LAHORE: Long shot bay mare Sparking gave an excellent display of speed to win the Ginza Cup in a surprise finish during the day/night Lahore Winter Meeting at the floodlit Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

The 5-1 chance mare raced fluently soon after the start and stayed on well to gallop home by a neck from fast-chasing brown horse Tiger Jet. Salam-e-Dera an d Sea Horse completed the frame. The winner propelled out-of-form jockey Mohammad Hanif to record his second success during the season starting July.

The race-goers enjoyed the day/night racing showing a slight increase in the number of visitors at the entry gate-plus the owners, trainers, riders and other stake-holder filling to capacity the space at public stands They hailed the floodlit racing as a step in right direction since it gave participants and spectators a good deal of equine sport fun.

A good day racing was marred by a couple of incidents in which there had been allegations of manipulating victory of own backed horse while public was hoodwinked to squander their bets on other horses of the same owner. The wrong one was installed false favourite mysteriously in both cases, while the owner backed the right one. Some favourite horses, however, were genuinely beaten.

Results:

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV V (MAIDENS) — 900M:

Ayubia Princess (Safdar Ali Dogar) 9-0, Umar Shahzad 1; Sure Trust 9-0, Riaz Hussain 2; PIayari Guria 7-10, Deenar Mirwani 3; Sajree 8-6, Mohammad Hanif 4.

Won by ½ L, 2¼ L. Time: 57 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Mumtaz.

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Lala Rukh (Raja Waqif Tehmasab Kiyani) 9-0, Zain Manzoor 1; Tell Me 9-0, Safdar Ali 2; She 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Zahid Love 8-4, Riaz Hussain 4.

Won by 1¾ L, 2 L, ½ L. Time: 56 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abdul Rashid.

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Chan Punjabi (Asim Raza) 8-10, Mazhar Ali 1; Zoaq-e-Yaqeen 8-10, Munir Hussain 3; After Hero 8-10, Mohammad Hanif 4.

Won by ½ L, ¾ L, 2¼ L. Time: one minute 55 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Tanvir Aslam.

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV II & III — 1,000M:

Ibram Prince (Mohammad Akram) 7-10, Babar Rehman 1; Qalandra 9-0, Deenar Mirwani 2; Silken Black 8-8, Munir Hussain 3; Buzkushi 8-0, Mohammad Hanif 4.

Won by Neck, 1½ L, 1¾ L. Time: one minute 0 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Abdul Rashid.

THE GINZA CUP CLASS VI DIV II, III & IV — 1000M:

Sparking (Khawaja Mohammad Atif) 8-5, Mohammad Hanif 1; Tiger Jet 8-10, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Salam-e-Dera 7-10, Babar Rehman 3; Sea Horse 8-2, Deenar Mirwani 4.

Won by Neck, 2 L, 2 L. Time: one minute 0 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV I — 1,000M:

Anibal (Abdul Sattar) 8-2, Aamir Pervez 1; Believe Me 9-0, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Legacy 8-4, Mubashir Bhatti 3; Galactic Song 8-6, Tahir Abbas 4.

Won by 3½ L, 3 L, 1½ L. Time: one minute zero seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

THE TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV — 1,000M:

Chota Jharra (Asim Raza) 7-12, Babar Rehman 1; Wahab Choice 9-2, Wasim Khan 2; Golden Pound 8-2, Deenar Mirani 3; Smiling Again 7-10, Zain Manzoor 4.

Won by 4 L, 4½ L, ½ L. Time: one minute 1 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2020