May 18, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 01, 1428

LAHORE, May 17: The Lahore Winter Meetings which ended recently amid the glamour and glory of over four dozen cup events staged in handicap, terms and classic races reserved for horses of different classes had both positive and negative aspects.

During the 35-meetings, which commenced in August last year, ending with the holding of Farewell Cup and April Cup on April 29, the Racecourse was the scene of top calibre racing action in which equine athletes from the world's finest bloodlines competed.

A record amount of prize-money worth over rupees forty millions was on offer, mostly from sponsorships, that made the nine month racing carnival the richest ever and the most prestigious at the Lahore Racecourse.

These were the positive aspects of the racing scene. But it had the stunning negative too, the Pakistan Derby favourite colt, Toru Khan was openly pulled by his jockey Aamir Parvaiz, the likes of which the sport connoisseurs would not even dream of. An enquiry held later revealed that the colt, 80 to 100 favourite with a great betting plunge, was not allowed to run on merit by the rider. And when he made it sure that defeat was staring, he let him go to finish second. The colt owned by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz and trained by Ghulam Sarwar had a fine record of winning five races, twice placed second in his total eight outings. The Derby was won by a long shot Gold Krik

The LRC stewards warned off jockey Aamir Parvaiz for life and also stopped his entry into race club premises for good.

This is a singular instance that a hot Derby contender had been pulled openly in the biggest classics for four-year-old colts and fillies, which remains a life wish for every owner, trainer or a jockey, because of the prestige, honour and glory attached to it.

For jockey Aamir the easy money, he got for pulling the colt, was the top priority

The top performer during the meetings was the English mare, Grecianette, who dominated the Lahore Racecourse by her excellent performances. The daughter of U.S based sire, Night Shift out-of-Alexanderia (IRE), Grecianette, in her total six outings won five races and was placed third once, and that too when she was not allowed to run on merit by her jockey. Grecianette won the Thatta Cement Cup, The Lahore Classics, The Eclipse Stakes Of Pakistan, the Neelum Cup the Farewell Cup, a feat rarely achieved by any horse in Pakistan.

Grecianette had one more distinction. She set up a course record of 58 3/5 seconds for the 1000 metres sprinting distance on April 29 carrying a heavy impost of 11 stones 6 pounds. She bettered the previous record set by the English mare, Fanim, on March 4, 2001. It is just a coincidence that both the mares, Fanim and Grecianette, are owned by Syed Parvaiz Hussain Shah.

The leading stable owned jointly by Messers Tariq Aziz and Khawaja M. Arif, once again maintained his superiority by winning majority of the big events, except the Pakistan Derby. Their success lies in their being the great judge of horse-bloodline and better managemnt and maintenance of their charges. They are well informed and keep themselves abreast of the performance and form of the horses who are to compete against theirs.

Malik Hamid Ali Noon's stable, which had once been a top stable in respect of prize-money won and then relegated to second position, had a lean season this time.

Though Malik Noon imported some good fillies from U.K but they did not click and were late to get into form and some other Pakistani bred and performing well were injured during the races. His stable was the only to pose challenge to that of Tariq Aziz and Khawaja Arif, which made things easier for the latter.

During the meetings the dearth of good riders and trainers was greatly felt. Only few riders and trainers are well versed with the professional ability. The need for good riders was acutely felt when midway through the meetings when some riders left Lahore for abroad in search of better proposition. It had been noticed that during the Last four years as many as 57 riders including 14 jockeys have left for other countries where they have been offered job as work riders.