January 20, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 10, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 19: In response to the race horse owners’ demand, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) from Jan 21 is revising its upward slab of stake money amount for horses bagging the first three positions in a class five and above race.

The LRC stewards have from Monday decided to award Rs150,000, Rs50,000 and Rs25,000 for class I, II and III horses that are placed first, second and third in a race.

Similarly the class four horses will also be getting increased cash prizes of Rs100,000, Rs33,333 and Rs16,667 for the same positions.

Horses occupying the first three positions in a class five race will be awarded Rs80,000, Rs26,667 and Rs13,333.

This decision was taken after the horse owners’ appeal to the LRC authorities for a revision of stake money amount slabs in view of the recent spread of equine influenza which had hurt them hard financially.

LRC steward Masood Pervaiz said the maintenance, training and upkeep of horses has become very expensive and the stake money being offered earlier seemed rather meagre in comparison to it and needed to be increased proportionately.

When contacted by Dawn, the owners expressed their gratitude over the increase and hoped it would have a good impact on the sport with the races becoming more competitive as more and more horses would be tried in each race. They, however, hoped that the LRC would also increase the stake money in the class VI and VII races so that no one would grudge this raise.—A.G.