KARACHI, Nov 1 Two-year-old bay colt Lajawab made an impressive debut on Sunday when he stunned favourite filly Quality Road to land The Performance Cup in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse.

Running alongside eight opponents in the five furlongs race restricted for two-year-old colts and fillies, Lajawab justified his breed returning home by three-and-a-half lengths in a smart time of one minute 2 4/5 seconds to post maiden victory.

Another debutant colt Re-set finished third, beaten by distance, while Lajawab's stable mate Good Baba, who too made his debut, completed the frame.

The day was, however, revolved around champion jockey Mohammad Essa who shone in the saddle with a treble which included two cups in a seven-race card.

His next success came when he powered Lajawab's stable mate filly My Opinion to a fluent seven-length victory over filly The Tigress to claim Paigham-e-Aman Cup. My Opinion was installed favourite following withdrawal of colt Big City Man.

Golden Victory and Nitro followed the top two in same order.

Lajawab and My Opinion belonged to Rajar's and were partnered by trainer Sufi Mohammad Ayub.

Earlier, Essa presented Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara with a winner when he galloped four-year-old bay filly Dilruba to two lengths victory over Nyx in the third race.

Dilruba, who was performing below her form for quite sometime, was backed by connection and she proved her mettle.

Jockey Arshad piloted home three-year-old bay colt Hannibal to two lengths victory to lift The Winter Cup.

He beat Dark Secret for the honours to make it two on trot. Public fancy Baby John settled for fourth place.

At the outset, three-year-old favourite filly Blanchine justified her credentials when she edged filly After Glow by distance in the opener.

Three-year-old bay filly Bankable picked up spoils in the top division of class VII beating Lil Kimm hands down by nine-and-a-half lengths while Nazar-e-Karam beat co-favourite My Indy by three-and-a-half lengths to claim the concluding race.

The next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on Wednesday.

Results

THE ARTLESS PLATE CLASS V DIV II AND CLASS VI 6 F

Blanchine (Syed Sadruddin Shah) 7-10 (cr8-

4), Ghulam Shabbir II 1; After Glow 9-5, Tariq Baran 2; Blind Date 9-1, M. Manzoor 3; Bharosa 8-8, Sohail Ahmed 4.

Won by Dist, 8L, Dist. Time One minute 17 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Rafiq K.

THE WINTER CUP CLASS V

DIV I AND II 6 F

Hannibal (Faisal Farooq) 8-7, Arshad 1; Dark Secret 7-12 (cr8-2), Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Heart Lake 8-5, Tariq Baran 3; Baby John 8-8, Mohammad Essa 4.

Won by 2L, Head, Neck. Time One minute 20 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Naveed Baran.

THE KAGHAN PLATE DIV I

CLASS VI AND VII 5 F

Dilruba (Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara) 8-13, Mohammad Essa 1; Nyx 8-6, Zulfiqar Ali 2; Tyre Jee 9-1, Abdul Mutlib 3; Aitbaar 8-11, Fahim K 4.

Won by 2L, 1 1/2L, 1/2L. Time One minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE PERFORMANCE CUP - A TERM

RACE FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD COLTS

AND FILLIES - 5 F

Lajawab (Ghulam Dastagir Rajar) 8-0, Mohammad Essa 1; Quality Road 8-4, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; Re-Set 8-7, Tariq Baran 3; Good

Baba 8-7, Lateef 4.

Won by 3 1/2L, Dist, 8L. Time One minute 2 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sufi Mohammad Ayub.

THE AROMA PLATE DIV I

CLASS VII 5 F

Bankable (Syed Subuk Jawaid Shah)9-0 (cr8-7), Irfan Shawani 1; Lil Kimm 9-1, Arshad 2; Royal Loyalty 8-7, Naseem Ahmed 3; Haule Haule 8-1, Waseem 4.

Won by 9 1/2L, Dist, 11L. Time One minute 6 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.

PAIGHAM-E-AMAN CUP DIV II CLASS VII 5 ½ F

My Opinion (Haji Khuda Bux Rajar) 9-1, Mohammad Essa 1; The Tigress 9-0, Naseem Ahmed 2; Golden Victory 8-2, Tauheed Ali 3; Nitro 8-12 (cr8-5), A. Qayyum 4.

Won by 7L, 6L, 4L. Time One minute 12 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sufi Mohammad Ayub.

THE AROMA PLATE DIV III

CLASS VII 5 F

Nazar-e-Karam (Rehan Ahmed) 8-12 (cr8-7), Tahir Khan 1; My Indy 8-7 (cr8-2), Shahzad Gul 2; Morning Star 8-2, Pervez Ali 3; Swift Arrival 8-0, Irfan Shawani 4.

Won by 3 1/2L, 1/2L, 4L. Time One minute 8 seconds. Winner trained by Rafiq Ahmed.