KARACHI, Nov 14: In a late burst while heading for home, three-year-old bay filly Espada beat favourite filly Dancing Rain by three lengths to land the feature event in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Wednesday.

The fifth and concluding race which was also feature event, class V div II and class VI and VII div I run over five furlongs, turned out to be a two-horse race with second favourite Espada making it three on trot with riding boy M. Naeem in the saddle.

Concept seized third place 12 lengths behind while Shan-e-Sindh completed the frame three-and-a-half lengths further away among 10 starters.

But the day revolved around ace rider Mohammad Essa who piloted home two winners for a commendable double in a five-race card. His first success came when he guided public fancy dark bay colt Spirit to a splendid six lengths victory over Mr Daniyal in the opener.

The horse from the Syed Ali Gohar Shah stables made amends for the successive loses.

He then partnered three-year-old chestnut filly Pretty Lady to a fluent 11 lengths victory over colt Famous in the fourth race to complete a double. This was Pretty Lady’s maiden triumph of the season.

In the two other races, bay horse World Class and mare Dexterous atoned for the losses. The former edged colt Punchi by two lengths while latter gets the better of mare Dexterous by three lengths.

Meanwhile, the next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on Dec 2.

Results: THE ZONG PLATE FOR UNKNOWN HORSES 5 F: Spirit (Syed Ali Gohar Shah) 8-11, Mohammad Essa 1; Mr Daniyal 9-1 (cr8-12), M. Sajjad 2; Amazing Power 8-0, M. Manzoor 3; Mere Hazoor 8-11, Pervez Ali 4. Won by 6 L, ¾ L, 1¼ L. Time: One minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Talib Hussain.

THE ZONG PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 5 F: World Class (Nasim Ahmed Channa) 9-0 (cr8-11), M. Sajjad 1; Punchi 8-4, Mohammad Essa 2; Sada Bahar 8-8, M. Amjad 3; Easy Match 8-12, Zaki Zakir 4. Won by 2 L, 2 L, ¾ L. Time: One minute 8 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Ahmed.

THE ZONG PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 5 F: Dexterous (Kamal Afsar and Kamal Farooq) 9-0, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Haseen Tareen 8-5, Waheed 2; Rytham 8-9 (cr8-5), M. Naeem 3; Koo Koo Love 8-3 (cr8-0), Shahzad Gul 4. Won by 3 L, S. Head, 7 L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.

THE ZONG PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 5 F: Pretty Lady (Abdul Rahim) 8-3, Mohammad Essa 1; Famous 9-0 (cr8-7), M. Naeem 2; Vizard 8-8, Ghulam Shabbir II 3; Sugar Baby 8-8, M. Amjad 4. Won by 11 L, 1½ L, 7 L. Time: One minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Rafiq K.

THE ZONG PLATE CLASS V DIV II AND CLASS VI AND VII DIV I 5 F: Espada (Irfan Mehdi) 7-6, M. Naeem 1; Dancing Rain 8-12, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Concept 7-4 (cr7-6), M. Sajjad 3; Shan-e-Sindh 8-10, Zubair Ahmed 4. Won by 3 L, 12 L, 3½ L. Time: One minute 1 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Hanif.