LAHORE, Sept 5: An ambitious schedule for the Lahore Winter Meetings with an unspecified package of stake-money to be awarded to the horses winning first three positions has been announced by the Lahore Race Club (LRC).

The seven month-long programme spreading over 28 race meetings studded with one or two cup events each day will start from Sunday and will end on April 21 next.

It will be completed in two phases.

The first phase will have nine meetings till Nov 3. Then there will be a month-long break due to the holy month of Ramazan and the second phase will resume from Dec 8 and will terminate after 19 meetings on April 21 next.

The events will be held subject to required number of entries and a minimum of six races will be held on each day.

The LRC has not specified the amount of stake-money for each event and kept its option open depending upon the available resources and club’s financial position. But it will be much higher than that being awarded in gymkhana races.

The opening day programme has six cup events named after national war heroes and recipients of country’s highest gallantry award, Nishan-i-Haider. Six heroes will be honoured, who won the award posthumously.

In the prospectus issued Thursday the LRC has elaborated all events class and age-wise, eligibility of runners and conditions for all classes from class five to one, term races, classic and semi-classics besides nursery plates for two-year-old and three-year-old colts and fillies.

The star attraction of the meetings is the Pakistan Derby 2003 to be held on March 3. This is a term race for four-year-old Pakistani colts and fillies to be run over a mile and a half.

The only living personality to be honoured by the LRC is Queen Elizabeth II. A cup named the Queen Elizabeth second Gold Cup will be awarded to the winner of the race on Derby Day (March 3) at which the British High Commissioner to Pakistan will be invited to give away the cup to the winning owner.

Equally important is the Jinnah Cup instituted since 1998 to pay homage to the Father of Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It is a term race for three-year-old colts and fillies to have gone over six furlongs. Jinnah cup will be held on January 19 next.

The only race horse to be honoured significantly is the Nero and Nero cup has been made a permanent feature to recall the great horse, who was a shining model of equine perfection. It will be held on (Feb 3).

The other important and notable cup events scheduled to be held during the 28-meetings are: Zaheer-ud-Din Muhammad Babar Cup (Nov 3), Christmas Cup (Dec 22), New Year Cup (Jan 5), Ghaznavi Cup (Jan 26), 1000 Guineas Of Pakistan and Anar Kali Cup (Feb 3), Qutub-ud-din Aibak Cup (Feb 10), The Derby Trials 2003 and Begum Kishwar Abid Hussain Memorial Cup (Feb 17), National Breeders Cup and Data Tote Cup (March 3), Eclipse Stakes Of Pakistan and Mohy-ud-Din Aurangzeb Alamgir Cup (March 31) Prince Aly Khan Cup (April 14).

The last Cup to be held is the Farewell Cup to bid adieu to the programme on April 21 next. The Data Tote Cup-has been named after the British firm which had installed computerised totalisator at the Lahore Race Club.