LAHORE: Long shot bay filly Blue Moon staged a remarkable recovery in a good final furlong duel with bay horse Man Of Commitment to emerge winner in the feature event during the day/night Lahore Summer Meeting at the Racecourse here on Sunday evening.

Ridden by S. Raza, the four-year-old filly collared long time front-runner Man Of Commitment inside the 200-metre marker and then ensued the battle for supremacy that saw Blue Moon finally win by two lengths at the finishing line in the seventh and the last race of the day.

Favourite filly Moon Star failed to make any impression on both the leaders and finished third, three lengths back while nosing out filly Jewel to fourth spot.

Thirteen runners took part in the event gone over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres.

A race earlier bay filly Beautiful Lady in a fine front-running display of speed registered her second success on the trot. She beat filly Satpara by over two lengths in the supporting event run over 900 metres. This is for the fifth time that Satpara has occupied the second spot. The handicapper should give her some incentive for being ever on the try out.

Favourite filly Rose Petal finished a dismal third leaving the race-goers finger crossed which prompted the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards to take a spontaneous action.

The filly was examined by the LRC vet and found sluggish. Her trainer Sajid Mahmood was fined Rs50,000 for not sending the filly in fit condition to race. Her participation in races was also banned for two months. The action was lauded by the race-goers when it was announced on the public address system.

Sunday’s races were held on the rain-soaked velvet green grass track following early morning heavy showers in the city. As a result the underfoot conditions did not suit some runners, particularly those carrying top weight in handicap while the light-weight runners benefitted in some cases.

Results:

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV V — 900M:

Goonj (Chaudhry Riazuddin) 7-12, M. Sajjad 1; Al Bilal 8-2, Abdul Rehman 2; Karam Pay Karam 8-10, Abdul Wahab 3; Salanty 9-0, Alam Sher 4.

Won by 1 L, 2½ L, 3¾ L. Time 58 3/5 seconds. Winner trained by Sajid Mahmood.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B — 900M:

Artghal (Mian Waleed Haroon) 9-0, S. Raza 1; Tera Karam 9-0, Alam Sher 2; Baby On Board 8-12, Allah Rakha 3; Accurate Baby 7-10, Rifaqat Ali 4.

Won by 1 L, Short-head, 2¼ L. Time 58 seconds. Winner trained by M. Islam.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A — 900M:

Shan-e-Sikandar (Mohammad Rafiq Khan) 8-4, Shakeel Mahmood 1; One Man Show 8-10, Tahir Abbas 2; Prince Of Dubai 8-6, Umar Shahzad 3; Rakshey Chaman 8-6, Aftab Chaudhry 4.

Won by 1 L, 5½ L. 4L. Time 56 seconds. Winner trained by Sajid Mahmood.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV — 900M:

Jutt Bahadur (Amjad Ali Jutt) 8-10, Javed Chaudhry 1; Kali Ghata 8-6, Pervez Bhatti 2; Lucky Sohna 9-0, Tahir Abbas 3; Majali 9-0, S. Raza 4.

Won by short-head, ¾ L, 3½ L. Time 57 seconds. Winner trained by Khawaja Qamar Hameed.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV III — 900M:

Dollar Box (Syed Ammar Raza) 8-4, Bilal Ahmed 1; Mehbooba 8-8, M. Faisal 2; Amir Queen 9-2, M. Wasim 3; Sana Meri Jan 8-8, Zameer 4.

Won by 1¼ L, 6 L, 5½ L. Time 56 4/5 seconds. Winner trained by A. B. Malik.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VII DIV I & II — 900M:

Beautiful Lady (Salman Mirza) 8-4, Muir Hussain 1; Satpara 8-0, Aftab Chaudhry 2; Rose Petal 8-8, Aamir Pervez 3; No Way 9-0, M. Zulfiqar 4.

Won by 2½ L, 1½ L, Short-head. Time 55 seconds. Winner trained by S. Butt.

THE CONFLICT PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV — 1,000M:

Blue Moon (Sher Shah Kasi) 7-12, S. Raza 1; Man Of Commitment 8-6, Tahir Abbas 2; 8-10, Aftab Chaudhry 3; Jewels 8-2, Pervez Bhatti 4.

Won by 2¼ L, 3 L, Head. Time one minute two seconds. Winner trained by Amjad Ali II.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2016