KARACHI: Favourite three-year-old bay filly First Night obliged all and sundry by emerging first ahead of 11 contenders to land the feature event in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

The victorious filly led the scale order II, III and IV combined race run over five furlongs to post her second win of the year. Ridden by seasoned rider Mohammad Essa, she beat second best filly Sensational by eight lengths and a half.

Filly Happy Lady settled third six lengths behind while mare Dream Girl completed the board further beaten by distance.

First Night’s triumph in the fourth and concluding race brought smiles on the faces of punters in the betting ring as the pair of favourites bit the dust in earlier race.

The punters mood had become sour after rank outsider filly Urban Lady with no form worth edged bay horse Lucky Lyna by neck to open her account. Even-money favourite Janisar and 80 to 100 fancied horse Money Penny had to be content third and fourth, respectively.

At the outset, rider Pervaiz Ali galloped colt Karobar to a facile six lengths victory over co-favourite colt Star Gold to claim the opener.

Popular Boy and Super Honey followed the top two in the same order on board.

Similarly, mare Meri Sahiba overcomes co-favourite filly Khazana by five lengths and-a-half to make it two on the trot among six starters. Pampas Grass finished third beaten by nine lengths while Eager Saint completed the frame finishing further half length away.

Meri Sahiba was given a perfect ride by rider Essa who completed a splendid double by powering First Night to triumph in the fourth race.

Both Sensational and First Night were partnered by trainer Sher Mohammad.

Results:

THE SAHIBA PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII-UK 5 F:

Karobar (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-5 Pervaiz Ali 1, Star Gold 9-1(cr8-10) Abdul Hakeem 2, Popular Boy 7-10(cr8-1) Waseem 3, Super Honey 8-5 M. Sajjad 4.

Won by 6 L, 5 ½ L, 2 ¾ L. Time: One minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE SAHIBA PLATE SCALE ORDER VI AND VII 5 F:

Meri Sahiba (Mr. Tariq Aziz) 8-3 Mohammad Essa 1, Khazana 8-8 Pervaiz Ali 2, Pampas Grass 7-5(cr8-6) M. Arif 3, Eager Saint 8-4(cr8-6) Nazil Hussain 4.

Won by 5 ½ L, 9 L, ½ L. Time: One minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE SAHIBA PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 5 F:

Urban Lady (Mr. Ali Faisal Farooq) 8-11(cr8-6) Abdul Hakeem 1,Lucky Lyna 7-10 A. Qayyum 2, Janisar 8-11 Sohail Ahmed 3,Money Penny 8-12 Yousuf Ikram 4.

Won by Neck, ¾ L, 1 ½ L. Time: One minute 7 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali.

4. THE SAHIBA PLATE SCALE ORDER II, III AND IV 5 F:

First Night (Mr. Zaid Rahim) 7-0 Mohammad Essa 1, Sensational 8-4 Zaki Zakir 2, Happy Lady 8-4 A. Qayyum 3, Dream Girl 9-3 Abdul Hakeem 4.

Won by 8 ½ L, 6 L, Distance. Time: One minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd , 2014