KARACHI: With a fabulous track record under his belt, favourite chestnut horse Whip’M obliged all and sundry after edging seven-year-old bay horse Ayaash by neck to add the Defence Day Cup to its tally in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

This is seventh victory on trot for Whip’M and the fifth cup triumph which has made him a hot contender for Horse of the Year award with three months to go.

The eventual champion clocked one minute 18 1/5 seconds for the six furlongs round bend race that also served as day’s feature event — scale order I, II, III and IV.

Whip’M’s earlier cup success includes the June Cup, the Eid Milan Cup, the Independence Day Cup and the Eid-ul-Azha Cup. Ace rider Mohammad Manzoor had partnered all the cup winners.

Poetry was placed third four lengths behind while Olympus completed the board further seven lengths away after the field was reduced to six following withdrawal of Street Smart and Winter.

The triumph also earned Manzoor a double after dark bay horse Big Boy Blue sent shock waves edging favourite Sarwan Rose by Head in the opening race to present its owner-cum-trainer Ghulam Shabbir II with maiden win.

A former champion rider turned trainer, Shabbir, has now joined the owner’s cadre after purchasing the Big Boy Blue. Mehak and Murad Queen occupied third and fourth places respectively on board.

Owner Irfan Mehdi, rider Wasim and trainer Yousuf S also celebrated the day with a brace following wins of Shining Arrow and Most Gifted.

Outsider Shining Arrow gets the better of favourite Black Smoke by three lengths while fancied filly Most Gifted won as she pleased by eight lengths over Dhannak.

Another favourite filly Cash Machine made amends of successive loss galloping to seven lengths victory over Raging Victory.

Shabbir also excelled as trainer with a commendable treble — Big Boy Blue, Cash Machine and Whip’M.

Meanwhile, the next Gym­khana race meeting will be held on Sept 29 after a three-week break for Muharram-ul-Haram.

Results:

THE DEFENCE DAY PLATE SCALE ORDER VII AND VIII 4 F:

Big Boy Blue (Ghulam Shabbir II) 8-10, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Sarwan Rose 9-0, Sohail Ahmed 2; Mehak 7-4, Mohammad Qais 3; Murad Queen 7-4, Ashiq Ali 4.

Won by Head, 5 L, 1½ L. Time: 0.54 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by owner.

THE DEFENCE DAY PLATE SCALE ORDER VI AND VII 4 F:

Shining Arrow (Irfan Mehdi) 8-10, Wasim 1; Black Smoke 8-7, Zaki Zakir 2; Believe Me 8-8, Mohammad Sajjad 3; Rainbow 9-0, Ashiq Ali 4.

Won by 3 L, 2½ L, 5 L. Time: 0.52 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE DEFENCE DAY PLATE SCALE ORDER VI 4½ F:

Cash Machine (Syed Ismail Shah) 8-7, Mohammad Sajjad 1; Raging Victory 9-0, Wasim 2; Dazzling Diva 8-6, Mohammad Manzoor 3; Duran Duran 8-8, Mohammad Qais 4.

Won by 7 L, 4 ½ L, 3 ½ L. Time: 0.59 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE DEFENCE DAY PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 4½ F:

Most Gifted (Irfan Mehdi) 7-13, Wasim 1; Dhannak 8-8, Mohammad Qais 2; Salam-e-Kaif 9-0, Pervez Ali 3; Sweet Victory 8-12, Mohammad Manzoor 4.

Won by 8 L, 2¼ L, 1½ L. Time: 0.57 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Yousuf S.

THE DEFENCE DAY CUP SCALE ORDER I, II, III AND IV ROUND BEND 6 F:

Whip’M (Yasmeen Azhar) 10-0, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Ayaash 8-6, Asad Aksir 2; Poetry 7-0 (cr7-5), Mohammad Sajjad 3; Olympus 10-6, Tariq Baran 4.

Won by Neck, 4 L, 7 L. Time: One minute 18 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2018