LAHORE, March 9: The bay colt Son Of A Gun, unbeaten in his two outings, looks set to gallop home to annex the Pakistan Derby 2002 to be run over a mile-and-a-half at the Lahore Racecourse on Sunday.

The competition for this premier classic of the country will be a battle between the 13 best Pakistan-bred four-year-old colts and fillies from Karachi and Lahore.

Until Friday (March 8), the interest of punters of both big racing centres of Pakistan, Lahore and Karachi, revolved round two remarkable colts, Steal The Show (from Karachi) and Son Of A Gun (Lahore). However, the Lahore Race Club (LRC) stewards declared Steal The Show ineligible to compete. So, Son Of A Gun became the main attraction for the connoisseurs of racing.

Steal The Show, a bay colt from Flaming Arrow-out-of-Fearless Queen,  has  been  disqualified  because  of  his   faulty “genuineness”. During a thorough examination, a stunning fact came to light that the colt bore different “markings” than those listed in his registration record. After that a suspicion arose whether the colt was feigned or not. So the LRC stewards decided to exclude Steal The Show from the list of Derby contenders.

Son Of A Gun, is a progeny of Shogun-out-of-Ginza Gift. His victories include the Derby Trials run over a mile-and-a-quarter. His track work is quite impressive but not extra-ordinary.

Among the rivals of Son Of A Gun, two colts namely, King Fisher (Dexter-Young Dancer) and Jet Master (Al trui-Pretty Face) and two fillies Royal Soul (Al trui-Annabelle) and Cisco Magic (Cisco Well-Cone Them All) are prominent. This will be the sixth race in a card of eight events to be held during the day.

The Pakistan Derby 2002, may not be the richest ever. Yet, it carries a handsome purse of Rs 3,50,000 (three-and-a-half lakh rupees) to the winner besides a gold cup valued at Rs 25,000. The colts and fillies occupying second and third spots will receive Rs 1,11,666 and Rs 58,333, respectively. The breeder of the winner will also get Rs 35,000.

The Derby field comprises (with names of probable jockeys in brackets):

Sun Of A Gun 9-0 (Aamar Parvez), King Fisher 9-0 (Shahid Rehman), Quest For Success 9-0 (Mujahid Ali II), Jet Master 9-0 (Salah-ud-Din II), Cobra 9-0 (A. Imran), Top Choice 9-0 (Shahzad Iqbal), The Club Champion 9-0 (Jillani), The Champion Stride 9-0 (M. Rehan), Royal Soul 8-11 (Zahid Ali), My Own Business 8-11 (Kamran), Dizzy Height 8-11 (Qamar Zaman), Cisco Magic 8-11 (Majid Khan) and Early Bird 8-11 (Khurrum Sheikh).

The supporting event is the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. That will be the fifth race of the afternoon and will be contested over nine furlongs. The cup was instituted during the British Queen’s visit to the Lahore Race Cub in 1960. There are eleven acceptors for this class IV & V combined handicap race. It looks an open affair among four main contenders. They are: Fanim, Admiral’s Way, Great Grandy and Desert Dream. In this event, the four-year-old colt Desert Dream has an edge over the others on handicap.

The three-year-old bay filly Democracy (Cisco Well-Lets Get Going) is being fancied to win the Breeders Cup to be contested over the sprinting distance of six furlongs.

Among her rivals, the colt Flight Alert (Cisco Well-Pink Bouquet) and Navahoo Princess (Flaming Arrow-Persian Star) stand out. This will be the second race of the day.

The first race will start at 12 noon.

LODHRAN PLATE CLASS VII DIV III & IV 6F