LAHORE: Odds-on favourite filly Hash Tag justified her fine breeding credentials while powering to victory in the Farewell Cup, a Class VI Division II, III and IV combined handicap event, during the day/night Lahore Races here at the Racecourse on Sunday evening.

Contrary to her last Sunday race in which the filly put up a very poor show edging the frame in almost the same company, Hash Tag in spite of carrying nine stone five pound weight on her back flew away into lead right from the start and kept leading to finally beat chestnut filly Wild Coast by four lengths, who nosed out filly Elektra to third place with the filly Brave Eagle fourth in an all-female affair.

The winner, trained by Tauqeer Ahmad and piloted by jockey Bilal Ahmad, clocked one minute 5 4/5 seconds over the 1,100-metre race.

Victorious owner Mohammad Ahsan Irfan received the cup from Lahore Race Club (LRC) member Umar Khan.

Earlier dark-bay colt Fazeel Prince avenged his defeat last Sunday by winning the June Cup run over 900 metres.

Ridden by Hassan Toor and trained by Abdul Rasheed, Fazeel Prince made a perfect move in the last 200 metres that saw him win the race. Mera Darwaish finished second while Merchant Of Venus came third.

Syed Qasim Raza, the winning owner, received the cup from former LRC steward Saqibullah Khan.

Chestnut colt Gun Metal who raced on Sunday after a ten-month break, scored his second success over his five well-pedigreed rivals, who failed to match his fast pace covering the 1,000-metre distance in 58 4/5 seconds.

Sand Storm, Muqadas and Codes Cracker completed the frame, respectively.

Persistent heatwave in the city coupled with prolonged electricity load-shedding kept the number of running horses to just 35 in the five-race card.

Published in Dawn,June 7th, 2022