LAHORE, Oct 2: Fancied chestnut gelding Moment To Moment, cruised to an easy win in the feature event of the mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse Wednesday.
Backed confidently at 80 to 100 favourite, Moment To Moment ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman gave no anxious moments to his connections, warding off a token challenge from chestnut gelding Science Fiction and inflicting a four-length defeat on him. Fly To The Stars failed to fly over the course and finished third, three-and-a-half lengths behind while Zuhair Choice completed the frame among seven contestants. The winner clocked one minute 19 seconds over 1200 metres distance.
The victory of Moment To Moment gave jockey Shahid Rehman a lucrative double when earlier he had piloted home three to one chance Cape Town in the fourth and supporting event.
Dark-bay colt Cape Town outran long shot My Fantasy by half-a-length in a brilliant burst of speed in the last 20 metres of the 1200 metres race.
Royal Man finished third another two lengths back after nosing out Super Time to hit the board. In all, 10 ran for the event. The heavily backed Native Tune and Sun Of Gold finished among the also ran.
The neglected grey colt Bacha Jamoora, dumbfounded every one at the Racecourse when he sprang a big surprise in the third race. He beat Blue Champion by two lengths. Copper Fields and Never Bend after fighting a neck and neck battle, completed the board separated by camera’s eye in photo-finish in the same order. Earlier the short-odds favourite Stars ‘N’ Stripes was withdrawn from this race on the report of the veterinary officer at the starting gates.
The bay colt Gently, gave a vastly improved performance by winning the second race in a start to finish bid to make it two in-a-row. He beat Sugar Dady by a big margin of seven-and-a-half lengths. Love Land and Lado Rani made up the frame among 11 starters. The Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards were not satisfied with the performance of fancied gelding Goshie The Great in this race. They suspended the licence of his rider Nadeem Ikram for one month and stopped entries of the gelding in races for two months.
The bay mare In The Game, stormed home to win the opener defeating King Panther by two-and-a-half lengths. In this race the bay colt Iyi Jani collapsed after crossing the winning post.
Trainer Tanveer Aslam sent in two winners. He saddled In The Game in the opener and Gently in the following event.
Only one favourite obliged in a small card of five races. All events were contested over 1200 Metres.
RAHIM YAR KHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV VIII 1200M
In The Game (Zaheer Aslam) 7-10 Parvez Bhatty 1, King Panther 8-2 M. Hussain 2, Silver Baby 8-3 Faisal Tahir 3, Tulip 7-10 A. Aziz 4.
Also ran: Hot Press, Sweet Victory, Sun Dance, Majestic Prince and Iyi Jani.
Won by 2 1/2L, Neck, 6L. Time 1 min 20 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Tanveer Aslam.
RAHIM YAR KHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV VII 1200M
Gently (Shahid Mahmood) 7-10 A. Aziz 1, Sugar Dady 8-4 M. Bilal 2, Love Land 8-5 Faisal Tahir 3, Lado Rani 8-4 Mujahid Ali (II) 4.
Also ran: Beena Roy Baby, Shaiman, Fantastic Cute, Bobby Prince, Goshie The Great, Nijinsky and Silver Sweet.
Won by 7 1/2L, Neck, 1/2L. Time 1 min 21 sec. Winner trained by Tanveer Aslam.
RAHIM YAR KHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV VI 1200M
Bacha Jamoora (Amjad Ali II) 8-5 M. Nawaz (II) 1., Blue Champion 8-12 Azam Hussain 2, Copper Fields 7-12 M. Hussain 3, Never Bend 8-3 Munir Ahmad 4.
Also ran: Las Pal Mas, Wall Street, Double Deal, Cranbrook Boy and Diva.
Won by 2L, 2 1/2L, Sh-hd. Time 1 min 22 2/5 sec. Winner trained by owner.
RAHIM YAR KHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION VI 1200M
Cape Town (Syed Iftikhar Ali) 9-0 Shahid Rehman 1, My Fantasy 8-12 M. Zeeshan 2, Royal Man 8-12 Majid Khan 3, Super Time 8-12 M. Nawaz (II) 4.
Also ran: Bach View, Faheem Choice, Native Force, Sun Of Gold, Aao Payar Se and Eastern Bird.
Won by 1/2L, 2L, Head. Time one minute 20 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Aslam.
RAHIM YAR KHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIVISION V 1200M
Moment To Moment (Pervaiz Iqbal Butt) 8-13 Shahid Rehman 1, Science Fiction 7-11 Javed Iqbal 2, Fly To The Stars 7-10 M. Hanif 3, Zuhair Choice 8-9 Khalid 4.
Also ran: Flying Fish, Burnish Prince and Narala.
Won by 4L, 3 1/2L, 6 3/4L. Time 1 min 19 sec. Winner trained by Mohammad Hanif.