LAHORE: A card of seven races featuring the Ginza Cup will be gone through when the third day/night Lahore Winter Meeting gets under way at the Racecourse here on Saturday.

The Ginza Cup, a class fine and class six combined handicap race to be gone over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres, has ten acceptors, most of whom are established good sprinters to make it a really interesting contest in spite of their handicap disadvantage.

In this race the handicapper has assigned top weight of ten stones eight pounds to Unanimous to start with bringing it down to Al Fajre at the lowest weight of eight stones six pounds drawn at number ten.

Apart from his class-wise consideration of the runners’ handicap, the handicapper, if taken some trouble, could have lowered the handicap figure in the weight-scale by six pounds to start with ten stones two pounds and ending it at eight stones.

By doing so the handicapper could not have given a fair treatment to all contestants, equalising their chance and made it a good race.

Anyhow, the handicapper is the sole judge on horses’ weight-scale, which is raised or decreased in accordance with their performance in races besides classification merit.

The cup is named after one of the fastest mares on the Lahore racecourse.

With a crackdown on two dare-devil riders, sending one out for good and the other for a year, LRC stewards seem to be continuing their cleansing operation further when they instituted one more inquiry into the “unsatisfactory running” of No Way in the sixth race last Saturday.

These actions recall a vivid memory when LRC stewards adopted stringent standards to conduct the equine sports in a fair, impartial and transparent manner.

Race-goers while talking to Dawn expressed hope the operation should be a continuous phenomenon and the punishments inflicted would in no way be reversed.

In all, 62 acceptors are to take part in seven races on Saturday, four to be gone over 900 metres and three over 1,000 metres.

The first race will be held at 4.00pm.

Following is the field and selections. TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-B 900M:

Home Child 9-0, Mony Morkle 9-0, Preetam 8-8, Sohna Noor 8-6, Super Man 8-2, Natural Gift 7-12, Asim Gee 7-10, Esperanza 7-10, There Is 7-8, Great Adla 7-8, Accurate Lady 7-4 and Accurate Girl 7-4. Win: Mony Morkle.
Place: Asim Gee and Preetam.

TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV IV-A 900M:

Run Bride Run 9-0, Numbardar 8-12, Jay Cutler 8-12, Danial Bryn 8-8, Brave Khan 8-4, Winning Princess 8-2 and Mushk-e-Ambar 7-8. Win: Brave Khan.
Place: Danial Bryan and Winning Princess.

TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV III 900M:

Sahil 9-6, Chal Samney 9-0, Himaliya 8-10, Jammu Queen 8-10, Honey The Prince 8-10, Qadardan 8-10, Aya Chan 8-10, Jawad Love 8-8, Khan Gee 8-0, Captain Templar 8-6 and Nikita 8-2. Win: Jawad Love.
Place: Sahil and Nikita.

TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VII DIV I- 900M:

Heart Beat 9-4, Fist 9-0, Abbas Prince 8-12, Cute Leeza 8-6, Barrister’s Bogie 8-2, General Macarthur 8-0, Choco Bar 8-0 and Zartaj 8-0. Win: Fist. Place: Abbas Prince and Barrister’s Bogie.

GINZA CUP CLASS V (CLASS VI INCLUDED) 1,000M:

Unanimous 10-8, Special Time 10-4, So Little 10-2, Wind Chaser 10-0, Hidden Passion 10-2, Sparks 8-12, Ballerina 8-12, Soul Power 8-10, Dreaming High 8-10 and Al Fajre 8-6. Win: Sparks.
Place: Hidden Passion and Al Fajre.

TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VI DIV II 1,000M:

Pupple Star 9-0, Rahbar 8-10, Her Excellency 8-6, Sweet Sarrow 8-6, No Conflict 8-4, Excuse Me 8-2 and Edgar 7-12. Win: Sweet Sarrow.
Place: Excuse Me and Trainer Kamal’s choice.

TORA BORA PLATE CLASS VI DIV III 1,000M:

Royal Dubai 9-0, Born To Run Again 8-12, New Tear 8-6, Vixen 8-6, Sukhanwar 8-4 and Victory Malik 7-8. Win: New Tear.
Place: Royal Dubai and Vixen.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2014