LAHORE, Feb 7: Odds-on favourite bay horse, Hitler, underlined his bloodline potential with a victory in the third race during the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.
Ridden by apprentice Khalid Jan, the five-year-old son of Knight Rider out-of-Shine On, Hitler was the best performer of the day striding home on tight reins.
As the race began, Khalid Jan dropped the horse well early from the pace. Then he gradually moved forward, and presenting a sense of floating, he advanced to lead in the stretch and drew away from bay mare Lucky Coin by over five lengths.
Malang Aya and Leader's King completed the frame among six runners. The race was run on a slow pace and the winner clocked one minute 6 3/5 seconds over 1000metres.
Neglected bay horse, Puma The Great, won the feature and the last race over 1000metres under M. Hussain. He beat second favourite Charming King by about two lengths while the favourite, Intikhab, running ahead of the field for over 800metres lost stamina and finished third, another one-and-a-half lengths further away.
The most competitive and contesting event was the fourth and supporting event, won by favourite Daisy Against All, ridden by Saqib.
Daisy defeated Faryal by half a length, who nosed out Beautiful Baby to third place. Kind Minister ran fourth, half a length further behind.
All the four finished within one length distance.
Long shot bay horse, Have No Fear, dealt a severe blow to favourite backers when he won the opener defeating Tosca by a length.
The filly nosed out favourite Love Minister to third position.
Second, third and fourth races were won by favourites giving punters an edge over bookmakers. All races were gone over 1000metres.
Results:
BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION II 1000M:
Have No Fear (Abdul Latif) 8-10 Majid Ali 1, Tosca 7-8 Sajjad Hussain 2, Love Minister 8-6 A. Alam 3, Matelic 8-8 Zameer 4.
Won by 1 L, Neck, 2 3/4 L. Time one minute 6 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Chaudhry Mohammad Rafique.
BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION 1 & 11 1000M:
Prince Salman (Khalid Malik) 8-8 Majid Ali (II) 1, Tallal The Great 9-4 Waqas Sheikh 2, Dam Dama Dam 8-10 Parvaiz Bhatty 3, High Hope 9-4 M. Waseem Khan 4.
Won by 2 1/4 L, Head, 3/4 L. Time one minute 6 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Azhar Ali.
BHALWAL PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION I 1000M:
Hitler (Malik Bashir Ahmad) 9-0 Khalid Jan 1, Lucky Coin 8-10 Imran Pervaiz 2, Fearless Boy 8-6 Malang Aya 8-6 Shah Nawaz 3, Leader's King 9-0 Atif Javaid 4.
Won by 5 ½ L, 2 ½ L, 3 L. Time one minute 6 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Rashid Latif.
MIR PUR PLATE CLASS V DIVISION 11 1000M:
Daisy Against All (Syed Ali Raza) 9-0 Saqib 1, Faryal 8-1 M. Waseem 2, Beautiful Baby 8-8 Parvaiz Bhatty 3, Kind Minister 8-12 A. Alam 4.
Won by ½ L, Head, ½ L. Time one minute 6 seconds.
Winner trained by M. Abbas.
MIR PUR PLATE CLASS V DIVISION I 1000M:
Puma The Great (Tauheed Manzoor) 8-4 M. Hussain 1, Charming King 9-0 A. Alam 2, Intikhab 8-1 M. Waseem Khan 3, Babbu The Great 8-5 Khalid 4.
Won by 1 3/4 L, 1 ½ L, 3/4 L. Time one minute 5 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Sohail Aziz.