KARACHI, Jan 6: Filly Espada and bay horse Rytham, both hailing from the stables of owner Irfan Mehdi, swept the two cup races in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

In the one-to-one race, Espada stunned fancied colt Macho Man by a length to clinch The New Year Cup which was also the day’s feature event. Punter’s Dream was placed third seven-and-a-lengths away while Pathan completed the frame further beaten by neck in the race run over six furlongs.

In the earlier race, Espada’s stable-mate Rytham galloped to a three quarter-of-a-length victory over co-favourite Over Stepped to land the Rider Abdul Aziz II Memorial Cup. Aziz succumbed to fatal head injuries in hospital last year after falling from his mount during a race.

Asaniyan and Hot Black followed the two in same order among 11 contestants.

Both Espada and Rytham were sprinted to victory by Zaki Zakir and trained by M. Hanif At the outset, the first race was cancelled after being run for want of competition with the exception of first and second horses. Rider of Black Rose, A. Qayyum, was suspended for three months and slapped a fine of Rs20,000. Other riders, barring Waheed (The Contractor) and M. Amjad (Lava Man), were fined Rs500 apiece.

S. Khan guided favourite dark bay colt Boss to a fluent six lengths victory to win the next race.

Co-favourite Ghijju Baba and public fancy Wati Wati presented owners with winners in the other two races while outsider Dexterous beat Babu by a length-and-a-half to win the concluding race. Favourite Black Orchid had to be content with third place. Results: THE NEW YEAR PLATE FOR UNKNOWN HORSES 5 F: Boss (M. Hassan) 8-3 (cr8-8), S. Khan 1; Liza Love 8-4 (cr8-5), M. Naeem 2; Hit The Target 8-6, Mohammad Essa 3; Silk Master 8-3 (cr8-5), Arif Nazir 4. Won by 6 L, ½ L, 1½ L. Time: One minute 8 seconds. Winner trained by M. Mazhar. THE NEW YEAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 5 F: Ghijju Baba (Khizer Abbas) 9-0, Yousuf Ikram 1; La Di Da 8-1, Mohammad Essa 2; Eye Noor 8-5 (cr8-9), M. Yousuf 3; Capri 8-0 (cr8-5), M. Naeem 4. Won by 4½ L, 2½ L, ½ L. Time: One minute 8 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Aslam Khan. RIDER ABDUL AZIZ II MEMORIAL CUP CLASS VII DIV II AND III 5 F: Rytham (Irfan Mehdi) 8-1, Zaki Zakir 1; Over Stepped 9-1 (cr8-10), M. Naeem 2; Asaniyan 8-5, Ashiq Ali 3; Hot Black 8-6 (cr8-9), M. Yousuf 4. Won by ¾ L, 3½ L, 9 L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Hanif. THE NEW YEAR CUP CLASS V DIV I AND II 6 F: Espada (Irfan Mehdi) 7-4, Zaki Zakir 1; Macho Man 9-0, Muzaffar H 2; Punter’s Dream 7-9, Mohammad Essa 3; Pathan 8-9, M. Amjad 4. Won by 1 L, 7½ L, Neck. Time: One minute 14 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Hanif. THE NEW YEAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV 5 F: Wati Wati (Mohammad Ismail) 9-4, Pervez Ali 1; La Maafi 8-11 (cr8-6), M. Naeem 2; Amazing Power 8-5, Zaki Zakir 3; Eager Saint 8-5, Mohammad Essa 4. Won by 3 L, 2½ L, 6½ L. Time: One minute 5 1/5 seconds. THE NEW YEAR PLATE CLASS VII DIV I AND II 5 F: Dexterous (Kamal Afsar and Kamal Farooq) 8-10 (cr8-5), M. Naeem 1; Babu 9-4, Ashiq Ali 2; Black Orchid 8-13, Mohammad Essa 3; Lolly For Dolly 8-6, Waheed 4. Won by 1½ L, 4 L, Neck. Time: One minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.