October 24, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 11, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 23: Three-year-old bay colt, Gulf Line, who was beaten in his last outing, should make amends and win the feature event this time when the mid-week Lahore Gymkhana races gets under way at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

The Lahore Gymkhana races had been suspended by the Lahore Race Club (LRC) in June for lack of entries in races and have now been resumed from Oct 24 as a permanent weekly feature in the face of enough entries..

After winning two back-to-back races on July 25 and August 12, Gulf Line was beaten to third position behind stable-mate, Bold Act and Stride To Moment on September 23. He is contesting in the Ravi Plate, a class five, division second handicap race to be gone over the sprinting distance of 1000m.

Among his close rivals, the filly Shah Rani and the mare Dazzy Against All are prominent runners in the field of eight runners, barring last-minute withdrawals.

Three fillies are the pick of nine runners in the supporting event, Kala Shah Kaku Plate class VI division I to be contested over 1000m.

Shah Rani, Armida are the consistent performers while Aaja Bulbul has considerably come down in the handicap and could be a threat to all.

The trio should fight for the top honours in this fifth race in racing orders.

Kotli, Tallal The Great and Dogar Gift look good in the Kala Shah Kaku Plate class VI division II over 1000m.

They should fight for the spoils in the same order.

Malang Aya, High Quality and God Gift stand out in the Kala Shah Kaku Plate, Class VI division III handicap race. There are at least six runners who relish the distance. However, the handicap gives edge to God Gift followed by High Quality and Malang Aya. But the rider will matter in this race, which is very tightly handicapped.

The first two races consist of runners, who are by unknown pedigrees or not registered. Most of them are making their debut in races as people have started buying unregistered and unknown pedigree animals. It is difficult to predict about such runners, how they will perform. Among those, who have already run in race Rose, Sajju The Great and Brave Heart look good in the second race comprising 14-runner.

Sohna, Pukkar and Sohna Noor are the pick of 14-runners in the first race. They should fight for the spoils.

Meanwhile a prominent racehorse owner, Mahmood Khan, has taken exception to LRC decision allowing only half-a-dozen official timekeepers to record timing of horses during morning track work and banning entry of private timekeepers.

He said while talking to Dawn that this was an unjust decision as all owners have the explicit right to know what their horses are doing in track work and what progress is made by those, who are to compete in races.

He said racehorse ownership is an expensive pastime at any level, and owners have the right to know strength of their horses and also of those, who are to match strides with theirs’. This is an essential test for a healthy competition. Recording time is not an easy task and very few people can be specialist timekeepers because for a timekeeper, a genuine knowledge about other aspects of the horse and complete know-how of racing is pre-requisite. It is not just to click the machine and stop it, it is much more than this. Had it not been so many horses backed confidently by connections would have not misfired.

Moreover, he said, race-goers too want to have complete knowledge about the fitness of contestants and that can only be judged through track-work or participation in races. He said horseracing is an industry, which propels on four pillars-Training, riding, punting and bookkeeping. None’s role can be negated for competitive and healthy sporting activity involving four-legged athlete — they all should have access to full information about the wellbeing of horses on which the industry revolves. By allowing some and putting ban on some others, amounts to hiding truth, which is against all cannons of justice and fair play.

The first race will be held at 12.30pm.

The following are the fields and our selections.

SHAHDARA PLATE CLASS VII

DIV I-B 1000M.

Sohna Murad 9-0, Mah-e-Noor 9-0, Patolla 9-0, Mosaic 8-10, Gold Venture 8-10, Pretty 8-6, Pukkar 8-6, Red Baron 8-2, Sona 7-12, Nigar 7-12, Ahsan Love 7-10, Sohna Noor 7-10, Stumpy 7-10 and Goldie 7-10.

Win: Sona.

Place: Pukkar and Sohna Noor.

SHAHDARA PLATE CLASS VII

DIV I 1000M.

Sohna Bhakkar 9-0, Billal Love 9-0, Scented Dust 9-0, Kiss Of Love 9-0, Hit Song 9-0, Sohni Noor 9-0, Reema 9-0, La Rose Negre 9-0, Super Style 9-0, Brave Heart 9-0, Rose 9-0, Al Dar 8-10, Aya Bhakkar 8-10 and Sajju The Great 8-10.

Win: Rose.

Place: Sajju The Great and Brave Heart.

KALA SHAH KAKU PLATE CLASS VI DIV III 1000M.

Great Rhythm 9-0, Royal Palace 9-0, Welcome Mayla 9-0, High Hope 9-0, Malang Aya 8-11, Cheeta Aya 8-10, High Quality 8-10, Bird Fly 8-7, Tosca 8-3, Chander Mukhi 8-3, Malika 8-0, Miss Mano 7-13, God Gift 7-12, My Princess 7-10, Leader’s Wing 7-10 and Yard Arm 7-10.

Win: God Gift.

Place: High Quality and Malang Aya.

KALA SHAH KAKU PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1000M.

Murad King 9-0, Gold Round 9-0, Wah Bhai Wah 8-6 Kotli 8-4, Tallal The Great 8-4, Shikari 8-4 and Dogar Gift 7-10.

Win: Kotli.

Place: Tallal The Great and Dogar Gift.

KALA SHAH KAKU PLATE CLASS VI DIV I 1000M.

Happy Life 9-0, Aaja Bulbul 8-12, Eve 8-10 ,Shah Pari 8-8, Armida 8-8, Ferrari 8-6, Big Power 8-6, Sher-e-Lahore 8-2 and Sohna Billoo 8-2.

RAVI PLATE CLASS V

DIVISION II 1000M.

Gulf Line 9-0, Shah Rani 8-13, Royal Command 8-13, Happy Bear 8-9, Arsome Prince 8-9, Prince Salman 8-9, Never Fail 8-5 and Dazzy Against All.

Win: Gulf Line

Place: Dazzy against All and Shah Rani.