LAHORE, June 5: Fancied bay gelding Tallal The Great, ridden by Tariq Habib, landed the feature event run over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres during the day/night mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday night.
The even money favourite Tallal The Great led all the way home to beat chestnut filly Sona by over two lengths. The second favourite grey horse, Great Khan proved great only on papers to finish third, a distance behind the winner.
Only six ran for the class VI division II handicap race, the sixth and last of the card after the withdrawal of Love Minister, Batista and Mikado.
Tallal The Great set a very fast pace right from the start and never let his rivals settle down and pace up to his leaping strides and they came staggering far behind.
A race earlier, the long shot dark-bay colt Mah-e-Noor, swept past the front-runners in the final 100 metres to win the supporting event contested over 1,000 metres. He beat the bay mare, Loashay by one-and-a-half lengths. The winner was piloted by the riding boy Khalid and trained by Mohammad Ramzan. Bird Fly and Red Baron completed the frame. Bay gelding High Quality, who started as a favourite, ran off the frame.
Munir Ahmad Dar’s bay gelding Smiling Assassin proved too good to win the fourth race dominating a field of thirteen opponent, who included nearly half-a-dozen sprinters.
The gelding beat bay colt Cash price by about two lengths. Mere Lal and Porsche tied up in a dead-heat for the third place.
Earlier the Lahore Race Club (LRC) steward changed the rider of Smiling Assassin replacing M. Jahangir with Shakeel Mahmood, and that facilitated rank outsider gelding’s win bringing smiles to former Pakistan hockey captain and his comrades only. Earlier Dar’s filly, Silent Assassin was clumsily ridden by M. Jahangir to finish fourth in the third race. The third race was, however, won by bay horse, Barray Lal trained by Abid Mahmood. This which was Lal’s maiden victory in a career spanning over a year. Chestnut filly, Bubbly, owned by Shahzada Salman Jawad, a newly inducted owner, led the field but lost stamina when challenged by Barray Lal in the final stretch. Leader’s Wing and Silent Assassin completed the frame among 15 runners.
The bay horse, Sohna Murad, at last made amends for his two consecutive defeats when he won the opener defeating Anarkali by two lengths, who was very badly handled by M. Akram, who seemed disinterested to win and looked settling for place only.
Better sense prevailed when the owner changed his horse’s rider, M. Jamil, who partnered him on both previous occasions to be defeated to second place. The riding boy Alam Sher did the trick to gallop to victory.
Only two favourites and as many joint-favourites won in a card of six events, giving an upper edge to bookmakers in the day/night proceedings.
Results:
BHERA PLATE CLASS VII
DIV III-B 900M:
Sohna Murad (Shahbaz Ali Butt) 8-11, Alam Sher 1; Anarkali 8-8, M. Akram, 2; Kundan 8-0, Khalid 3; Gypsy 8-6, Aamir Wali 4.
Won by 2 L, 1 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L. Time one minute 1 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.
BHERA PLATE CLASS VII
DIV III-A 900M:
Bioactive (Mohammad Saeed Butt) 8-11, Naseer Ahmed 1; Kiss Of Love 9-0, Majid Ali 2; Golden Tree 9-0, Fareed Ali 3; Sana 8-9, M. Akram 4.
Won by 1 L, 1 L, Short-head. Time one minute 0 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by S. Butt.
BHERA PLATE CLASS VII
DIV II 900M:
Barray Lal (Aamir Raza Khan) 8-10, Majid Ali 1; Bubbly 8-10, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Leader’s Wing 8-10, Naseer Ahmed 3; Silent Assassin 8-0, M. Jahangir 4.
Won by 3 L, 9 1/2 L, 2 3/4 L. Time 58 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.
BHERA PLATE CLASS VII
DIV I 900M:
Smiling Assassin (Munir Ahmad Dar) 8-0, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Cash Price 8-0, Alam Sher 2; Mere Lal 8-6, M. Jamil 3; Porsche 7-10 Sajjad Hussain 4.
Won by 1 3/4 L, 1/2 L, Dead-heat. Time one minute 0 seconds. Winner trained by Manzoor Ahmad.
BHAKKAR PLATE CLASS VI
DIV III & IV 1,000M:
Mah-e-Noor (Haji M. Chiragh) 7-10, Khalid 1; Loashay 7-6, Zameer 2; Bird Fly 8-8, Mazhar Ali 3; Red Baron 8-8, Alam Sher 4.
Won by 1 1/2 L, Neck, 4 L. Time one minute 5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Ramzan.
BHAKKAR PLATE CLASS VI
DIV II 1,000M:
Tallal The Great (Aamir Azad) 9-0, Tariq Habib 1; Sona 8-4, Shahnawaz 2; Great Khan 8-0, M. Zeeshan 3; Jang Ju 8-6, M. Nasir 4.
Won by 2 1/4 L, 8 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L. Time one minute 3 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by the owner.