November 15, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1424

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LAHORE, Nov 14: A salient feature of the horse-racing scene at the Lahore Racecourse during the on-going Lahore Winter Meetings had been outstanding performances by imported English fillies which made it an all-time high calibre equine sport and equally enjoyed by its connoisseurs.

Of the total 34 meetings, nine have been held so far in which the imported fillies Dock Lands Diva, Kowalska, Dancing Key, Laser Lass, Snow Drop and a mare Catch All have in a true demonstration of their breed outclassed locally bred rivals.

They are the progenies of sires like Ali Royal, Desert Prince, Grand Lodge, Halling and Petardia.

Laser Lass (Ali Royal-LIngdale Lass) and Dock Land Diva (Desert Prince-Mimansa) are from the lineage of Northern Dancer (Nearco-Lady Angela) while Dancing Key (Halling-Feet Key) is from the bloodline of Deisis, a sparkling son of Sharpen Up.

Kowalska (Grand Lodge-Time Limit), Grand Lodge is a worthy son of Chief Crown. The filly Snow Drop is the progeny of Petardia out-of-Richardstown Lass while mare Catch All is the daughter of Known Fact out-of-Crystal Cavern.

The filly Aegean Daisy, who has not shown relatively a good performance so far as the others is the daughter of less known Ball Harbour out-of-Dizzyday.

According to statistics released by the Hyperion Promotions Limited for the year 2001 and 2002, the sires, namely, Ali Royal, Desert Prince, Halling and Grand Lodge are ranked high in Great Britain, Ireland and Europe in terms of stake-money won by their progenies on the English and European racing circuits.

The progenies of Petardia have won races in Holland, Germany and USA.

The imported fillies, however, failed to be fortunate for their erstwhile owners, who thought it was not worth gambling to retain them and finally sold them to Pakistani buyers.

On the Lahore Racecourse they have given a great impetus to standard of racing. But it had catastrophic effects on locally bred animals, who fail to match their strides and performances.

During the nine winter meetings held under the auspices of the Lahore Race Club (LRC) so far, five trainers and as many riders have been dominating the scene.

The trainers who sent out notable performers are Sohail Aziz, M. Bashir, Haji Ghulam Sarwar, Haji Fazal Hadi and I. Nawab. There is no doubt they have proved themselves as good trainers.

Among the riders Shahid Rehman, M. Zeeshan, A. Aziz, Salah-ud-Din II and Qasim Shah are putting in their best. By their saddle-skill they have proved they are good jockeys.

Over two dozen winter meetings are still to go and Classic and many important Cup races are yet to be held, promising a feast of racing.