Throat, who disappointed his connections by putting on a poor show.

The biggest upset of the day, however, came through an outsider roan colt Emperor, who sped past the front running Majestic Desert to win the Major Mohammad Akram Shaheed Cup.

Meanwhile, the handling of Majestic Desert by the jockey Aamir Parvaiz left much to be desired. It looked as if he was sure of his winning and held the bay filly strongly unmindful of his being defeated by the flying Emperor. It is interested to note that Aamir, after having undergone long suspensions previously, had only recently been allowed to ride in the races.

Three-year-old bay filly Shakalaka, outpaced her 11 rivals to bag the Capt Mohammad Sarwar Cup. The filly owned by Syed Tasweer Hussain beat the favourite Princess Ginza, who took a slow start under jockey Shahid Rehman.

The unknown mare Geo Super caused a big stir by winning the Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed Cup. She beat Harry Can Win by a length. The favourite bay filly Chimera, ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman, finished third.

Trainer Abdul Rasheed and Jockey Shahid Rehman brought home three winners each.

Results:

MAJOR TUFAIL MOHAMMAD SHAHEED CUP

CLASS VI DIV II 800M:

Tinker Bell ( Mian Maahir Ahmad/Mahmood Khan) 9-2

Shahid Rehman 1; Smore Choice 9-0 M. Jamil 2; Cleopatra 9-0 Atif Javaid 3 and Victory King 8-8 Aamir Parvaiz 4.

Won by 5 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L, 4 L. Time 50 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rashid.

PILOT OFFICER RASHID MINHAS SHAHEED CUP CLASS VI DIV I 1,000M:

Geo Super (Khawaja Asif Hassan) 8-1 Aamir Parvaiz 1; Harry Can Run 8-13 Naseer Ahmad 2; Chimera 8-6 Shahid Rehman 3 and Soviet Song 8-1 Fareed Ali 4.

Won by 1 L, 3 L, 3 L. Time one minute 3 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

CAPT MOHAMMAD SARWAR SHAHEED CUP

CLASS V DIV II 1,000M:

Shakalaka (Syed Tasweer Hussain) 7-12 M. Zeeshan 1; Princess Ginza 8-12 Shahid Rehman 2; Nishat Malook 8-9 M. Hanif 3 and Victory Hero 8-2 Aamir Parvaiz 4.

Won by 2 1/2 L, 3 L, 2 L. Time one minute 3 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

MAJOR MOHAMMAD AKRAM SHAHEED CUP

CLASS V DIV I 1,000M:

Emperor (Sheikh Qamar Ehsanullah) 8-0 M. Jamil 1; Majestic Desert 8-4 Aamir Parvaiz 2; War Admiral 8-0 Naseer Ahmad 3 and Chinkara 8-12 Khalil Vicky 4.

Won by 1 1/4 L, 6 L, 9 L. Time one minute 4 seconds.

Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

MAJOR SHABBIR SHARIF SHAHEED CUP

CLASS IV DIV I 1,200M:

Zanjeer (Khawaja M. Arif) 8-10 Shahid Rehman 1; Desert Prince 8-8 Javed Iqbal 2; Chan 9-4 M. Zeeshan 3 and Chill 8-0 Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by 3 1/4 L, 4 L, Distance. Time one minute 15 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

MAJOR AZIZ BHATTI SHAHEED CUP

CLASS IV DIV I & II 1,200M:

Velocity (Haji Choudhry Tahir Mahmood) 8-6 Shahid Rehman 1; Cut Throat 7-10 M. Zeeshan 2; Lucky Cat 8-8 Shakeel Mahmood 3 and Tuba First 8-10 M. Hanif 4.

Won by 8 L, 5 L, 5 L. Time one minute 14 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by A. B. Malik.