LAHORE, Nov 2: Chestnut colt Velocity outclassed his rivals to land the Wazirabad Cup run over 1,300 metres during the 9th Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Ridden by Shahid Rehman, Velocity beat Punjabi by two and-a-half lengths with Lucky Cat and Sher-e-Gujrat completing the frame among the nine runners. Velocity and Punjabi were equally backed but the former proved superior over the distance.

Jockey Shahid Rehman gave a sparkling display of cent per cent riding, by bringing home five winners including a hat-trick of triumphs.

He partnered Royal Gesture, Soviet Song, Nishat Malook, Velocity and Hermatic in the first five races, a feat rarely performed by a rider.

The most outstanding performer of the day was the three-year-old filly Soviet Song, who won the second race to complete a hat-trick of victories for joint owners Fawad Cheema and Jawwad Shah.

Soviet Song beat Eve by one-and-a-half lengths with Iconic and Blitz completing the frame.

With Shahid Rehman in the saddle, the success of Soviet Song seemed very much on the cards as she struck the front about 300 metres to go and then she had the race going her way.

Five favourites won in a card of six events. The only shock of the day for punters came in the sixth and last race when a rank outsider chestnut horse Changer upset all calculations to win the event.

The favourite bay colt Amazing Boy ran second over a length behind. The gelding Suleman Love and Black King finished third and fourth, respectively.

Lahore Race Club (LRC) senior steward, Malik Hamid Ali Noon, took race fans by surprise when he saw the first race sitting on a plastic chair in the General Enclosure. He was greeted by the race goers present in the enclosure, besides a couple of owners and the trainers.

The race over Malik went to steward room upstairs.

Malik Noon seemed very happy over his success in the LRC steward election last Sunday polling highest number of 27 votes bracketing with Syed Pervez Hussain.

The LRC stewards were not satisfied with the handling of bay filly Lighting Muqeem by the riding boy M. Hussain in the first race. They suspended M. Hussain for six months and also fined him Rs10,000 for pulling his mount.

Results:

GUJJAR KHAN PLATE CLASS V

DIV II-B 1,200M:

Royal Gesture (Shafiq Ahmed Cheema) 8-11, Shahid Rehman 1; Phylogeny 8-0, Khalil Vicky 2; Rania 8-12, Naseer Ahmed 3; Lighting Muqeem 8-7, M. Hussain 4.

Won by 4 L, Neck, 4 L. Time one minute 16 seconds. Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.

GUJJAR KHAN PLATE CLASS V

DIV I 7 II 1,200M:

Soviet Song (Fawad Cheema and Jawwad Shah) 8-4, Shahid Rehman 1; Eve 8-13, Aamir Pervez 2; Iconic 8-1, Naseer Ahmed 3; Blitz 9-0, M. Hussain 4.

Won by 1 ½ L 2 L, 5 L. Time one minute 15 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Imran.

GUJJAR KHAN PLATE CLASS V

DIV II-A 1,200M:

Nishat Malook (Ghulam Sarwar Sahi) 9-0, Shahid Rehman 1; High Jet 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 2; Raksh-e-Raqeeban 8-12, Khalil Vicky 3; Little Princess 8-0, M. Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 1 ¾ L, 2 L, Distance. Time one minute 14 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Memraiz Khan.

WAZIRABAD CUP CLASS I & II 1,300M:

Velocity (Chaudhry Tahir Mahmood) 8-7, Shahid Rehman 1; Punjabi 7-0, Sajjad Hussain 2; Lucky Cat 8-5, Shakeel Mahmood 3; Sher-e-Gujrat 9-10, M. Wasim Khan 4.

Won by 2 ½ L, 8 L, 8 ½ L. Time one minute 19 seconds. Winner trained by A. B. Malik.

JHANG PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 1,100M:

Hermatic (Zaheer Aslam) 9-1, Shahid Rehman 1; Victory Bulbul 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Extravagant 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 3; Janian Jee 7-8, M. Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 1 ¾ L, 2 L, Neck. Time one minute 9 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.

JHANG PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,100M:

Changer (Faisal Maqbool Khan) 7-13, M. Zulfiqar 1; Amazing Boy 8-9, Atif Javed 2; Suleman Love 7-12, Pervez Bhatti 3; Black King 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 ¼ L, Head, 2 L. Time one minute 12 seconds. Winner trained by Nadeem Raza Khan.