LAHORE, Nov 30: Three-year-old colt Vendetta galloped to brilliant success by a narrow margin in the prestigious Khalid Bin Waleed cup, run over 1,300 metres during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Owned by Syed Tasweer Hussain and trained by Sohail Aziz the chestnut colt was given a perfect ride by jockey Naseer Ahmed.

This was the second cup victory for leading trainer Sohail Aziz in the day when his other trained colt Punjabi won the Multan Cup, the supporting event of the day, earlier in the fifth race.

At 2-to-1 Vendetta was a second favourite in the betting ring. He took up the running in the straight and then kept on the advantage, defeating the long chaser, the favourite Rustam by three-fourths of a length. The roan filly Nishat Malook and Victory Hero completed the frame among the seven runners. This was the sixth race of the day.

A race earlier, the fancied bay colt Punjabi landed the Multan Cup, run over 1,200 metres, unchallenged.

The winner owned by Syed Pervez Hussain and trained by Sohail Aziz was ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman. The second place went to another colt from the same stable, Dubai Fan, who finishing four and a half lengths behind after nosing out bay filly Great Memories to the third position.

Four-year-old filly Dream Memories, owned by Mirza Khurshid Baig, was poorly handled by rider Munir Ahmed, who at one stage looked like a sure second. It was an eye-opener for owners who engage weak riders.

Lucky Cat completed the board in the six runners left in after the last-minute withdrawal of Lucky Winner and Soviet Song. The withdrawal deprived race fans of a much-awaited battle between Punjabi and Soviet Song.

Leading rider Naseer Ahmed kept his march on the top of the riders’ statistics table riding home three winners. He rode Miss Brave Heart, Renaushky and Vendetta in the first, third and the sixth races, respectively.

Jockey Shahid Rehman, who is closely following Naseer, brought a brace of winners through Punjabi and Philogyny.

The biggest disappointment of the day for the punters was Rustam, who failed to live up to his star billing when beaten by Vendetta in the sixth race.

Ridden by Shahid Rehman, Rustam fell to fourth position in the early part of the race and failed to make up for lost ground to be beaten by three-fourths of a length at the finishing post.

Trainer Mohammad Afzal and Abdul Rasheed sent out two winners each. Afzal’s winners were Victory Sargent and North Star in the second and fourth race while Rasheed Saddled Renaushky and Philogyny.

Results:

KASUR PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,200M:

Miss Brave Heart (Rana Mohammad Arshad) 9-0, Naseer Ahmed 1; Victory King 8-8, Alam Sher 2; Murad The Great 7-4, Sajjad Hussain 3; Kamla 8-10, Munir Ahmed 4.

Won by 6 ½ L, short-head, 3 ½ L. Time one minute 17 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by the owner.

KASUR PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,200M:

Victory Sargent (Arif Mahmood Butt) 9-0, Aamir Pervez 1; Sun Ray 9-4, Fareed Ali 2; Changer 8-5, M. Zulfiqar 3; Geo Bhakkar 8-1, Ali Raza 4.

Won by 7 L, 2 ½ L, Neck. Time one minute 16 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

KASUR PLATE CLASS VI

DIV I 1,200M:

Renaushky (Nawazish Ali Khan) 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 1; Big Bird 9-4, Fareed Ali 2; Sun City 8-2, Alam Sher 3; Mikkado 9-0, Aamir Pervez 4.

Won by 5 L, Neck, Neck. Time one minute 16 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

KHUSHAB PLATE (FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD THOROUGHBREDS) 1,000M:

North Star (Mian Mohammad Farrukh) 8-8, M. Zulfiqar 1; Maximus 8-8, Aamir Pervez 2; Whisper 8-8, Shahid Rehman 3; Sultan 8-8, Naseer Ahmed 4.

Won by 3 ¼ L, ½ L, Distance. Time one minute 1 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

MULTAN CUP CLASS IV

DIV II & III 1,300M:

Punjabi (Syed Pervez Hussain) 9-1, Shahid Rehman 1; Dubai Fan 7-8, Naseer Ahmed 2; Great Memories 7-12, Munir Ahmed 3; Lucky Cat 9-6, Shakeel Mahmood 4.

Won by 4 ½ L, Neck, 3 L. Time one minute 14 3/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

KHALID BIN WALEED CUP CLASS V DIV I 1,300M:

Vendetta (Syed Tasweer Hussain) 7-12, Naseer Ahmed 1; Rustam 8-11, Shahid Rehman 2; Nishat Malook 9-4, Azhar Hussain 3; Victory Hero 7-8, Alam Sher 4.

Won by ¾ L, 2 ½ L, 3 L. Time one minute 22 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.

KHALID BIN WALEED PLATE

CLASS V DIV II 1,300M:

Philogyny (Syed Pervez Hussain) 8-2, Naseer Ahmed 1; High Jet 8-12, Aamir Pervez 2; Lighting Muqeem 7-8, Sajjad Hussain 3; Reborn 8-12, M. Atif 4.

Won by 3 ½ L, 1 ¾ L, 6 ½ L. Time one minute 21 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.