KARACHI, Nov 11: In a rare feat, ace jockey Ghulam Shabbir II delighted the horse-racing fraternity by presenting owner Syed Ismail Shah with a treble — all three cups in a row — as all but one favourite swept the seven-event card in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse here on Sunday.
Dawn, meanwhile, had four winners in Hot Black, Generosity, The Invincible and Espada.
It all began when Shabbir galloped two-year-old bay colt The Incredible to a fluent four-length win over filly Dancing Queen to land The Performance Cup in the third race gone over five furlongs.
Maintaining the same form, he guided three-year-old filly Generosity to an impressive 10-length victory over colt Tiny Terror in the next run over six furlongs to claim The Iqbal Day Cup. The triumph helped the winning horse to make it two successes on the trot under same rider.
Running on the heals of The Dictator and Easy To Walk, colt The Invincible in a late burst overtook them one after the other to lift The Karachi Derby contested over a mile.
With a win under his belt The Invincible beat The Dictator by a length for the honours which enabled Shabbir to steal the limelight. All the three winning horses were trained by Sardar Abdul Haq.
Irfan Mehdi’s three-year-old bay filly Espada obliged all and sundry by getting the better of filly Black Caviar as she pleased by 13 lengths to pick up spoils in the sixth race for a repeat performance.
At the outset, four-year-old bay colt Hot Black, owned by M.R. Hussain, made amends by registering a two-length victory over Liverpool with Waheed in the saddle.
Similarly, Mohammad Essa piloted home filly National Queen by a length defeating Stall Wart Fighter in the second race.
In the only upset, outsider mare Easy Match edged mare Queen Of King by a length-and-a-half to seize the seventh and concluding race. Fancied Spirit had to be content with third place followed by Mr Daniyal.Meanwhile, the next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on Wednesday.
Results:THE NOVEMBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV V 5 F:Hot Black (M.R. Hussain) 9-4, Waheed 1; Liverpool 8-5 (cr8-4), M. Nawaz Bilal 2; Punchi 8-0 (cr8-2), Mohammad Essa 3; World Class 9-0 (cr8-11), M. Sajjad 4.Won by 2 L, 2½ L, 2½ L. Time: One minute 7 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by S.A. Zaidi.
THE NOVEMBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 5 F:National Queen (Zain Rahim) 8-7, Mohammad Essa 1; Stall Wart Fighter 8-6 (cr8-3), M. Sajjad 2; Rytham 8-7 (cr8-4), M. Naeem 3; Asaniyan 9-5, Zubair Ahmed 4.Won by 1 L, 3 L, 3½ L. Time: One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Rafiq K.
THE PERFORMANCE CUP — A TERM RACE FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND FILLIES — 5 F:The Incredible (Syed Ismail Shah) 8-7, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Dancing Queen 8-4, Mohammad Essa 2; Madeira 8-4, Waheed 3; Rainbow Star 8-0, M. Amjad 4.Won by 4 L, ½ L, 10 L. Time: One minute 5 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sardar Abdul Haq.
THE IQBAL DAY CUP CLASS V DIV II AND CLASS VI AND VII DIV I 6 F:Generosity (Syed Ismail Shah) 7-8 (cr8-5), Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Tiny Terror 8-13, M. Manzoor 2; Phenominal 7-10, Shahzad Gul 3; Concept 7-6, M. Sajjad 4.Won by 10 L, 4 L, 4¾ L. Time: One minute 17 seconds. Winner trained by Sardar Abdul Haq.
THE KARACHI DERBY — A TERM RACE FOR THREE-AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND FILLIES — I M:The Invincible (Syed Ismail Shah) 8-7, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; The Dictator 9-0, M. Nasir 2; Easy To Walk 8-7, Zaki Zakir 3; Swell Victory 8-7, M. Naeem 4.Won by 1 L, distance, 7 L. Time: One minute 45 seconds. Winner trained by Sardar Abdul Haq.
THE NOVEMBER PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 5 F:Espada (Irfan Mehdi) 8-10 (cr8-5), M. Naeem 1; Black Caviar 8-6, Pervez Ali 2; Punter’s Dream 8-11 (cr8-6), Asad Aksir 3; Dream Girl 8-10, Zaki Zakir 4.Won by 13 L, 2½ L, 4½ L. Time: One minute 2 seconds. Winner trained by M. Hanif.
THE NOVEMBER PLATE FOR UNKNOWN HORSES 5 F:Easy Match (Taranum Hafeez) 8-9, Zaki Zakir 1; Queen Of King 8-8, Arif Nazir 2; Spirit 8-10, Mohammad Essa 3; Mr Daniyal 9-1 (cr8-12), Nazil Hussain 4.Won by 1½ L, 2½ L, 1¼ L. Time: One minute 9 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Tufail.