LAHORE: An eight-event card featuring four cup races highlights the 30th Lahore Winter Meeting which gets under way at the Racecourse in cool conditions following Friday’s heavy downpour in the provincial metropolis.

The most prominent event of the day, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup to be contested over 2,000 metres, contains a field of six contenders including the Pakistan Derby winner Pakistani Star; and Royal Ransom who will be measuring each other’s strides for supremacy while colt Tufaan, who was a Derby failure under English jockey John Eagan, will be struggling to regain his prestige.

The main supporting event, the Wajid Ali Shah Memorial Cup to be gone over 1,200 metres has six runners, who have dominated the field with a number of victories to their credit. Bay fillies Sundari and Fox Trot look impressive on current form.

The Pakistan Day Cup, a Class VII Division III handicap race to be run over 1,100 metres, has nine runners among whom bay horse Sardar Gee with a hat-trick under his belt will be looking to extend the victory streak. Jalpana Prince and Codes Cracker may prove to be his challengers.

The Nero’s Dream Cup, a handicap race to be gone over 1,100 metres, has ten runners. Colts Macs King, Farhan King and Mutajil should fight it out in the same order.

In all, 68 horses will be vying for the races on Sunday with the first to start at 12:00 noon.

Meanwhile, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) issued a notification on Friday directing owners/trainers of competing horses to observe punctuality and bring their charges in the saddling stables strictly on time in view of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak. Trainers would be fined for bringing their horses behind the scheduled time, said the notification.

Moreover, owners and trainers have also been informed that from now onwards prize money of classic races would be paid to the owners occupying the first four positions in a race, only after the receipt of blood testing report.

LRC stewards have decided to hold two rugby races in the rainy season — one would be meant for three-year-old and the other for four-year-old and above over the distance of seven furlongs each.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023