LAHORE, April 15: With six weeks to go before end of the Lahore racing season 2006-07, a close contest is likely to be seen among five trainers for the trainers’ championship.

In the run are: Sohail Aziz, Haji Ghulam Sarwar, Abdul Rashid, Rashid Latif and Haji Fazal Hadi.

At present, Sohail Aziz is leading on the statistics table with 47 wins to his credit. His main haul was through the stable of Syed Pervaiz Hussain Shah.

Haji Ghulam Sarwar is next in the line with 36 wins. Most of the horses trained by him belonged to the stables of Lahore Race Club (LRC) chairman Tariq Aziz and Khawaja M. Arif.

Abdul Rashid has sent out 31 winners so far and Rashid Latif and Haji Fazal Hadi 27 and 25 respectively.

Haji Fazal Hadi, who had been the champion trainer for seven times, was unlucky not to have a big stable this season. Only recently he got some good horses and proved his calibre. Winning the championship may be a far cry for him because of the short time.

Among the jockeys, Shahid Rehman is leading the competition with 81 wins. His nearest rival is Salahuddin with 31 wins, who was recently injured his arm and is out of saddle.—AG