LAHORE, April 7: The fancied Great Grandy produced a fine turn of speed to land the Mohy-ud-Din Aurangzeb Alamgir Cup run over a mile in a fraction less than record time at the Racecourse Sunday.
The eight-year-old bay backed at even-money favourite, Great Grandy came rushing up from behind to pass the leaders to win. Striding at a fast pace Great Grandy treated race- goers to a breathtaking performance by outpacing bay gelding Think Thank by a length-and-a-quarter from a position when the latter looked to have almost pocketed the cup.
Ridden confidently by Khurrum Sheikh Great Grandy clocked one minute 39 1/5 seconds over the distance. The record best time over the distance was one minute 39 seconds, set up by Pink Bouquet in 1994.
Bay filly Gambling Girl and the dark-bay gelding One Man Show made up the frame. In all, only seven ran for the event after the last-minute withdrawal of the bay mare Fanim.
Three-year-old chestnut colt Lucky Shot made it two in-a- row within four days of his earlier victory winning the second race. Backed at 30 to 100 down to 10 to 100, Lucky Shot stormed home by a big margin over the grey colt Al Zarrar. The colt is owned by Riaz-ul-Haq Qureshie and is trained by Akhtar Mir.
The supporting and last event, the Jhang Plate, Class VII division I & II combined, ended in a dead-heat between the fancied grey gelding Martial Law and the grey Love Moon.
Both fought neck and neck in the last furlong of the mile event and passed the winning post together. The finish was so close that even the magic eye of the camera failed to separate the two. The race had to be declared a dead-heat.
Five well-backed horses obliged the punters when a card of six events was decided. The only upset of the day came in the fourth race in which the rank outsider chestnut filly My Own Business sprang the surprise. She defeated the fancied bay colt The Conqueror by a length.
Shortly before the start of the first race, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards announced that the stake-money being awarded to horses placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd has been reduced to the level of last year’s summer season.
The decision had been taken in view of the failure to arrive at an agreement with the turf accountants on the volume of the latter contribution to the LRC. As a result only a few bookmakers operated their stalls during Sunday’s races.
In the second race riding boy Iqbal Khan fell down from his mount Zargar. He received multiple injuries and was taken to hospital.
Results.
JHANG PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION VI & V 6 FURS:
Naseeb-o-Lal (M. Shafiq Sadiq) 8-5 Shehzad Ahmad 1. Divine Force 8-4 Majid Khan 2. New Valley 7-12 Nazir Ahmad 3. Loveliest 8-4 A. Imran 4. (Only ten ran).
Won by 3/4 L, 2 L, 3 1/2 L.
Time one minute 16 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Memraiz Khan.
JHANG PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION IV & V 6 FURS:
Lucky Shot (Riaz-ul-Haq Qureshie) 7-10 Qamar Zaman 1. Al Zarrar 7-12 A. Aziz 2. Gold Hi Gold 7-10 Azhar Hussain 3. Wing Commander 8-13 F. Qamar 4. (All 11 ran).
Won by 7 1/2 L, 3 1/4 L, 5 3/4 L.
Time one minute 15 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Akhtar Mir.
JHANG PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION III & IV 6 FURS:
Arooj (Saeed Ahmad) 8-13 Salah-ud-Din (II) 1. Royal Prosper 9-0 Zahid Ali 2. Golden Road 8-12 M. Hussain 3. Lucky Credit Queen 8-4 Mahmood Ali 4. (All 12 ran).
Won by 2 L, 4 1/2 L, 4 L.
Time one minute 15 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
JHANG PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION II & III 6 FURS:
My Own Business (Murtaza Ijaz) 8-9 Kamran 1. The Conqueror 7-13 Javed Iqbal 2. Darling Of The Royalty 8-12 A. Aziz 3. Qaswa Princess 8-6 M. Asif (II) 4. (All 12 ran).
Won by 1 L, Neck, 2 L.
Time one minute 14 1/5 seconds.
MOHY-UD-DIN AURANGZEB ALAMGIR CUP, CLASS IV & V ONE MILE:
Great Grandy (Rashid Latif) 9-1 Khurrum Sheikh 1. Think Thank 8-5 Javaid Iqbal 2. Gambling Girl 9-1 Qamar Zaman 3. One Man Show 8-11 Kamran 4. (Only seven ran).
Won by 1 1/4 L, 7 1/4 L, 1/2 L.
Time one minute 39 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owner.
JHANG PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION I & II 6 FURS:
Love Moon (Shahid Rasul) 8-7 Qamar Zaman and Martial Law (Mohammed Afzal) 7-10 A. Aziz (Dead-heat). Shershah 9-5 Shehzad Iqbal 3. Better Case 8-8 Nazir Ahmad 4. (Only eight ran).
Won by Dead-heat, distance, 2 L.
Time one minute 39 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the owners.