KARACHI, Oct 13: Syed Sadruddin Shah’s prized three-year-old colt Raqeeb-i-Azam, sprinted to his fourth straight victory, humbling a strong field Sunday afternoon at the Winter Gymkhana Race Meeting, held at the Karachi Racecourse.

With Ghulam Shabbir II once again in the saddle, the winner coasted to victory, never presenting any jitters to the connections over the seven furlong engagement, while clocking one minute 33 seconds, in a start to finish bid, with plenty to spare.

When the race began, Raqeeb-i-Azam took the lead and was closely followed by Strategic and the thoroughbred chestnut colt Lippizzaner.

After a furlong, Strategic fell back as Royal Fantasy joined the fray. But approaching the bend Royal Fantasy went terribly wide while Paddock Fancy and Fly To The Sky, highly rated amongst the racing fraternity, moved into third and fourth positions respectively.

Raqeeb-i-Azam continued to move smoothly in the straight, but Lippizanner ran out of steam, paying the penalty for pacing with the winner and was soon overtaken by Paddock Fancy and Fly To The Sky, a furlong from the winning post.

Shahzad who rode Lippizanner was a picture of disappointment, but the young rider had his moments to cheer about, when he finished the afternoon’s programme with a brace of winners.

Rocket Fuel registering his second win on the trot, provided Shahzad with his first triumph in the third event, whilst lowering the colours of Sone Pari, Power Plus and the fancied Black Door Man.

Shahzad’s second success came in the fifth race, piloting Prince Of Arabia to a narrow win over Wonder Thunder.

Also sharing the honours with a brace of winners was trainer Iftikhar Ali, after Genuine Risk won the opener from Major Dandy and Welcome Shahtab sped to victory over six furlongs with the bay mare smartly ridden by Kashif Ali.

It may be mentioned that the Stewards replaced Yousuf Ikram with M. Amjad on Genuine Risk, after being informed that the rates on the bay filly began soaring sky high.

With a new rider now aboard, Genuine Risk registered a one length victory over Major Dandy trying runaway tactics.

Jockey M. Nisar shone once again in the saddle, when he rode Shining Steel to a popular win, with Superb Star, Silent Fire and Sweet Grandy finishing the race in that very order in the second event.

The chestnut gelding Mubashar Prince with Arshad on board, picked up the spoils in the fourth event, beating the fast approaching Reincarnated by half a length.

The next race meeting is scheduled for Sunday Oct 20.

Following were the results:

SEHAR PLATE CLASS IX DIV G-IV & V 5F