KARACHI: Rank outsider three-year-old bay colt Leading Star lowered the colours of favourite filly So What to land The Independence Day Cup in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Leading Star, who was running on the heels of Neem Tree and English Vinglish, kicked up after negotiating the bend and overtook the front runners to post an exciting six-length victory.

Filly Quicken Away was placed third beaten by half-a-length while English Vinglish completed the board five-and-a-half lengths further away among nine starters.

The triumph helped Leading Star to complete hat-trick.

Co-champion Rider of the Year Mohammad Essa powered the winning horse efficiently. Owned by Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz, the horse was trained by M. Sharif.

The owner and trainer celebrated the Independence Day with a double as Leading Star’s stable-mate filly Tiggy Wiggy obliged the punters while returning home by six lengths in an earlier race.

Tiggy Wiggy got the better of filly Something Royal with Lacoste and King Of Clifton occupying third and fourth places.

The 80 to 100 favourite mare Sunrise and colt Place Your Bets also presented their respective owners with winners in the opening two races.

The former prevailed over Loot Lo by two lengths while the latter defeated Blue Chip also by two lengths.

Another rank outsider four-year-old chestnut filly My Time edged public fancy mare Sunshine by short head verdict to c rate a stir in the last race.

New Hope and Hooram followed the two in same order.

Punters alleged they were cheated as Sunshine had won the race.

Speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani, who graced the occasion, awarded the Independence Day Cup to the winning owner and rider at a ceremony after the race.

Results:

THE AZADI PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII-UK 4½ F:

Sunrise (Irfan Mehdi) 8-6, M. Manzoor 1; Loot Lo 9-0 (cr8-9), Abdul Hakeem 2; Duran Duran 8-6, Zaki Zakir 3; Jugni G 8-12, M. Amjad 4.Won by 2 L, 3 L, 4 L. Time: 0.59 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.

THE AZADI PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND 5 F:

Place Your Bets (Nand Kumar Goklani) 9-0, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Blue Chip 9-0, Pervez Ali 2; King’s Hand 7-7, Zaki Zakir 3; Fantastic Game 8-10, M. Nasir 4.Won by 2 L, 3 L, 4½ L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE INDEPENDENCE DAY PLATE SCALE ORDER II, III AND IV 5 F:

Tiggy Wiggy (Zainab Ali Aariz Nawaz) 9-10, M. Nasir 1; Something Royal 7-8 (cr8-4), Abdul Hakeem 2; Lacoste 7-4, Mohammad Qais 3; King Of Clifton 8-8, M. Manzoor 4.Won by 6 L, Neck, 5 L. Time: One minute 3 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Sharif.

THE INDEPENDENCE DAY CUP – A HANDICAP RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD AND UPWARD HORSES – 6 F:

Leading Star (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 7-0 (cr7-13), Mohammad Essa 1; So What 7-0, M. Manzoor 2; Quicken Away 7-0, Sohail Ahmed 3; English Vinglish 7-0, Zaki Zakir 4.Won by 6 L, ½ L, 5½ L. Time: One minute 18 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Sharif.

THE AZADI PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 4½ F:

My Time (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-0, M. Sajjad 1; Sunshine 9-0, Sohail Ahmed 2; New Hope 7-6, Mohammad Qais 3; Hooram 9-0, M. Nasir 4.Won by S. Head, 1½ L, 1¼ L. Time: 0.59 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2016