April 2, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427

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LAHORE, April 1: Five-year-old French mare, Chandni, looks set to win the PIA Cup to be gone over 2000m during the 31st Lahore Winter Meeting at the Racecourse on Sunday.

A class II and III combined handicap race for imported and Pakistani horses, the event features a card of eight races drawn for the day’s programme.

Of the six runners listed for this seventh race of the day, grey mare Chandni, a progeny of French sire Highest Honour out-of-Douel Qamar and bay English colt Banzine are the prominent runners.

Banzine has performed very well so far winning three races in a row and has now been promoted in weight scales at 11 stones.

On the other hand, Chandni has neither won nor placed on the board yet but is placed low in the handicap at 7-10. On weight figures and the track work, she has an edge.

Owned by Khawaja M. Arif, the highly bred mare Chandni is trained by Haji Ghulam Sarwar. Most likely she will be ridden by jockey M. Hanif.

The sixth and supporting event, the Bahria Town Cup to be contested over 1600m , a class IV division I handicap race has six runners barring last-minute withdrawals.

Three-year-old bay Big Show, who was beaten on her previous outing by Sher-i-Gujrat, looks better placed in the handicap to make amends this time and win the race. Her close rival could be three-year-old Motivator.

Shoaib Tariq owned three-year-old bay filly Ferrari, who won a good race on March 19 will be on the trot to make it two in-a-row. Ferrari, is contesting in the Textile Cup over 1400m.

She is to take on Grey Swallow, Queen Of Saba and aged Love Moon, forming the vanguard of challengers in a big field of 18 runners in this fourth race of the day.

The fifth race, the Sohawa Plate class IV division III to be run over 1600m looks a three-way battle between Royal Power, Total Surprise and top weight Shahpur Pride. On handicap Royal Power has an edge over the others.

Haji Fazal Hadi, the trainer of Shahpur Pride has submitted an appeal to the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards alleging that Shahpur Pride has been handicapped very harshly.

He told Dawn that Shahpur Pride has been assigned 20 pounds more than the Royal Power in weight scales.

The handicapper has put this penalty on Shahpur Pride, who beat Royal Power by two-and-a-half lengths on March 26.

Haji said such a big penalty is totally unjustified killing Shahpur Pride’s chances in the race and is against handicapping principle to equalise chances of all horses running in the race.

People who know handicapping are of the view that Shahpur Pride has been penalised too much and trainer Haji Fazal Hadi is justified.

The appeal will be put up before the LRC stewards in a meeting to be held on Sunday before the start of races.

In the third race, Sheikhupura Plate class V division II to be gone over 1400 metres three contestants are the pick of the 13 strong field.

They are Cobbler, Shaoor and Quwat. If all on job it should be well contested event.

Fajar , who was very badly handled by his rider on previous outing should run well this time under a better rider in the eighth and last race of the day.

Hatam, Putra’s Lady and Millennium Count should fight for less remunerative positions.

A card of eight races will be decided on Sunday, the first race will start at 1200 noon.

The following are the fields and our selections.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV II 1000M.

Billoo The Great 9-4 Capaletti 9-4 Royal Cannon 9-1 Shadow Snatcher 9-0 Song Of Freedom 9-0 Dam Dama Dam 8-13 Saad’s Dragon 8-10 Wah Cisco Wah 8-10 Metallic 8-10 Bad-i-Naseem 8-6 Remember You 8-6 Mutyar 8-2 Attraction 8-2 Dogar’s Gift 8-1 Raad 7-7 Nambardar 7-6 Black Leopard 7-4 and Kosay Kaza 7-4.

Win: Capeletti. Place: Saad’s Dragon and Metallic.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV 1000m.

Magic Mirror 9-5 Wah Bhai Wah 9-0 Hello Dancer 9-0 Wendy Trace 8-12 Talal The Great 8-10 Victorious 8-8 Stride To Moment 8-8 Happy Mayla 8-6 Dream Comes True 8-2 and Top Figure 8-0.

Win: Hallow Dancer. Place: Wah Bhai Wah and Magic Mirror.

SHEIKHUPURA PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1400M.

Cross Ruff 9-0 Al Murad 9-0 Cobbler 9-0 Eye Of The Tiger 9-0 Red Hot 8-10 Dil Vil 8-10 Quwat 8-6 Wall Street 8-6 Shaoor 8-6 Fido Dido 8-6 Bosra Sham 8-0 Thinkable 7-10 and Jago 7-8.

Win: Cobbler. Place: Shaoor and Quwat.

TEXTILE CUP CLASS V DIV I 1400M.

Royal Fish 9-0 Safe And Sound 9-0 Lucky Mayla 9-0 Grey Swallow 8-12 Queen Of Saba 8-12 Mera Chandiwala 8-12 Jung Frau 8-11 Rising Sun 8-10 King Kong 8-10 Royal Destiny 8-10 Love Moon 8-9 Khaiva 8-6 Billoo Prince 8-6 New Bhakkar 8-6 Jattan Wala 8-6 Ferrari 8-4 Red Alert 8-3 and Queen Of Music 8-3.

Win: Ferrari. Place: Queen Of Saba and Grey Swallow.

SOHAWA PLATE CLASS IV DIV III 1600m.

Shahpur Pride (Under Appeal) 9-4 Zargar 8-12 Total surprise 8-12 Green Street 8-12 Aya Chandiwala 8-10 Royal Fantasy 8-6 Royal Power 8-0 and Ran Dey Basanti 7-13.

Win: Royal Power. Place; Shahpur Pride and Total Surprise.

BAHRIA TOWN CUP CLASS IV DIV I 1600m.

Valentine 9-6 Sher-i-Gujrat 9-6 Fidel Castro 9-0 Motivator 8-3 Big Show 8-2 and Key Guy Doll 7-12.

Win: Big Show. Place; Motivator.

PIA CUP CLASS II & III 1600m.

Banzine 11-0 Gujrati Babu 9-0 Lucky Winner 8-11 Chandni 7-10 Trace Hit 7-4 and Who Dares 7-4. Win: Chandni. Place; Banzine and Trace Hit.

SOHAWA PLATE CLASS IV DIV II 1600M.

Puma The Great 9-1 Hatam 9-0 Millennium Count 9-0 Storm Warning 8-11 Fajar 8-10 Putra’s Lady 9-0 and Run And Win 7-9.

Win: Fajar. Place: Hatam.