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LAHORE: Horse-racing in Lahore, the second biggest centre of equine sports in the country after Karachi, edged towards improvement in qualitative breeding and sports standard in 2011.
The three and four-year-old thoroughbreds fully justified themselves as a vintage crop by their performance with spectacular display of speed, stamina and endurance while jostling for supremacy.
They not only provided thrilling spectacle to race-goers and their money’s worth but also became a source of great encouragement to their owners and breeders.
During the year under review the country’s bloodstock has made tremendous progress in spite of the industry being surrounded by a climate of recession leaving breeders in acute depression struggling for survival.
Undoubtedly racing had been established as an industry and a source to provide earning for the families of thousands of people employed in stud-farms, race clubs and stables and those engaged in the provision of services, feed, veterinary care and allied works. But alarming price-hike has taken its toll forcing stud owners to curtail their strength of sires and dams to the minimum level.
The recession in the horse-breeding industry has resulted in a boom for the induction of a large number of unknown pedigree horses in racing.
On each day’s race card the number of unknown pedigree horses is larger than the number of thoroughbreds because the steep price-hike has left the thoroughbred breeders under severe economic crunch. The race club is no exception.
As a result, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) was forced to discontinue twice a week racing schedule and substitute it with once a week race day.
The year 2011 has been remarkable for the return to limelight of owner Syed Ismail Shah as a leading classics’ owner, M. Rafiq K as trainer and Ghulam Shabbir as a jockey during the Karachi trio’s short stint in Lahore.
The first blood in the bog classics of the year under review went to Syed Ismail Shah when his filly Quality Road underlined her breeding credentials to get home by a big margin of over eight lengths in the 1000 Guineas Of Pakistan, run over 1,600 metres.Quality Road later won the Pakistan Derby Trials 2011 over 2,000 metres.
She set a new turf record of fastest timing over two decades when the diamond filly won the Pakistan Derby 2011 in March, defeating the colt, Sarbuland by a big margin of seven lengths. Sarbuland proved no match for the classic filly.
The triumphs of Quality Road underlined an important aspects of the winner in which the Pagaros ensured the strongest possible representation in the classic events.
Apart from meeting enormous success during the year in lower strata, the glory of triple classic success was a unique distinction which brought Ismail Shah on the top of Lahore owners.
This was the fifth triumph of the Pagaro family in the Pakistan Derby, a rare feat yet to be achieved by any racing family.
Leghari family is the second with four Derby triumphs but this family has since long bade goodbye to racing.
Quality Road’s success highlights the supremacy of Replay as a classic progenitor whose daughter Brave Act had a matching triumph in the triple crown in 2008.
As result of the spectacular performance, both Brave Act and Quality Road can rightly claim the honour of best horses of 2008 and 2011, respectively.
Another good progenitor was Assassin, whose sons have taken the race-goers by surprise in short distance races but are yet to establish their bloodline worth over long distance.
Sadly enough the spectre of bogus pedigree of horses raised its head once again and those involved in the fraudulent registration of such horses were handed down exemplary punishments.
In one such case, an owner, Shabbir Ahmad in connivance with the leading trainer, Rashid Latif, fraudulently got registered an imported English mare as an unknown pedigree mare.
The LRC blacklisted the owner and withdrew the licence of trainer Rashid Latif.
It also threw out of the club for good, jockey M. Waseem Khan for his involvement in act tarnishing the genteel image of the sport.
Riding boy Riaz Hussain was also given a heavy dose of six months’ suspension along with a fine of Rs10,000 on the same offence.
Among the trainers, Haji Abid Mahmood enhanced his reputation as a trainer of classic horses. In a short span of five years as professional his trained filly Lady Narnia won the Pakistan Derby in 2010 while his two colts won the second spot in Derby.
He, however, has made clear that his talents are not, of course, confined to handling long-distance runners but he can train sprinters as well.
Shahid Rehman maintains his position as the top jockey during the year 2011 as well.
Midway through the year, Munir Dar, a steward of the Jockey Club Of Pakistan (JCP), a breeder, a race-horse-owner and a former captain of the national hockey team died aged 76. His gelding Millennium Count held the record of the fastest timing over 1,400 metres amassing Rs2.1 million in stake money.
LRC chairman Tariq Aziz revealed to Dawn recently that he has planned to hire a foreign veterinarian to train club’s vets.
For this, he had asked steward Syed Pervez Hussain, who is an owner-cum-breeder and runs horses at the Hong Kong Race Club, to hire a vet from Hong Kong or some other country to visit Lahore and impart necessary training to the vets.
