KARACHI, March 15 Champion jockey Mohammad Essa and riding boy Abdul Mutlib stole the show on Sunday with a brace of winners apiece as fancied mare Sweet Smile lived up to her billing in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse.
With three successive wins under her belt, Sweet Smile once again obliged all and sundry imposing to a fluent four-length victory over colt Giranari to land the feature event.
Filly Black Velvet settled for third, four-and-a-half lengths away, while mare Afroze Jehan completed the board finishing further two lengths behind.
Sweet Smile was given a perfect ride by its regular jockey Waheed who did the owner Faisal Farooq and trainer Naveed Baran proud.
However, followers of the form who backed filly 3 Knot 3 for place were disappointed as she finished off the board. They alleged that rider Wasim did not let the mount run on merit.
Essa who failed to impress on colt Just As That in the opener, galloped four-year-old chestnut colt Gold Victory to three lengths victory over bay Lucky Gem in the next.
Fresh from the triumph, he piloted home public fancy The Ghazan Prince to splendid five lengths victory over colt Crazy in the fourth race which was also supporting event.
Mutlib matched Essa's performance storming bay Mandliwala and filly Blind Love to back-to-back victory in the last two races.
The former edged co-favourite mare Silent Love by one and three-quarter-of-a-length while the latter posted three-quarter-of-a-length victory over Great Kinjher.
Arshad sprinted four-year-old favourite colt Persian Blue to three lengths victory to claim top division of class VII.
Bay Sonu Love Inshu stunned filly Shooter to win the opener while chestnut Hello Again ended pretensions of bay Rocket.
The next Gymkhana race meeting will be held on March 23.
Results
THE HIRA PLATE DIV II
CLASS VII 5F
Sonu Love Inshu (Mrs. Zubaida Rehmat) 8-5 (cr8-0), Tauheed Ali 1; Shooter 9-0, Wasim 2; Just As That 9-0, Mohammad Essa 3; Hamza Joy 9-0 (cr8-7), Abdul Mutlib 4.
Won by Neck, 3/4L, 3L. Time One minute 6 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Sharif.
THE HIRA PLATE DIV III
CLASS VII 5F
Gold Victory (Irfan Mehdi) 9-4, Mohammad Essa 1; Lucky Gem 8-7 (cr8-0), Irfan Shahwani 2; Nyx 8-7 (cr8-0), Tauheed Ali 3; Dream Prince 8-10 (cr8-5), Rehan Ahmed 4.
Won by 3L, 1 3/4L, 1 3/4L. Time One minute 6 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by G. Hassan.
THE HIRA PLATE DIV I
CLASS VII 5F
Persian Blue (Sher Shah Kasi) 9-2, Arshad 1; Sir Jee 9-0, Abdul Mutlib 2; Kinjher Karonjhar 8-10, Waheed 3; Dark Secret 8-6 (cr8-3), Pervez Ali 4.
Won by 3L, 2L, 2 1/4L. Time One minute 5 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Mazhar.
THE PRINCE PLATE CLASS VI 5F
The Ghazan Prince (Irfan Mehdi) 8-2, Mohammad Essa 1; Crazy 8-2, Nazil Hussain 2; Bold Act 7-12, Irfan Shahwani 3; Royal Loyalty 9-2, Nasim Ahmed 4.
Won by 5L, 1/2L, 2L. Time One minute 4 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by G. Hassan.
THE SIM SIM PLATE CLASS IV
AND V DIV I AND II 5F
Sweet Smile (Ali Faisal Farooq) 7-10 (cr7-12), Waheed 1; Giranari 9-9, Tariq Baran 2; Black Velvet 8-8, Riaz Mohammad 3; Afroze Jehan 8-1, Pervez Ali 4.
Won by 4L, 4 1/2L, 2L. Time One minute 4 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Naveed Baran.
THE HIRA PLATE DIV V-B
CLASS VII 4 1/2F
Hello Again (Beenish Hassan) 8-1, Rehan Ahmed 1; Sweet Grandy 8-3 (8-0), Irfan Shahwani 2; Rocket 8-1 (cr7-10), Abdul Qayyum 3; Hamza Prince 8-1, Nazil Hussain 4.
Won by 2 1/4L, 3/4L, 2 1/2L. Time One minute 3 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Murtaza G. Hussain.
THE HIRA PLATE DIV V-A
CLASS VII 4 1/2F
Mandli Wala (M. Asif Zehri) 8-8 (cr8-1), Abdul Mutlib 1; Silent Love 9-2 (cr8-9), Zaheer Ahmed 2; Princess Sparkle 8-12 (cr8-7), Maroof 3; Mixed Blessing 8-12 (cr8-5), M. Rashid 4.
Won by 1 3/4L, 11L, 7L. Time One minute 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Usman.
THE HIRA PLATE DIV IV
CLASS VII 4 1/2F
Blind Love (Wazir Ali) 8-11 (cr8-4), Abdul Mutlib 1; Great Kinjher 8-9 (cr8-4), Ghous Bux 2; Gul-e-Lala 8-6 (cr8-1), Rehan Ahmed 3; Sonia 9-0 (cr8-7), Tahir Ali 4.
Won by 3/4L, 6L, 1 1/2L. Time One minute 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mujahid Ali.