LAHORE, April 26: The Lahore Race Club (LRC) bids adieu to its winter meetings in a modest way when a six-event card goes through at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The last edition is being held this year without the staging of the regular annual feature the Farewell Cup for want of entries in the specified term and handicap races. Both events failed to attract the required number of horses.

They could, however, at the last moment declare the feature event, a class V, division I handicap race to be gone through 1,200 metres as the Farewell Cup.

It has nine runners including a couple of good sprinters that would add more interest to the encounter while bringing the meetings to a glorious end.

However, the star filly Janu, owned by Munir Dar, is all set to make the stable’s seasonal ending on a triumphant note for the former national hockey captain.

Janu, the four-year-old bay daughter of Bedouine Invader out-of-Fantastic Cute, had been extremely unlucky last Sunday when she was beaten by Bright Flame. But she should live up to her name and oblige the connections by registering an emphatic win this time around. Lucky Cat, Emperor and Jo Jo Gift may also fight for places on the board.

There are 13 runners barring last-minute withdrawals in the main and supporting event, the Chakwal Plate, class V, division II to be contested over 1,200 metres.

It looks like an open affair. Going by their recent form, Munsaf, Pick Of The Day, Mythical Flight and Volcano all have a chance and should be competing for top honours. This will be the sixth and last race of the day.

Chestnut colt Big Power, who was beaten by National Malook, will be going all out to make amends in the third race to be contested in the over 800 metres distance.

Though the distance is a bit short for the colt, he should have the better of the bay filly Dream Act and the horse Honest Minister.

On recent performance, the three-year-old bay filly Lighting Muqeem who was closely beaten due to the erratic handling of his riding boy Majid Ali, should successfully break her maiden’s duck on the statistics table of winners.

The Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz took a serious note of Majid’s handling of the filly on April 9. Rang De Basanti, Love Minister and Divine Jury should fight for the places.

The filly Noor-un-Nisa and Blitz attract attention in the second race with the latter being the speedier one. Noor-un-Nisa was not allowed to run on merit by jockey M. Hanif on April 20. First he kept the filly from accelerating to trail the field by two lengths and subsequently, instead of pushing forward, he seemed to be content with the third position. Perhaps the filly was backed by connections for the place with the jockey being given instructions not to finish beyond the position.

Since the filly’s handling evoked sharp criticism in the racing circles, the LRC chairman Tariq Aziz has suspended jockey M. Hanif from riding for two months. The punishment handed down by the chairman was greatly appreciated while being seen as a right step for cleansing races from such malpractices.

A card of six events, four to be gone over 800 metres and two over 1,200 metres has been drawn for the meeting. The first race will be held at 1.00pm.

Following are the fields and our selections:

LANDHI PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 800M:

Divine Jury 9-2, Red Carpet 9-0, Rang De Basanti 9-0, Gold Bird 9-0, Stride To Moment 8-12, Love Minister 8-12, Bashayeash Prince 8-10, Free Hit 8-10, Little Love 8-10, Lighting Muqeem 8-6, Noor Pari 8-4 and Dream Memories 8-0.

Win: Lighting Muqeem.

Place: Rang De Basanti and Love Minister.

LANDHI PLATE CLASS VI DIV I-B 800M:

Secret Night 9-0, Love Story 9-0, Melody Queen 9-0, Iconic 9-0, Noor-un-Nisa 9-0, Thanks For Nothing 9-0, Golden Edition 9-0, Suture Perfect 9-0, Aaja Bulbul 9-0, Blitz 9-0, Pind De Kiri Tripple Star 9-0, Big Choice 8-8 and Sohna Billoo 8-4.

Win: Noor-un-Nisa.

Place: Big Choice and Blitz.

LANDHI PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 800M:

Big Power 9-2, Amazing Boy 9-0, Little Smile 9-0, Secret Memories 9-0, Fit Fat 9-0, Hamza Prince 9-0, Royal Passion 9-0, Dream Act 8-12, Honest Minsiter 8-11, Tallal The Great 8-10, Quantico 8-10, Princess Amman 8-10, Philogyny 8-10, Victory Gallop 8-10, Striker 8-10 and Tyson 8-8.

Win: Big Power.

Place: Striker and Deam Act.

LANDHI PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV 800M:

Mama Mia 9-4, Weldon Shogun 8-10, Hikmat 8-8, Red Fairy 8-2, Royal Palace 8-2, Sona 8-0, White Oaks 8-0, Malang Aya 8-0, Victory King 8-0 and Lucky Star 8-0.

Win: Hikmat.

Place: Mama Mia and Sona.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS V DIV I 1,200M:

Lucky Cat 9-0, Alexander 9-0, Janu 9-0, Jo Jo Gift 8-10, Emperor 8-8, Tuba First 8-6, Dubai Fan 8-2, Alishba 8-2 and Dillagi 8-2.

Win: Janu.

Place: Emperor and Lucky Cat.

CHAKWAL PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1,200M:

Gulf Line 9-0, Blue Fire 8-10, Magic Stride 8-8, Pick Of The Day 8-8, Baker Love 8-8, Chinkara 8-6, Volcano 8-6, Munsaf 8-6, My Delilah 8-6, Sun City 8-6, Sweet Lady 8-6, Mythical Flight 8-6 and Harry Can Run 7-12.

Win: Munsaf.

Place: Pick Of The Day and Mythical Flight.