LAHORE, Dec 21: Bay horse Tipu Sultan edged out Great Memories in a spectacular performance to bag the December Cup, run over 1,200 metres during the Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

Tipu Sultan beat three-year-old filly Great Memories, who failed to ward off his strong challenge in the last few strides to be content with second position by the narrow margin of a head. Her owner Mirza Khurshid Baig was the great sufferer.

Five-year-old bay Tipu Sultan, jointly owned by Munir Ahmed Dar and Syed Pervez Hussain, was ridden by the riding boy Shakeel Mahmood.

Bay filly Tuba First finished third, a length further behind while Valenday completed the frame.

In this race, favourite Dubai Fan owned by Syed Pervez Hussain put up a disappointing performance, finishing off the frame.

The winner backed at three-to-one clocked one minute 14 1/5 seconds. This was the fifth race of the day.

Another episode was made when a shot-priced favourite filly Philogyny won the supporting and fourth race run over 1,200 metres.

Riding boy Naseer Ahmed was seen at his best as he rode Philogyny to victory, extricating the 10-to-100 favourite from an uncompromising pocket to pinch the race with a nice turn of the foot.Owned by Syed Pervez Hussain, the winner beat Pick Of The Day by about two lengths in an exciting finish from outside the front-running Pick Of The Day. Legend Setter ran third with Will He Wish coming fourth.

Tripple Star, a long shot bay filly, won the second race, defeating the second favourite filly Rania.

The mystery at the race happened with Rania’s defeat, by a short margin of a neck. Her dismal running in the early part of the race was the subject of discussion among the punters who backed her.

In the same race, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards stopped the entries of Harry Can Run for two months after the animal was found unfit to race.

In the following event, the stewards suspended riding boy Imran Pervez for one month and fined him Rs10,000 for not allowing his mount Future Perfect to run merit.

An outstanding winner of the day was chestnut gelding Red Carpet who showed wonderful acceleration to cut down his 10 opponents. Once he took an early lead, he never let rivals to come near him, winning by two-and-a-half lengths from Sun Downer.

Results:

JALLO PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1,200M:

Fakhar-e-Sialkot (Munir Ahmed Dar) 7-12, Azhar Hussain 1; Khuddar 8-10, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Cleopatra 9-0, Khalid 3; Maharani 9-0, M. Wasim 4.

Won by 1 ½ L, Neck, Distance. Time one minute 18 1/5 seconds. The winner trained by Aleemuddin.

JALLO PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 1,200M:

Tripple Star (Naseeruddin Siddiqui) 8-12, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Rania 9-2, Ali Raza 2; Zoaq 8-9, Bilal Ahmed 3; Dream Memories

8-10, Imran Pervez 4.

Won by Neck, ¾ L, ½ L. Time one minute 19 seconds. The winner trained by Imran.

MASTUNG PLATE CLASS V

DIV II 1,200M:

Magic Queen (Shahid Mahmood Dogar) 8-8, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Shim Jim 8-12, Majid Ali 2; Pretty Girl 8-10, Bilal Ahmed 3; Mikkado 9-0, Fareed Ali 4.

Won by Neck, Neck, 1 ¾ L. Time one minute 16 4/5 seconds. The winner trained by Imran.

MASTUNG PLATE CLASS V

DIV I & II 1,200M:

Philogyny (Syed Pervez Hussain) 8-5, Naseer Ahmed 1; Pick Of The Day 8-1, Shakeel Mahmood 2; Legend Setter 7-10, M. Zulfiqar 3; Will He Wish 8-10, M. Wasim 4.

Won by 1 ¾ L, 3 ¼ L, 1 ¾ L. Time one minute 16 seconds. The winner trained by Abdul Rasheed.

DECEMBER CUP CLASS IV

DIV I, II & III 1,200M:

Tipu Sultan (Munir Dar and Syed Pervez Hussain) 7-12, Shakeel Mahmood 1; Great Memories 7-8, Munir Ahmed 2; Tuba First 8-0, Azhar Hussain 3; Valenday 10-6, A. Imran 4.

Won by Head, 1 L, 7 ¼ L. Time one minute 14 1/5 seconds. The winner trained by Zahid Rashid.

JALLO PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,200M:

Red Carpet (Khawaja M. Atif) 7-12, Mazhar Ali 1; Sun Downer 8-6, Bilal Ahmed 2; Stride To Moment 9-0, Ali Raza 3; Murad The Great 7-5, Sajjad Hussain 4.

Won by 2 ½ L, 4 ½ L, Head. Time one minute 17 4/5 seconds. The winner trained by Rashid Latif.