KARACHI, Aug 26: With four wins under his belt, Macho Man stretched his unbeaten run with a fluent three-and-a-half lengths victory in The Independence Day Cup at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

The three-year-old dark bay colt, who was placed fifth after taking jump at the starting gate, made superb recovery and came in front midway through the seven-furlong race to post a convincing win over colt Easy To Walk. Co-favourite colt Medal Of Honour was placed third, three-quarter-of-a-length away while filly Rija completed the board among eight starters. Filly Jhalwan Low was scratched at the gate due to an injury.

The victorious horse from the stables of Kamal Farooq was trained by Salim Durrani and ridden by Zaki Zakir.

The Independence Day Cup triumph helped Zakir complete a back-to-back double as he had powered long shot Mr Khan to three-quarter-of-a-length victory over public fancy Phenominal in earlier race.

The rider of Phenominal, M. Yousuf, was suspended for two weeks and fined Rs20,000.

Favourite Guru Manter obliged all and sundry while annexing The Monsoon Cup by getting the better of Over Flow by a length-and-a-half in the sixth race with rider M. Sajjad astride.

Sajjad had also shone in the saddle as he earlier rode favourite bay horse World Class to a five-length win over Boss in the second race which helped him earn a double.

The KRC Chairman Cup ended in a blaze of glory for favourite filly Gallant Act who justified her credentials by registering six lengths victory over filly Poonam. She was given a perfect ride by seasoned rider M. Nasir who also came out with a brace his other winner being bay horse One Way II in the third who beat Racing Fire by four-and-a-half lengths.

Outsider Noor-e-Arab II claimed the opener with a one-a-half lengths victory over Bholla Bhala as favourite Naughty Boy finished fourth while favourite Daniyal Prince lived up to his billing landing the eighth and concluding race under Ghulam Shabbir II.

Chairman of State Life, Shahid Aziz Siddiqui, awarded The Independence Day Cup to winning owner Kamal Farooq. He also announced a donation of Rs0.5 million for the KRC.