September 17, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 16, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 16: A tricky card of six events has been drawn up for the midweek Lahore Gymkhana races to be held at the Racecourse on Wednesday.

In all, 81 acceptors have been left in after scratching, barring last-minute withdrawals. All races will be held over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres.

The events are tightly handicapped, each having at least half a dozen chance horses. This makes winner picking a difficult task for the punters, who either follow the known bigger punters or stable connections. They rely on them since they have no other source to judge the credibility of the information and often fall in the trap.

It has been seen that sometimes the clever owners employ ghost punters, who make false bets on horses to install them as the favourites in order to mislead the general public. They engage good riders for such horses in order to attract people into betting and are rewarded by the cash coming in. The riders, after all are no angels. The unscrupulous among them are lured easily while the top ones go about their work rather cleverly by easing their mounts so they get the benefit of the doubt to escape public wrath.

In the sixth and feature event, the Chaman Plate, class VI, division II handicap race there are 10 acceptors, if there are no last-minute withdrawals. Of them, four look on chance, namely, Cleopatra, Tallal The Great, Victory King and Dream Memories.

The eight-year-old mare Cleopatra, who is consistently showing improvement in her performance, though placed on top of the handicap in weight scales carrying nine stones three pounds still has an edge over the others. In her eight outings this season, the dark bay mare has won once and was placed on the board six times. She is speedy and should have the better of her rivals. Her three opponents named above cannot be ignored easily and may prove to be the thorns in Cleopatra’s way to victory. Here the question arises: Do stable connections fancy her?

High Quality, Geo Bhakkar and Mahima are the pick of the 13 runners drawn for the fifth and supporting event. The six-year-old gelding High Quality and the four-year-old bay colt Geo Bhakkar and the mare Mahima should battle it out on equal chance.

Polo Ground, Saad Prince and Muskan look good among the 18 strong field for the fourth race, the Kaghan Plate, class VII, division I.

The six-year-old mare Polo Ground, who was beaten to second place on July 3 last, should make amends and win this time. The only negative point against the mare is her appearance on the course after 10 weeks and on it he will get the benefit of doubt. Saad Prince and Muskan are the next best.

Changer, Golden Falcon, Client and Miss Mano attract attention on their recent form to pick up the spoils in the third race. The first one named is the most consistent performer but has been unlucky every time not to get in to the winner’s box.

Trained by Abdul Rasheed, Changer has never been out of place during his previous outings.

Chestnut horse Book Bet beaten to second place on Wednesday last should emerge victorious this time in the second race. Boby Love, Anarkali and Leader’s Wing may fight for the places.

The first race is composed of runners belonging to the last division of class VII. They are all unknown pedigree horses and inconsistency is their distinctive feature. That’s why they are at the lowest division of the lowest class. If at all they live up to their previous performance, Pakistani, Best Choice and Pattola should fight for picking up the spoils.

Following are the fields and our selections:

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII

DIV IV 1,000M:

Mosaic 9-0, Raju 9-0, Raza The Great 9-0, Raftar-e-Seher 9-0, Pakistani 8-11, Blank Cheque 8-10, Independence Day 8-6, Azeem Prince 8-2, Best Choice 8-2, Kashif Da Gulshan 7-12, Banjaran 7-12, Easy Load 7-12, Pattola 7-11, Lal pari 7-10 and Naimat Aie 7-6.

Win: Best Choice.

Place: Pattola and Pakistani.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII

DIV III 1,000M:

Shandar 9-0, Fredy’s Café 9-0, Book Bet 8-13, Boby Love 8-12, Anarkali 8-10, Trigger Happy 8-1, Leader’s Wing 7-13, Scented Dust 7-12 and King’s UK 7-12.

Win: Book Bet.

Place: Anarkali and Boby Love.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII

DIV II 1,000M:

Changer 9-4, Sohna Choice 9-0, Accurate 9-0, Aan 9-0, Sana My Love 8-11, Kainat 8-10, Bella Rani 8-10, Golden Falcon 8-9, Pure Power 8-7, Client 8-7, Batter Time 8-6, Lion Horse 8-6, Sohna Murad 8-6, Miss Mano 8-6, Kiss Of Love 8-5 and Come On 7-0.

Win: Changer.

Place: Client and Golden Falcon.

KAGHAN PLATE CLASS VII

DIV I 1,000M:

Delux 9-0, Bagh-o-Nahar 9-0, Faraz 8-13, Rani 8-13, Aie Basanti 8-13, Best Owner 8-13, Smore Princess 8-13, Raksh-e-Chaman 8-9, Profit 8-9, Dream Girl 8-9, Victory Tiger 8-9, Karmanwal 8-9, Saad Prince 8-5, Pretty 8-3, Muskan 8-1, Polo Lounge 7-12, Gypsy 7-11 and Al Dar 7-11.

Win: Polo Lounge.

Place: Muskan and Saad Prince.

CHAMAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV III & IV 1,000M:

Black King 9-0, Naseeb Apna Apna 8-12, Tara Aya 8-12, Regulation 8-12, Geo Bhakkar 8-6, Mantar Prince 8-4, Little Smile 8-4, Sun Ray 8-4, High Quality 8-0, Sharon Prince 8-0, Mahima 7-13, Malang Aya 7-6 and Happy Life 7-6.

Win: High Quality.

Place: Mahima and Geo Bhakkar.

CHAMAN PLATE CLASS VI

DIV II 1,000M:

Cleopatra 9-3, Cash Lion 9-0, Amazing Boy 8-10, Dam Dama Dam 8-10, Tallal The Great 8-10, Jang Ju 8-10, Dream Memories 8-6, Cheeta Aya 8-6, Victory King 8-3 and Megabite 7-12.

Win: Cleopatra.

Place: Victory King and Tallal The Great.