LAHORE: A tiny card of five races featuring two cup events highlights the sixth day/night Lahore race meeting which gets under way here at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The persistent heatwave in the city has continued to discourage owners to field their horses thus reducing the total number of runners to 41, the lowest number of entries of the season so far.

The main event, Farewell Cup, a Class VI Division II, III and IV combined handicap race, has seven runners. However, the handicapper in spite of the less number of contestants has tried to make it a good contest by allotting competitive weights in handicap to a quadruple making fitness, rider’s skill and owner’s interest deciding factors. All the four contenders are fillies — Hash Tag, Wild Coast, Electra and Sanwali Saloni. This will be the fourth contest in the racing order.

The supporting feature event, the June Cup, a Class VII Division V race, has the largest field of 10 runners. It looks an open affair.

Bay horse Silent Assassin, from the bloodline of great sire Assassin, has a slight edge over his five rivals in the fifth and last race, the Shah Kot Plate Class VII Division I and II. Silent Assassin is trained by Zahid Khan, who is currently proving his worth as a good conditioner of horses, and is owned by Mirza Mohammad Asad Baig, who himself is the breeder.

The first and the third race have seven runners each Meanwhile, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) has informed all owners and trainers, that under a revised programme the declaration of riders will be announced one-and-a-half hour before the start of the day’s racing programme.

A notification issued by the LRC advised owners and trainers to submit the declaration before time. Failing to do so will leave the horse, on which a rider has not been declared, automatically withdrawn from the race.

It was also decided to take out the draws of horses one hour before the race.

The first race starts at 6:00pm.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2022