KARACHI: A favourite and a co-favourite obliged punters as two outsiders lowered the colours of fancied horses in a four-race card of the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Four-year-old chestnut colt Andaaz, with rider Sohail Ahmed astride, overcame complacency to justify his credentials by beating fily Satisfy convincingly by five lengths. Victory has eluded the 80 to 100 favourite horse for the last four months though he has been finishing on the board.

It is pertinent to mention Andaaz had won two races in the beginning of the year and both under Sohail.

Trained by Abid Ali Jan, Andaaz’s success delighted punters who have suffered in the first two races of the day. Popular Prince was placed third beaten by three-and-a-half lengths while Snow Queen completed the frame finishing another three-and-a-half lengths away among 10 starters.

Unknown pedigree bay colt King Of Clifton edged co-favourite bay filly Rainbow by half-a-length to grab the fourth race which was also the feature event.

King Of Clifton had the honour of winning four races in-a-row in the first quarter of the year and this was his fifth win of the season.

Filly Rubai had to be content with third place beaten by distance while filly Stylish completed the frame further three-quarter-of-a-length away.

At the outset, unknown chestnut filly Loot Lo ended the pretensions of 20 to 100 favourite mare Sun Shine galloping to five lengths victory. My One and Ibn-e-Battuta followed the two in the same order.

Unknown bay horse Follow My Shadow followed suit upsetting 80 to 100 favourite colt King’s Hand by short head verdict in the next race. Fantastic Face and Jagga Jasoos finished third and fourth respectively.

Fantastic Boy was withdrawn before the race reducing the field to seven horses.

Meanwhile, the next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on Saturday (June 25).

Results:

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4½ F:

Loot Lo (Rana Babar Hussain) 7-11, Zaki Zakir 1; Sun Shine 7-10 (cr7-13), Sohail Ahmed 2; My One 8-0 (cr8-5), Pervez Ali 3; Ibn-e-Battuta 8-2, A. Ahmed 4.

Won by 5 L, 5½ L, 7 L. Time: One minute 1 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by S. Khan.

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER VI AND VII 4½ F:

Follow My Shadow (Zia-ur-Rehman) 7-6 (cr7-13), Sohail Ahmed 1; King’s Hand 8-12 (cr8-7), Mohammad Qais 2; Fantastic Game 9-0 (cr8-11), A. Ahmed 3; Jagga Jasoos 8-0, M. Sajjad 4.

Won by S. Head, 1 L, 5½ L. Time: 0.59 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER IV 4½ F:

Andaaz (Gul Mohammad Rajar) 8-12, Sohail Ahmed 1; Satisfy 7-13, Wasim 2; Popular Prince 8-1, A. Ahmed 3; Snow Queen 8-1, M. Sajjad 4.

Won by 5 L, 3½ L, 3½ L. Time: 0.59 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.

THE KING PLATE SCALE ORDER II AND III 4½ F:

King Of Clifton (Fakir Mohammad Jadam) 7-12 (cr8-0), M. Manzoor 1; Rainbow 8-10 (cr8-12), Zaki Zakir 2; Rubai 7-13 (cr8-0), Wasim 3; Stylish 9-0, Faisal Qamar 4.

Won by ½ L, distance, ¾ L. Time: 0.59 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2016