LAHORE, March 18: A contest between the cream of imported thoroughbreds which has lit up the Lahore winter Meetings reaches its fitting climax when they vie for the Aquafina Eclipse Stakes Of Pakistan at the Racecourse on Sunday.

With two consecutive wins on his back, the colt from English sire Barathea out-of-Banque Privec, Banzine, takes on the elite of English, American and Pakistani thoroughbreds for the final time during the on-going meetings in a term race to be gone over 2,000 metres.

Banzine will be on the trot to complete hat trick for owner Syed Tasweer Hussain Shah, trainer Suhail Aziz and rider M. Hanif, who is leading the jockeys table for the current season.

Prominent among his rivals are Brummel (Polish Precedent-Fashion) Golden Drift (Inchinour-Carpet Of Levis) and Hidden Cave (Bishop Of Cashel-Polar Cave).

Besides there is a mare, Chandni, from USA based sire Highest Honour out-of-Dual Qamar, but she is adversely placed in the handicap following the terms of the race.

This will be the seventh race of the day’s programme.

Chestnut filly Trace Kim looks better placed in the weight scales in the seventh race to be run over 1600 metres, a class IV division I handicap event.

Trace Kim has been performing very well and is in peak form. Her close rivals could be top weight Freedom Dancer, Fidel Castro and Fajr.

Three-year-old Toru Khan looks a cut above in class vis-a-vis his rivals in the Kohat Plate, a class IV division II handicap race over 1600 metres.

The way Toru Khan, bred at Huzaifa stud farm, won on his previous outing showing a tremendous improvement, there seems hardly any chance of his defeat by his low-profile rivals, who look no patch on him.

Red Hot Fire and Putra’s Lady will be fighting for less remunerative positions. This will be the sixth race of the day.

Three-year-old colt, Total Surprise, is an outstanding performer in the fifth race.

He is brought back on to the track after a long absence. On performance he should have the better of Big Bird, Royal Destiny and Hatam.

There seems a good match between Royal Power and Shahpur Pride. Royal Power has already won three races in-a-row while Shahpur Pride has been beaten twice on his previous outings.

Queen Of Saba, Love Moon and Eye Of The Tiger are the pick of nine runners drawn for the third race.

They should fight it out. The first race will be held at 12pm.

Fields and our slections:

Mansehra Plate Class VII Div I 1100M.

Wendy Trace 9-0 Che Guvera 8-10 Daisy Against All 8-8 Black Rock 8-6 Stride To Moment 8-4 Savera 8-2 Major Rana 8-2 and Bosra Sham 8-0.

Win: Daisy Against All. Place: Bosra Sham and Stride To Moment.

Sibbi Plate Class V Div II 1300M.

Cross Ruff 9-4 Grey Dancer 9-0 Wall Street 9-0 Red Hot 9-0 Trump Coup 8-11 Cobbler 8-10 Fido Dido 8-10 Owais Star 8- 10 Well Minister 8-10 Booster 8-10 Ferrari 8-10 Zahoor-i-Sehar 8- 8 Byron 8-6 Ministry 8-2 Noor 8-2 Eastern Bird 8-2 Shaba Queen 8-0 and Jago 7-12.

Win: Ferrari. Place: Trump Coup and Cobbler.

Sibbi Plate Class V Div I-B 1300M.

Tuman Khan 9-0 Queen Of Saba 8-12 Queen Of Gold 8-11 Love moon 8-11 Zardan8-10 Al Murad 8-10 Eye Of Tiger 8-8 Dil Vil 8-3 and Lucky Chiragh 8-3.

Win: Queen Of Saba. Place: Eye Of Tiger and Love Moon.

Sibbi Plate Class V Div I-A 1300M.

Owais Dream 9-0 Royal Power 8-12 Shahpur Pride 8-10 Billoo The Great 8-10 Rising Sun 8-10 Puma Princess 8-10 New Bhakkar 8-10 Discovery 8-7 Grey Swallow 8-7 Queen Of Music 8-7 Herry Can View 8-6 and Jatan Wala 8-5.

Win: Shah Pur Pride. Place: Grey Swallow and Royal Power.

Pepsi Plate Class IV Div III 1600M.

Big Bird 9-2 Aya Chandiwala 9-0 Hatam 8-10 Total surprise 8-8 Flood Of Gold 8-6 Must Mayla 8-2 Roshan 8-2 Royal Destiny 7-9 and Royal Fish 7-7.

Win: Total Surprise. Place: Royal Destiny and Big Bird.

Pepsi Plate Class IV Div II 1600M.

Puma The Great 9-0 Steereo Nation 8-11 Red Hot Fire 8-8 Empire Maker 8-3 Putra’s Lady 8-0 and toru Khan 7-8.

Win: Toru Khan. Place: Putra’s lady and Red Hot Fire.

Pepsi Cup Class IV Div I 1600M.

Sher-i-Gujrat 9-4 Freedom Dancer 9-4 Pawan 8-9 Fidel Castro 8-0 Key Guy Doll 7-13 Millennium Count 7-11 Trace Kim 7-6 and Fajr 7-6.

Win: Trace Kim. Place: Fidel Castro and Fajr.

Eclipse Stakes Of Pakistan Class III and upward 2000m.

Hidden Cave 9-10 Golden Drift 9-5 Brummel 9-3 Lucky Winner 9-2 Banzine 9-1 Chandni 8-13 Dixie Queen 8-10 Ponente 8-8 and Gujrati Babu 8-6.

Win: Banzine. Place: Golden Drift and Brummel.

Classic races