LAHORE, Nov 5: Three-year-old dark-bay filly Dream Memories won the day’s top honours when she blazed her way to victory in the feature event during the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races on Wednesday.
Stalking early pacesetters bay colts Brave Heart and Desert Whisper, Dream Memories, flying the colours of Sohrab Khan, moved in contention in the home stretch outpacing both of them in the last 200 metres to romp home. Meanwhile, the 80 to 100 favourite filly Princess Aman came rushing from behind to be content with the second place, three and a half lengths back. Brave Heart was relegated to third position with Desert Whisper fourth. Snow Fall was withdrawn before the start leaving 15 runners in the field.
Trained by Amjad Ali II and ridden by the riding boy Pervez Bhatti the filly was backed at five to two. This was the sixth and last race of the day.
A race earlier unexpected winner chestnut Sun Ray edged out High Quality to bag the fifth and supporting event gone over 1,000 metres. Amazing Boy and Murad King completed the frame among 15 runners.
Trained by Imran, the five to one chance Sun Ray was given a perfect ride by the jockey Shakeel Mahmood and won by a neck.
Amazing Boy finished third, a length further behind while Murad King completed the board. The odds-on favourite gelding Kamla ran off the frame.
Sun Ray’s triumph gave jockey Shakeel Mahmood a well-deserved double because earlier he had piloted home long shot chestnut gelding Book Bet to an easy win in the fourth race. The odds on favourite colt Red Baron finished second with Candidate and Muskan finishing third and fourth, respectively.
The biggest disappointment for the punters came in the third race in which the 70 to 100 favourite mare Smore Princess was beaten by five to two chance colt, Green Desert in the closing stages of the race.
A few strides from the winning post Naseer Ahmed, riding Smore Prince, looked a probable winner but Green Desert came sneaking through the rails to post victory.
The Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards kept on steadily their cleansing operation and stood down another riding boy, Khalil Vicky for six months for not allowing his mount Lal Pari to run on merit in the first race. He was also fined Rs10,000. Lal Pari finished third behind Aa Ja Aa Ja and Raftar-e-Sehar, placed first and second in seven runners.
Results:
SIALKOT PLATE CLASS VII
DIV IV 1,000M:
Aa Ja Aa Ja (Khalid Nazir Chughtai) 8-9,
Munir Ahmed 1; Raftar-e-Sehar 8-10, M. Jahangir Khan 2; Lal Pari 8-10, Khalil Vicky 3; Racing Bridge 8-10, S.A. Qaiser 4.
Won by Neck, 1 ¼ L, ½ L. Time one minute 11 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by I. Nawab.
SIALKOT PLATE CLASS VII
DIV III 1,000M:
Kainat (M.V. Malik) 9-0, Mazhar Ali 1; Kiss Of Love 8-9, A. Raza 2; Alpha Juliet 8-10, Naseer Ahmed 3; Victory Tiger 8-10, Sajjad Hussain 4.
Won by 3 L, ½ L, 4 L. Time one minute 8 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.
SIALKOT PLATE CLASS VII
DIV II 1,000M:
Green Desert (Mian Mohammad Farrukh) 8-10, M. Wasim 1; Smore Princess 9-0, Naseer Ahmed 2; Farjan Prince 8-7, Anjum 3; Bioactive 7-8, A. Raza 4.
Won by ¾ L, Distance, Head. Time one minute 7 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.
SIALKOT PLATE CLASS VII
DIV I 1,000M:
Book Bet (Sheikh Shaukat Javed) 7-11, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Red Baron 8-11, Naseer Ahmed 2; Candidate 8-11, Atif Javed 3; Muskan 8-8, Munir Ahmed 4.
Won by6 L, 2 ½ L, 1 L. Time one minute 7 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.
KALAR KAHAR PLATE CLASS VI
DIV III & IV 1,000M:
Sun Ray (Naseeruddin Siddiqui) 7-10, Shakeel Mahmood 1; High Quality 8-12, Naseer Ahmed 2; Amazing Boy 8-12, Atif Javed 3; Murad King 9-0, Pervez Bhatti 4.
Won by Neck, 1 L, 3 ½ L. Time one minute 6 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Imran.
KALAR KAHAR PLATE CLASS VI
DIV I & II 1,000M:
Dream Memories (Sohrab Khan) 8-2, Pervez Bhatti 1; Princess Aman 8-6, Naseer Ahmed 2; Brave Heart 9-2, Majid Ali 3; Desert Whisper 7-12, Azhar Hussain 4.
Won by 3 ½ L. Distance, 5 ½ L. Time one minute 5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.