LAHORE, Jan 3: Bay horse Naseeb, who ended the 2008 year in a blaze of glory by winning the Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup at Karachi Racecourse on Dec 25 became the highest ever money spinner in the country’s turf history.

Before being sold by Malik Hamid Ali Noon over two years back, Naseeb had already won prominence among the best turf stars, who had done enough for their owners’ bank balance.

Trained by Haji Fazal Hadi and sporting the colours of Noon, Naseeb had already won Rs1,875,000 during his racing career at Lahore from 2003 to 2005. He won nine races including the Pakistan Derby 2004 and the Derby Trials.

Later he was taken to Karachi where he won three races besides the Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup.

Naseeb’s erstwhile trainer, Haji Fazal Hadi, while talking to Dawn, said that during his 50-year racing association, as a rider and trainer, he had hardly found few horses as courageous as Naseeb. He is a superstar.

To name another horse to amass over two million rupees to boost his owner, Munir Dar’s coffers was the gelding Millennium Count. Being a gelding he was not entitled to take part in the Derby race.

There may be a couple of other horses, who have won nearly a dozen races in the past like the filly Montreaux owned by Syedah Abida Hussain (12964-65) and the colt Admiral’s Way, owned by Sohrab Khan but the stake-money on offer was not much during that period.

In the year just gone by, only two records were established. The power house colt, Desert Prince owned by Mirza Khurshid Baig set up a record in over 1,100 metres and the magic filly Brave Act flying Sohrab Khan’s colours in the 2,000 metres.—AG