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LAHORE, Sept 25: Fancied bay colt Raj Ruks gave a splendid display of front-running by winning the feature event in a canter during the mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.
Backed at evens, the four-year-old Raj Ruks, who loves made the running and though Moment To Moment and Fifty Six Fifty Six threw down token challenges in the home straight, he stretched out in great style over the 1000 metres to record an effortless seven-and-a-half lengths victory. Bay mare Fiji made up the frame among 16 runners. Riding boy Mujahid Ali (II) rode the winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.
Rank outsider gelding Jonty Road caused a sensation by springing a big surprise in the fourth and supporting event. He beat fancied bay filly Native Force, who was poorly ridden by jockey Javed Iqbal to be beaten by half-a-length. Chestnut gelding Irslan finished third, three-fourth of a length behind while another gelding Sun Of Gold completed the frame, a length- and-a- quarter further behind. In all, 14 ran in this keenly contested event.
Odds-on favourite chestnut Star ‘N’ Stripes came storming from behind to outpace The Warrior by three-fourth of a length and win the third race. Sugar Dady and Love Land made up the frame among 11 runners.
Goshie The Great, the bay gelding, lived up to his status of short-odds favouritism to win the second race defeating Silver Baby by a length. King Panther and Delta Song finished third and fourth, among six runners.
In the opener the bay colt Gently rallied from last position and won the race by a head’s margin from front-running Rocket Fuel. At one stage Rocket Fuel was leading comfortably and looked a probable winner but weakened in the final stretch. Sun Dance, who led the field over 800 metres finally settled down to third position, three lengths further behind while Papa Jan ran fourth, another one-and-a-half lengths back among eight runners.
Trainer Raja Tehmasab Khan sent out two winners to claim the day’s honours. He saddled Star ‘N’ Stripes in the third race and wound up the day by sending out Raj Ruks in the feature and the last event of the afternoon.
Three favourites and a second favourite won in a small card of five events. All races were contested over the sprinting distance of 1000 Metres.
Following are the results:
BAHAWALPUR PLATE CLASS VII DIVI VIII 1000M:
Gently (Shahid Mahmood) 8-9 M. Jehangir 1. Rocket Fuel 9-0 A. Imran 2. Sun Dance 8-9 A. Rahim 3. Papa Jan 8-9 Shahid Mustafa 4.
Also ran: Tulip, Free Lancer, Big Star and Shoot To Kill.
Won by Head, 3 L, 1 1/2 L.
Time one minute 5 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Tanveer Aslam.
BAHAWLPUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV VIII (A) 1000M:
Goshie The Great (Basharat Ali) 8-13 Nadeem Ikram 1. Silver Baby 8-12 M. Jehangir 2. King Panther 9-0 M. Hussain 3. Delta Song 9-0 M. Atif 4.
Also ran: Sarafan and Shahzada Saleem.
Won by 1 L, 2 1/4 L, 1 3/4 L.
Time one minute 6 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.
BAHAWALPUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV VII 1000M:
Star ‘N’ Stripes (Sagheer Hussain) 8-11 Shahid Mustafa 1. The Warrior 8-10 A. Aziz 2. Sugar Dady 8-9 M. Nawaz (II) 3. Love Land 8-10 Zahid Ali 4.
Also ran: Super Land, Shaiman, Rocket, Lado Rani, Hot Press and Silver Sweet.
Won by 3/4 L, Head, 3 L.
Time one minute 6 seconds.
Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.
BAHAWLPUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV VI 1000M:
Jonty Road (Mohammad Iqbal Butt) 8-3 M. Zeeshan 1. Native Force 8-8 Javaid Iqbal 2. Irslan 8-8 A. Imran 3. Sun Of Gold 9-2 Faisal Tahir 4.
Also ran: Densee, Aao Payar Se, Blue Champion, Bacha Jamoora, Mohni Road, Cranbrook Boy, Much Pleasure, Beena Roy Baby, Boogie Woogie and Yarrow Braw.
Won by 1/ L, 3/4 L, 1 1/4 L.
Time one minute 5 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.
BAHAWALPUR PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 1000M:
Raj Ruks (Mushtaq Ahmad) 9-3 Mujahid Ali (II) 1. Moment To Moment 8-3 Shahid Rehman 2. Fifty Six Fifty Six 7-11 Shahid Mustafa 3. Fiji 8-9 Aamar Parvez 4.
Also ran: Flying Fin, Zuhair Choice, Burnish Prince, Royal Man, Burrat Again, Narala, Knock Out, Science Fiction, Las Pal Mas, Fly To The Stars, Bach View and Wall Street.
Won by 7 1/2 L, 1/2 L, 1 L.
Time one minute 3 1/5 Seconds.
Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.
