April 03, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

LAHORE, April 2: Rank outsider four-year-old colt Striker, struck a heavy blow on the punters by winning the feature event of the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

Striker took the lead on entering the straight course and maintained it to the finishing line in the sixth race of the day. Making a late attempt, favourite horse Honest Minister had no choice but to be content with the second position when he fell short by a neck. And another neck behind him, Brave Heart finished third while Big Choice completed the frame, finishing yet another three-fourths of a length behind him.

Striker’s victory came as a pleasant surprise for owner Masood Pervaiz, an active steward of the Lahore Race Club (LRC), who seldom misses a race. But his horses win rarely. Trained by I. Nawab, the colt was ridden by the riding boy Anjum.

The beauty of the main event was that the horses placed first, second, third and fourth finished within a length’s distance of each other.

Later, the fifth and supporting event was won by a long shot bay colt Geo Bhakkar, who completed a hat-trick of victories for his owner Malik Bashir and trainer Rashid Latif by beating Great Khan. Geo Bhakkar had earlier also won two back to back races, all on attractive odds.

Meanwhile the odds on filly Mama Mia gave a rude shock to owner-steward, Syed Pervaiz Hussain Shah by finishing third. Syed Pervaiz’s mare Noor-un-Nisa too finished third in the first race. She was beaten by Gold Round and Sun Ray, respectively.

All in all, this turned out to be a really bad day for the punters, when only one favourite won in a card of seven events.

Four-year-old chestnut colt Big Power, owned by Shah Shamyl Alam was the only favourite to oblige them in the fourth race. All the other races were bagged by long shots.

The dividends declared on the tote totalisator for the win, places, dual forecast and trio forecast pools were very attractive. The punters failed to solve the trio forecast pool in two of the events and the amount was carried forward to be added in the following races.

Results:

KUNDIAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1,000M:

Gold Round (Zaheer Aslam) 8-12 Munir Ahmad 1, Sun Ray 8-2 Shakeel Mahmood 2, Noor-un-Nisa 8-4 M. Hanif 3 and Murad King 9-0 Ali Raza 4.

Won by 3 L, 1/2 L, 1 L. Time one minute 5 3’5 seconds.

Winner trained by Tauqeer Ahmad.

JOHARABAD PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 800M:

Red Baron (Babar Hussain) 8-12 Ali Raza 1, Sana 8-2 Majid Ali 2, Rajwali 9-0 M. Atif 3 and Pure Power 8-8 Naseer Ahmad 4.

Won by Neck, 3 L, 1 L. Time 52 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by the owner.

JOHARABAD PLATE CLASS VII DIV I 800M:

Hikmat (Arif Gulzar) 9-0 M. Jamil 1, Sherni 8-8 M. Akram 2, Khan Baba 8-12 M. Sharif 3 and Rokrra 8-4 Naseer Ahmad 4.

Won by 2 3/4 L, 2 L, 1/2 L. Time 52 4/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Mohammad Naseeb.

KUNDIAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV III 1,000M:

Big Power (Shah Shamyl Alam) 9-0 Sajjad Hussain 1, Sun Shine 8-2 Ali Raza 2, Regulation 8-2 Majid Ali 3 and Dream Prince 8-4 Khalil Vicky 4.

Won by Distance, 1/2 L, 5 L. Time one minute 4 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Mohammad Afzal.

KUNDIAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV IV 1,000M:

Geo Bhakkar (Malik Bashir) 9-0 Tariq Habib 1, Great Khan 9-2 M. Jamil 2, Mama Mia 8-10 Khalil Vicky 3 and Dimple 8-6 Naseer Ahmad 4.

Won by 2 L, 1 1/4 L, 3/4 L. Time one minute 7 2/5 seconds.

Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

KUNDIAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 1,000M:

Striker (Masood Parvaiz) 8-6 Anjum 1, Honest Minister 9-0 Tariq Habib 2, Brave Heart 8-8 Majid Ali 3 and Big Choice 8-0 M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by Neck, Neck, Neck. Time one minute 6 1/5 seconds.

Winner trained by I. Nawab.

JOHARABAD PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 800M:

Kiss Of Love (Mohammad Siddiq) 8-0 Shakeel Mahmood 1, Anarkali 9-0 Ali Raza 2, Changer 8-10 Saqib 3 and Muskan 8-4 Majid Ali 4.

Won by 3 L, 1/2 L, 1/2 L. Time 54 seconds.

Winner trained by the owner.