LAHORE, Oct 25: Jockey Club Of Pakistan (JCP) chairman Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa has said that he is in favour of enlarging the scope and activities of the JCP to make it a more effective organisation for delivering maximum good to the racing and horse-breeding industry.

He was talking to Dawn after laying the foundation stone of the JCP House building adjacent to the main office of the LRC on Saturday morning.

Randhawa, who is a former chief secretary of Punjab, said he has a proposal to give extended representation to various stakeholders of the racing industry, such as breeders, punters and even jockeys on the JCP, which would augur well for the promotion of racing and breeding in the country.

This way the JCP would receive co-ordination and cooperation from all sections of the racing industry, which would strengthen it to work in a far better way for the welfare of the industry.

The JCP House is being built over a one kanal piece of land at an estimated cost of Rs22 million.

A separate space has also been earmarked for setting up a DNA testing laboratory to check bloodlines and an x-ray plant to detect the nature of injury to horses. In absence of a DNA testing facility, the Asian Racing Conference (ARC) has not granted approval to the Pakistan Stud Book during its meeting a couple of years back. With non-availability of X-ray facilities, the horse-owners are at a loss to diagnose the type of lameness or injury to animals.

The JCP and the LRC stewards Munir Dar, Khalid Javaid, Masood Parvaiz and officials of both the clubs attended the ceremony. —A.G.