LAHORE, Sept 29: Heavily-backed favourite King Fisher crowned an easy success in the feature event of the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse Sunday.
The four-year-old bay colt King Fisher, whose reputation was dented by a lack lustre performance after the Derby victory in March last, was superbly ridden by jockey Aamar Parvez toying with his rivals.
He beat the bay mare Perfect Timing by one-and-a-quarter lengths. Chestnut Better Case finished third while One Man Show completed the frame. Only six ran after the last-minute withdrawal of Admiral’s Way.
King Fisher’s victory gave a fine double to trainer Amjad Ali II and leading local owner Sohrab Khan when earlier the same combination had landed the opener through Storm Bird, also and odds-on favourite.
Both King Fisher and Storm Bird are progenies of the famous sire Dexter, who was sold to an Indian breeder, a couple of years back.
Rank outsider four-year-old chestnut filly Early Bird caused a big upset by winning the supporting and fourth event in a majestic front-running display.
Early Bird, who usually is a slow starter, took off to an early start and setting a strong pace never allowed her opponents to come closer, finally sparing two lengths over grey mare Dilnasheen II. Chestnut filly Rukhtas Again finished third by half-a-length with the fancied gelding Lake District touching the board among ten runners. Lucky Shot, Schumacher and Bureaucrat were withdrawn from the race.
Bay gelding Asif Love, who strode to grab the third race was the best performer of the day. Ridden with precise judgment and confidence by Khurrum Sheikh, Asif Love responded quickly to jockey’s urging picking off his rivals in the last 100 metres to win from fancied My Own Business by one-and-three quarters of a length. Dhandhana and Thank You Dear completed the frame. Eleven ran for the event.
Massive-built bay gelding Skipper defied a good field of sprinters and won the second event under jockey Shahid Rehman. He nosed out chestnut filly Dancing Margina after a ding-dong struggle in the last 50 metres. The magic eye of the camera gave the verdict in favour of Skipper by a short-head.
A card of five races saw only two firm favourite through to the finishing post. All races were contested over the distance of 1000 metres.
RESULTS:
CHISHTIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION V 1000 METRES:
Storm Bird (Sohrab Khan) 8-5 A. Aziz 1. Zargar 8-9 M. Zeeshan 2. Science Fiction 7-10 Javed Iqbal 3. Weldon Shogun 7-10 Shahid Rehman 4.
Won by 1/2 L, 3 3/4 L, Short-head.
Time one minute 3 3/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.
CHISHTIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION IV 1000 METRES:
Skipper (M. I. Bostan) 7-10 Shahid Rehman 1. Dancing Margina 8-2 A. Imran 2. Blue Stone 8-2 M. Hanif 3. Prince Khurrum 8-9 Azam Hussain 4.
Won by Short-head, 1/2 L, 2 3/4 L.
Time one minute 3 1/5 seconds.
Winner trained by the Owner.
CHISHTIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION III 1000 METRES:
Asif Love (Ghulam Murtza) 8-0 Khurrum Sheikh 1. My Own Business 8-9 Aamar Parvez 2. Dhandhana 8-5 M. Zeeshan 3. Thank You Boss 7-10 Majid Khan 4.
Won by 1 3/4 L, 2 1/4 L, 3 1/4 L.
Time one minute 2 4/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.
CHISHTIAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION I & II 1000 METRES:
Early Bird (Mumtaz Ahmad Doga) 7-10 Javed Iqbal 1. Dilnasheen II Nadeem Ikram 2. Rukhtas Again 7-10 M. Jehangir 3. Lake District 7-11 Khalil Vicky 4.
Won by 2 L, 1/2 L, 2 L.
Time one minute 1 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Syed Zaheer Ahmad.
RAIWIND PLATE CLASS V 1000 METRES:
King Fisher (Sohrab Khan) 8-3 Aamar Parvez 1. Perfect Timing 7-10 Vicky Gaman 2. Better Case 8-4 Mujahid Ali (II) 3. One Man Show 7-10 M. Zeeshan 4.
Won by 1 1/4 L, 6 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L.
Time one minute 1 2/5 seconds.
Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.