LAHORE, March 2: The Lahore Race Club (LRC) has announced a total prize-money of rupees one million and ten thousand for winners of the first four positions in the Pakistan Derby 2006 to be run on Sunday, making the race the richest ever staged in Derby history.

The winner is to receive a handsome purse of rupees half a million besides a cup valued at rupees 50,000.

The colts and fillies coming in second, third and fourth position will get Rs250,000, Rs125,000 and Rs50,000, respectively.

The breeder will be awarded Rs35,000 for breeding a champion four-year-old.

This will be the 58th running of the Pakistan Derby, billed as the battle for supremacy among three colts and two fillies.

Three colts, Zoro, Swing and Thrill and two fillies Victory Road and Trace Hit in contention have captured the attention of the racing public at some time during the season.

However, none of them have completely dominated the Racecourse and their classic finale of a mouth-watering eleven event card is scheduled for Sunday. In all, eight colts and three fillies have accepted to run in the Derby 2006 at the time of declaration of riders on Thursday.

Of them Victory Road, Trace Hit, Thrill did not run in the Derby Trial race on Feb 19, which was won by Zoro, who defeated Swing by seven lengths. Racing pundits are hoping that the most cherished event in country’s turf calendar would be a most competitive affair in the recent times.

Previously, the Derby race has been confined to a contest between two or at the most three contenders.

Those left-in the field after the final forfeit on Wednesday are: Zoro, Owais Prince, Swing, Thrill, Gujrati Babu, Newton, Achilles, Alexander (Colts) Victory Road, Who Dares and Trace Hit (Fillies).

The highly prized filly, Victory Road, with facile victories at Karachi and Lahore is unbeaten with five wins in-a-row.

But now she is to prove her mettle in a different set of four-year- old. Meanwhile a suspended jockey, Aamar Parvaiz has been allowed to ride Swing in Derby race following a decision taken by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards. Jockey Aamar Parvaiz who was suspended for three months for not allowing Alexander to run on merit on Feb 5 last.

The stewards took the decision on appeal made by the joint owners of Swing, Mian Maahir Ahmad and Mahmood Khan.

The LRC has made elaborate arrangements to hold the Derby Day races in a manner befitting the occasion.

The Derby enjoyed great success since the Lahore Race Club was shifted from its Gulberg Road complex to Kot Lakhpat in the remote corner of the provincial metropolis.

The most cherished event for breeders, trainers, owners and the jockeys alike, the Pakistan Derby has a chequered history.

The Derby runners with probable jockeys are: Zoro (Wajid Hussain), Owais Prince (A. Aziz), Swing (Aamar Parvaiz), Thrill (Salah-ud-Din II), Gujrati Babu (M. Nasir 11), Newton (Azam Hussain), Achilles (M. Zeeshan), Alexander (Khurrum Sheikh), Victory Road (Shahid Rehman), Who Dares (Shahid Mustafa) and Trace Hit (M. Hanif).