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LAHORE, July 24: Five-year-old chestnut gelding Time Is Gold registered a brilliant hat trick by claiming the feature event of the Lahore Gymkhana races at Racecourse Wednesday.
The 40 to 100 favourite Time Is Gold was ridden confidently by riding boy Waqas Sheikh and trained by Mohammed Amin.
Time is Gold defeated bay gelding Flying Fin by one-and- a-half lengths. Pistol Pete finished third, another eight lengths away while Super Time completed the frame, further four lengths back clocking 51 1/5 seconds over the sprinting distance of 800 metres. He had earlier recorded two successive wins on June 27 and July 3.
The fancied bay colt Dhandhana, who was beaten in his previous outing, stormed home to win the fourth race easily by five lengths from Royal Man. Dhandhana was pulled by his rider Azam Hussain on July 17 and was thrown out of the race track by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards for six months. The colt’s performance on Wednesday justified the stewards’ action. Cherry’s Own and Subzero finished third and fourth in this fourth race of the afternoon.
In the third race the stewards changed two riders on suspicion of not being on try out. Jockey Majid Khan was brought in to ride Balal Star in place of Javed Iqbal and riding boy Mujahid Ali II replaced Waqas Sheikh on Muslim Badger. The change of riders, however, made no much difference. Balal Star finished third while Muslim Badger completed the board.
Only two favourites obliged in a card of five events. The first three races were won by long shots while the remaining two were bagged by favourites. The handling of favourite Flying Legs by an apprentice Vicky Gaman left much to be desired in the second race. The filly was beaten by Skipper by one and a half lengths. Had there been some good rider on Flying Legs, the filly might have won the race. The stewards did not change the rider of Flying Legs. All races were contested over 800 metres.
Following are the results:
SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS VII DIV VIII 800M:
Courtesan (Usman Ghani) 7-10 Nazir Ahmad 1. Science Fiction 8-9 Nadeem Ikram 2. Sugar Dady 7-10 A. Aziz 3. Pappa Jan 7-10 M. Nawaz (II) 4.
Also ran: Copper Fields, Goshie The Great, High Speed, Rocket Fuel, King Panther, Last Love, Red Bullet, Dun Hill and No Money No Honey.
Won by 2 1/2 L, 1 1/4 L, 2L.
Time 51 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mian M. Riaz.
SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS VII DIV VII (B) 800M:
Skipper (M. I. Bostan) 9-0 A. Imran 1. Flying Legs 7-10 Vicky Gaman 2. Blue Champion 8-0 Nadeem Ikram 3. Diva 8-7 Javed Iqbal 4.
Also Ran: Yasoob Princess, Royal Harban, and Majestic Prince.
Won by 1 3/4 L, 5 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L.
Time 50 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION VII (A) 800M:
Time To Lead (Nadir Ali Amin) 9-0 M. Zeeshan 1. Golden Voice 8-3 Shehzad Ahmad 2. Balal Star 8-12 Majid Khan 3. Muslim Badger 9-0 Mujahid Ali (II) 4.
Also ran: Final Count Down, Sky Man, Sweet Talk, Love Faisal and Top Gun.
Won by 6 1/2 L, 1/2 L, Distance.
Time 51 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by M. Shafiq.
SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS VII DIV VI 800M :
Dhandhana (Sajid Ali Cheema) 9-2 Royal Man 8-12 A. Aziz 2. Cherry”s Own 7-10 M. Zeeshan 3. Subzero 8-8 Mujahid Ali (II) 4.
Also ran: Madam Lorina, Chungez, Super Land, Sun Of Gold and Salman The Great.
Won by 5 L, 2 1/2 L, 3 1/4 L.
Time 50 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammed Hanif.
SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 800M:
Time Is Gold (Murtaza Ijaz) 8-7 Waqas Sheikh 1. Flying Fin 8-10 Mujahid Ali (II) 2. Pistol Pete 9-0 A. Imran 3. Super Time 7-10 Azhar Hussain 4.
Also ran: Decent Fellow, Nice Height, Power Plus, Prime Rose, Star ‘N’ Stripes and Dane Hill Dancer.
Won by 1 1/2 L, 8 L, 4 L.
Time 51 1/5 seconds.
Winner rained by Muhammad Amin.
