LAHORE, Nov 8 Fancied bay colt Big Heart showed an impressive turn of speed in the straight run to outpace his rivals and land the Gujranwala Cup during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Very well ridden by jockey Shakeel Mahmood, the colt beat Golden Country by three-and-a-half lengths. Speed Zone finished third a distance away.

Ten colts and fillies, progenies of some leading sires participated in the term race for two-year-old thoroughbred and half-bred colts and fillies to make it an all-star turf show.

The Shahid Mahmood Goga-owned Big Heart, trained by Rashid Latif, clocked one minute 1 4/5 seconds over the 1,000 metres sprinting distance in the feature and the third race of the day.

Colt Northern Crown, who disappointed his connections finishing second last time out, made amends defeating colt Cut Throat, by half-a-length in a last 100 metres speed burst and win the November Cup contested over 1,600 metres.

Jockey Naseer Ahmed gave Northern Crown a magnificent ride in front of a big holiday crowd to win spontaneous applause.

Filly Roheen finished third two-and-a-half lengths back with Soviet Song fourth another five lengths back.

Northern Crown covered the distance in one minute 40 4/5 seconds in this fifth race, a class IV division I, II and III combined handicap race.

Even-money favourite chestnut colt Valour put up an outstanding performance and powered clear of his 14 rivals winning the fourth race to complete a hat-trick of victories.

Piloted by Naseer Ahmed, Javed Khalid-owned Valour beat bay filly Tinker Bell by 1 3/4 lengths. Owned by Mahmood Khan, the one-pace Tinker Bell led the field from the start under Sajjad Ahmed until overpowered by the courageous Valour.

Dubai Prince finished third by a short-head while bay horse Apex just managed to hit the frame among 14 runners.

Bay filly Tuba Show trained by Haji Abid Mahmood and ridden by riding boy S.A. Qaiser, rallied from behind to flash past front-running chestnut colt Blitz in the opener to put the favourite backers in command of the day's proceedings.

Four more favourites followed Tuba Show in the successive events. However, chestnut filly Rania shocked them to fail their clean sweep when defeated by rank outsider dark-bay gelding Increment in the sixth and last race of the day.

Jockey Naseer Ahmed excelled among trainers and jockeys riding home two winners. He first rode home Valour in the fourth race and then piloted Northern Crown to a well-deserved victory in the following event.

Results

OKARA PLATE CLASS VI DIV II-B 1,000M

Tuba Show (Raja Khushbakht-ur-Rehman) 8-10, S.A. Qaiser 1; Blitz 9-0, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Skippy 9-0, Aamir Pervez 3; Captain Templer 8-6, S. Moin 4.

Won by 2 1/4 L, 1/2 L, 1 3/4 L. Time one minute 2 1/5 seconds. Winner trained by Haji Abid Mahmood.

OKARA PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 1,000M

Al Shams (Syed Aamir Raza Shah) 8-5, M. Hanif 1; Reborn 9-6, Alam Sher 2; Poly Lion 8-8, Munir Ahmed 3; Eve 9-0, Pervez Bhatti 4.

Won by Short-head, 2 L, 1 3/4 L. Time one minute 2 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by A.B. Malik.

GUJRANWALA CUP (A TERM RACE FOR

TWO-YEAR-OLD THOROUGHBRED AND

HALF-BRED COLTS AND FILLIES) 1,000M

Big Heart (Shahid Mahmood Goga) 8-1, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Golden Country 8-5, M. Zulfiqar 2; Speed Zone 8-8, S. Moin 3; Lady In Grey 8-5, M. Zeeshan 4.

Won by 3 1/2 L, Distance, Neck. Time one minute 1 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Rashid Latif.

MIANWALI PLATE CLASS V DIV I & II 1,000M

Valour (Javed Khalid) 8-4, Naseer Ahmed 1; Tinker Bell 7-6, Sajjad Hussain 2; Subai Prince 8-4, S. Moin 3; Apex 8-8, M. Hanif 4.

Won by 1 3/4 L, short-head, 4 L. Time one minute 1 seconds. Winner trained by Aleemuddin.

NOVEMBER CUP CLASS IV DIV I, II & III 1,600M

Northern Crown (Nawazish Ali Khan) 8-5, Naseer Ahmed 1; Cut Throat 7-4, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Roheen 9-0, M. Zulfiqar 3; Soviet Song 7-4, Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 1/2 L, 2 1/2 L, 5 L. Time one minute 40 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by M. Abbas.

OKARA PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV 1,000M

Increment (Shahid Mahmood) 8-11, Javed Iqbal 1; Rania 8-12, M. Hanif 2; Lucky Goshi 8-10, Alam Sher 3; Dream Queen 8-0, Shafqat S. 4.

Won by Neck, Head, 3 L. time one minute 3 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by Raja Tehmasab Khan.