LAHORE, Jan 31 Fancied bay colt Mountain Lion lived up to his name with half-a-length success in the Sialkot Cup run over 1,600 metres during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday.
The half-money favourite colt trained by Tauqir Ahmed, who had by far the best credentials in a weak-looking field, scored his fourth victory this season for owner Shahid Hussain.
Certainly, Tauqir need not have been worried as jockey M. Zeeshan elected to ride and led Mountain Lion in the straight from third position to first while defeating Blanchine, owned by Syed Sadruddin, by half a length. Filly Daud Princess finished third with bay colt, Millions In Mind fourth among six class IV runners.
However, for Mountain Lion, Blanchine was not an easy prey as she fought hard but lost stamina when the distance of the race came her way. This was the sixth race featuring a seven-event card of the day.
A race earlier, four-year-old roan colt Dear Creek came with a late rush of speed to collar front-running dark-bay filly Deedawar, and beat him by one-and-a-half lengths to win the Ravi Cup contested over 1,300 metres. Chestnut colt Al Shams finished third, one-and-a-half lengths further behind with High Jet flying low to fourth position. Nine ran for the event.
The winning colt is owned jointly by Javed Khalid and Sarmad Masood.
The victory of Dear Creek gave jockey Naseer Ahmed a good double when earlier he had brought in leading owner Sohrab Khan's filly Dream Memories in the second race.
Jockey Club of Pakistan (JCP) steward Munir Dar's owned filly Mirana Shaheen, beaten on her last outing, made amends winning the third race under an apprentice rider Qadeer Ahmed defeating a dozen runners.
Trained by Zahid Rashid, bay filly made short work of filly Little Princess by two lengths.
Three-year-old dark-bay colt Chapter One upheld his bloodline credentials with a fluent victory over his 15 senior opponents in the seventh and last race of the day. The colt was ridden by riding boy Hidayat Hussain.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards suspended riding boy Mazhar Ali for two month for his wilful mishandling of mare Sweet Lady in the opener. However, in the punters' opinion, the punishment was far less than the crime he committed.
Results
THE KASUR PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV 1,100M
Big Buck (Irshad Ahmed Ranjha) 7-6, Shafqat S. 1; Sweet Lady 9-4, Mazhar Ali 2; Umair Prince 8-4, Alam Sher 3; Laser Light 7-6, M. Zeeshan 4.
Won by 2 L, 5 ½ L, 5 ½ L. Time one minute 11 seconds. Winner trained by Chaudhry Mohammad Rafiq.
THE KASUR PLATE CLASS VI DIV II-B 1,100M
Dream Memories (Sohrab Khan) 8-10, Naseer Ahmed 1; Good Idea 9-2, S. Moin 2; Silent Assassin 7-12, Ghous Bakhsh 3; Victory Show 9-0, M. Zulfiqar 4.
Won by 3 L, 1 2/2 L, 9 L. Time one minute 10 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Shafiq Ahmed Khan.
THE KASUR PLATE CLASS VI DIV I-B 1,100M
Mirana Shaheen (Munir Ahmed Dar) 8-7, Qadeer Ahmed 1; Little Princess 8-9, M. Zulfiqar 2; Rough Tough 9-0, A. Wahab 3; Eve 8-13, Javed Iqbal 4.
Won by 2 L, ½ L, 5 L. Time one minute 10 seconds.
Winner trained by Zahid Rashid.
THE KASUR PLATE CLASS VI DIV I-A 1100M
Noor-ul-Ain (Gul Zareen Khan) 8-13, Aamir Pervez 1; Red Stone 9-0, Fahim K. 2; Shanshah-e-Bhakkar 8-13, M. Zeeshan 3; Good Wood 8-13, Naseer Ahmed 4.
Won by 1 ¼ L, 3 L, ¾ L. Time one minute 10 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.
THE RAVI CUP CLASS V DIV I & II 1,300M
Dear Creek 9-2 (Javed Khalid and Sarmad Masood) 9-2, Naseer Ahmed 1; Deedawar 9-1, Shahid Rehman 2; Al Shams 8-1, Mazhar Ali 3; High Jet 8-1, M. Hanif 4.
Won by 1 ½ L, 1 ½ L, 6 L. Time one minute 21 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Aleemuddin.
THE SIALKOT CUP CLASS IV DIV I, II & III 1,600M
Mountain Lion (Shahid Hussain) 8-4, M. Zeeshan 1; Blanchine 8-12, Fahim K. 2; Daud Princess 7-7, Naseer Ahmed 3; Millions In Mind 9-4, Ghulam Shabbir II 4.
Won by ½ L, 2 ½ L, 5 ¼ L. Time one minute 41 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Tauqir Ahmed.
THE RAVI PLATE CLASS V DIVISION II 1,300M
Chapter One (Mian Khan) 8-4, Hidayat Hussain 1; Gul-e-Rukh 8-12, Aamir Pervez 2. Fire Accord 8-12 Naseer Ahmad 3. Mahiya 8-10 Faisal Tahir 4.
Won by 5 L, Distance, Neck. Time one minute 20 seconds.
Winner trained by Babar Bhatti.
