LAHORE, March 9: Jockey Javaid Iqbal excelled in the saddle when he brought home a brace of winners during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.
He first rode home bay Jet Master in the feature and third event and then followed it up with a brilliant success on Green Hill in the sixth and last race of the day.
Javaid exhibited splendid riding skills partnering Jet Master to edge out fancied Millennium Count by a head on the finishing line in the Mansehra Plate, a Class I, II and III handicap race contested over 1400 metres.
Millennium Count ridden by jockey Shahid Rehman fought neck to neck with the winner in the last furlong of the race but it was Jet Master finally hanging on to register a narrow win.
Great Grandy and Perfect Timing completed the frame among seven runners left after the last-minute withdrawal of King Fisher and The Champion.
Ace jockey Shahid Rehman celebrated his return to the saddle by winning the very first mount he rode, a bay colt Blue’s Traveller in the second event of the day. He beat African Knight by five lengths. Prime Force and Naseeb made up the frame among 11 runners.
In subsequent races Shahid finished second on Millennium Count and Moment To Moment in the third and fourth race, respectively.
The roan Happy Boy with M. Zeeshan in the saddle, was the only fancied horse to oblige favourite backers while the remaining five events were claimed by long shots.
Chestnut horse Rukhsh caused the biggest upset of the day in the fifth race. He beat fancied Royal Strength by one-and-a-quarter lengths. The lucky punters who backed Rukhsh on the Win Tote received a handsome dividend of rupees 2540 for a rupee 100 investment. Another well-backed dark-bay horse Beena Roy Baby finished third and the filly Fly To The Stars completed the board in a close finish. In all, 17 ran for the event after the last- minute withdrawal of Super Star from the race.
The competition for the trainers’ championship has entered in an interesting phase. Two leading trainers Amjad Ali II and Raja Tehmasab Khan are tied with 31 victories each. The race-goers will be treated to exciting competition between the charges of both trainers during the on-going season in their bid for the championship. The season ends on June 30.
Following are the results:
MIRPUR PLATE CLASS V DIV I 1400M
Happy Boy (A. B. Malik) 7-8 M. Zeeshan 1, Trace Gold 8-0 Javed Choudhry 2, Storm Bird 9-3 A. Aziz 3, Rukhtas Again 8-12 Shehzad Ahmad 4.
Won by 3 1/4L, 3/4L, 4 1/2L. Time 1 min 30 3/5 sec. Winner trained by A. B. Malik.
SHEIKHPURA PLATE CLASS IV DIV I 1400M
Blue’s Traveller (Ali Faisal Farooq) 8-4 Shahid Rehman 1, African Knight 7-4 M. Jehangir 2, Prime Force 8-4 A. Aziz 3, Naseeb 8-4 Qamar Zaman 4.
Won by 5L, 1 3/4L, 1/2L. Time 1 min 27 3/5 sec. Winner trained by Abid Ali.
MANSHERA PLATE CLASS I, II, & III 1400M
Jet Master (Wajid Ali Khan) 8-4 Javaid Iqbal 1, Millennium Count 9-0 Shahid Rehman 2, Great Grandy 8-10 Khurrum Sheikh 3, Perfect Timing 7-8 Vicky Gaman 4.
Won by Head, 4 1/4L, 2 1/2L. Time 1 min 28 sec. Winner trained by Naseer Hussain.
SHEIKHPURA PLATE CLASS IV DIV II 1200M
Royal Falcon (Makhdoom Syed Ali Raza) 9-3 Abdur Rahim 1, Moment To Moment 8-9 Shahid Rehman 2, Mahnoor 8-3 Javed Choudhry 3, Snoopy 9-0 Mubarik Ali 4.
Won by 1L, 4L, Head. Time 1 min 15 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Haji Fazal Hadi.
MIRPUR PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1200M
Rukhsh (Maqsood Anwar) 7-11 Javed Choudhry 1, Royal Strength 8-7 A. Rahim 2, Beena Roy Baby 7-8 Javed Iqbal 3, Fly To The Stars 7-11 Azhar Hussain 4.
Won by 1 1/4L, 1 3/4L, Short-head. Time 1 min 17 sec. Winner trained by Shahzad Ali.
KALAT PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 1200M
Green Hill (Choudhry Mushtaq Ahmad) 8-13 Javaid Iqbal 1, Glorious Song 9-0 Khalil Vicky 2, Al Ailan 8-7 Azam Hussain 3, Pistol Pete 8-6 Qamar Zaman 4.
Won by 3 3/4L, 9L, 1 1/2L. Time 1 min 16 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.