See The Light bags Quaid-i-Azam Trial Cup

KARACHI: Lahore’s fancied four-year-old bay colt See The Light produced a sterling performance to win the Quaid-i-Azam Trial Cup as two riders shared the day’s honours by piloting home a brace of winners in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Favourite See The Light set the pace right from the start and kicked off in the home stretch to post a fluent 10- length victory over filly Gamez Over to lift The Quaid-i-Azam Trial Cup, a handicap race for three-year-old and upwards Pakistani horses that was run over 10 furlongs.

The public enclosure was echoed by See The Light as the punters, who have backed the horse, shouted when the horses turned bend for home.

The triumph helped the winning horse to make amends of the previous loss suffered at the hands of Celebrity in The Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara Memorial Cup on Nov 20.

By virtue of victory, first on the course in two attempts, also made him one of the leading contenders for the Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup.

Owned by Mian Maahir and Syed Raza Shah from Lahore, See The Light was ridden home by Mohammad Manzoor in style. It was saddled by rider-cum-trainer Ghulam Shabbir II.

Filly Honey Queen was placed third, beaten by 14 lengths while bay horse Don completed the frame further pushed by distance among eight starters.

It is pertinent to mention that See The Light grabbed third place in this year’s Pakistan Derby held at Lahore in March.

A race earlier, three-year-old bay colt Leading Star created quite a stir registering three lengths victory over favourite filly Celebrity to land The Colts and Fillies Trial Cup.

Quicken Away and Over Dosed occupied the following two placed on the board.

Owned by Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz, Leading Star was ridden home by champion rider Mohammad Essa and partnered by Mohammad Sharif.

Rider Mohammad Sajjad, who led filly Something Royal ahead of rivals for initial part of the seven furlongs Colts and Fillies Trial Cup, survived injuries after falling from his mount at two furlongs.

At the outset favourite filly Fairy Tale made it two on the trot galloping to a massive 12-length victory over Hooram.Outsider colt Luck Pass upset the applecart while overcoming the pair of favourites, Sunshine and Grace of Bhakkar, to claim the next race. Luck Pass was home by 10 lengths over Sunshine.

In the third race, filly English Vinglish obliged all and sundry beating mare Sunrise by five lengths.

Sher Khan, who became favourite in re-betting that preceded by scratching of first favourite Tanya, lived up to his billing prevailing over Kalu Khan by 12 lengths to annex the sixth and concluding race.

Riders Essa (Leading Star, Sher Khan) and Manzoor (Fairy Tale, See The Light) were on song with a brace of winners apiece.

Trainers Shahid Mannan and Mohammad Sharif also sent two winners apiece both owned by Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz.

Results:

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER V, VI AND VII 5 F:

Fairy Tale (Irfan Mehdi) 8-5, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Hooram 9-5 (cr9-2), Ghous Bux 2; Rana The Great 7-2 (cr7-9), Mohammad Sajjad 3; Sea Gold 7-9 (cr8-4), Mohammad Essa 4.Won by 12 L, S. Head, 5 L. Time: One minute 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER IV AND V 5 F:

Luck Pass (Abdul Hannan) 9-0, Wasim 1; Sunshine 8-5, Sohail Ahmed 2; Grace Bhakkar 8-7, Ghous Bux 3; Sonia Again 8-0 (cr8-4), Mohammad Essa 4.Won by 10 L, 4½ L, ½ L. Time: One minute 3 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Shahid Mannan.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER I, II, III AND IV 5 F:

English Vinglish (Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara) 8-2, Sohail Ahmed 1; Sunrise 7-0, Zaki Zakir 2; Doctor 8-11, Ghous Bux 3; Top Most 8-10, Ghulam Shabbir II 4.Won by 5 L, 1¼ L, 8 L. Time: One minute 3 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohyuddin.

THE COLT AND FILLIES TRIAL CUP – A HANDICAP RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD PAK COLT AND FILLIES – 7 F:

Leading Star (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 8-10, Mohammad Essa 1; Celebrity 8-11, Zaki Zakir 2; Quicken Away 8-4, Pervez Ali 3; Over Dosed 8-0, A. Ahmed 4Won by 3 L, 1½ L, Dist. Time: One minute 31 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sharif.

THE QUAID-I-AZAM TRIAL CUP – A HANDICAP RACE FOR THREE-YEAR-OLD AND UPWARDS PAK HORSES – 10 F:

See The Light (Mian Maahir and Syed Raza Shah) 8-5, Mohammad Manzoor 1; Gamez Over 8-0, Sohail Ahmed 2; Honey Queen 8-2 (cr8-3), Mohammed Essa 3; Don 8-2 (cr8-8), Ghous Bux 4.Won by 10 L, 14 L, Dist. Time: Two minutes 6 2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Ghulam Shabbir II.

THE KARACHI PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4½ F:

Sher Khan (Zainab Ali and Aariz Nawaz) 9-1, Mohammad Essa 1; Kalu Khan 7-13 (cr8-0), Wasim 2; Choco Bar 8-13, Mohammad Nasir 3; Bugash Bugash 8-7 (cr8-2), Ganguzar 4.Won by 12 L, 1¼ L, 5 L. Time: 0. 58.2/5 seconds. Winner trained by Mohammad Sharif.