KARACHI: Fancied bay horse Follow My Shadow who was denied a hat-trick of victories by Fairy Tale last weekend, atoned for that loss by galloping to The KRC Cup glory in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Carrying 8-7 weight on his back, the victorious horse justified his billing while registering a two lengths victory over mare Princess H.K.M.

He was piloted home by rider Nazil Hussain who had earlier steered the same horse to victory on Jan 8.

Dark bay horse One Way II was placed third, another two lengths away while colt Fantastic Game completed the frame half-a-length behind.

The triumph helped owner Syeda Javeria Nadeem and trainer Ghulam Channa complete a double as Follow My Shadow’s stable-mate Choco Bar had obliged all and sundry in an earlier race.

This was Choco Bar’s first victory of the year as well as first under the new owner.

Ridden by rider Mohammad Nasir, Choco Bar coasted to four lengths victory over mare Sea Gold among five starters.Blue Fairy was finished third while Sonia Again settled fourth.

At the outset, favourite dark bay mare Galaxy made it two on trot while posting two lengths-and-a-half victory over The Great Arab to pick up the opener.

Following the heels of top two horses were Kalu Khan and Duran Duran in a field of six horses.

In the only upset of the day, outsider filly Swarovski lowered the colours of fancied Sher Khan sprinting to four-and-a-half lengths victory to win the fourth and the last race.

The connection backed filly Lady’s Secret in the betting ring but ditched the punters by going with her stable-mate Swarovski to upset the apple cart.

Almeer and Lovely Baby grabbed the third and fourth places respectively on board.

Rider Wasim (Loot Lo) was suspended under inquiry after the third race for allegedly pulling his horse.

Meanwhile, the next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on Saturday.

Results:

THE KRC PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4½ F:

Galaxy (Fida Hussain) 8-12 (cr8-9), Ghous Bux 1; The Great Arab 9-0, Mohammad Nasir 2; Kalu Khan 8-6, Wasim 3; Duran Duran 8-11, Zaki Zakir 4.Won by 2½ L, 1½ L, S. Head. Time: 0.59 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abid Ali Jan.

THE KRC PLATE SCALE ORDER VII 5 F:

Choco Bar (Syeda Javeria Nadeem) 8-11 (cr8-13), Mohammad Nasir 1; Sea Gold 7-12 (cr7-13), Wasim 2; Blue Fairy 8-7, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Sonia Again 9-0, Mohammad Sajjad 4.Won by 4 L, 2½ L, 2 L. Time: One minute 6 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.

THE KRC CUP SCALE ORDER III AND IV 5 F:

Follow My Shadow (Syeda Javeria Nadeem) 8-10 (cr8-7), Nazil Hussain 1; Princess H.K.M. 7-8 (cr7-13), Kashif Qamar 2; One Way II 9-0, Zaki Zakir 3; Fantastic Game 8-13, Mohammad Nasir 4.Won by 2 L, 2 L, ½ L. Time: One minute 4 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.

THE KRC PLATE SCALE ORDER V AND VI 5 F:

Swarovski (Syed Ismail Shah) 8-8, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Sher Khan 8-5 (cr8-7), Ghous Bux 2; Almeer 8-5, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Lovely Baby 8-0, Zaki Zakir 4.Won by 4½ L, 3 L, 4 L. Time: One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2017