LAHORE, April 17 With two back-to-back victories on the trot, Speed Zone looks set to complete a hat-trick of triumphs by winning the Spring Cup when the 33rd Lahore Winter Meeting gets underway at the Racecourse on Sunday.

The cup is a handicap race for class five horses to go over the sprinting distance of 1,100 metres. It now features the seven-event card after the two cup events scheduled to be held on April 18 are not being staged. They are the Lahore Classic Cup, a term race for four-year and above horses in class I, II and III over 1,600 metres and the April Cup, a term race for three-year-old thoroughbred and half-bred colts and fillies to go over 1,000 metres.

Among the seven contenders for the feature event, only two make the grade, namely, Speed Zone and One Way II.

Speed Zone is the son of Al Hattab from the famous bloodline of Woodman and stands out on bloodline and performance with one third place and two consecutive wins. His closest rival will be One Way II, the son of prolific sire Bedouin Invader, who as also recorded two wins at random. The other five may fight for third place.

This will be the sixth race in the racing order.

The supporting and the fifth race, the Hyderabad Plate class four and three combined handicap event has six runners. The race is to be contested over the middle distance of 1,400 metres.

Carrying eight stones, the stylish colt, Bold Boy with three wins and a second place, should capitalize on handicap advantage in the weight scales. This son of Bedouin Invader bred and owned by Mirza Khurshid Baig and trained by Tauqeer Ahmad has shown tremendous form and ability to prove his bloodline's worth and now faces a few past turf giants like Punjabi and Valenday, who head the weight-scale table with 10 stones crushing weight each.

Four-year-old bay filly, Lucky Creek, who registered a hat-trick of victories, will be satisfied with the second spot at best.

The Syed M.A. Mahmood owned and A.B. Malik trained three-year-old Sarblund is another highly pedigreed thoroughbred colt set to register his second success on the trot in the seventh and last race, the Spring Plate class five division two over 1,100 metres.

The way the son of a prized sire Re-play, Sarbuland, won last Sunday, there seems cent per cent chances of his making two wins in-a-row. A full brother of Brave Act, who set up a new record, Sarblund, is expected to keep his head aloft as the name suggests, to follow in the footprints of older sister Brave Act, who achieved a rare feat winning the National Breeders Cup, The Pakistan Derby Trials and the Pakistan Derby 2008. This is a feat yet to be achieved by any other colt or filly in the history of Pakistan turf.

The fourth race, the Multan Plate class VI division I-A to go over 1,000 metres has the largest field of 15 runners barring last-minute withdrawals.

This is an event, in which nearly half of the runners are on chance and if tried will make it a closely-contested event to be enjoyed by the sports connoisseurs.

Those on chance are Red Stone, Sakhi, Reborn, Good Wood, Alpine Creek, Muntazir and Lady In Grey.

However, on recent form and performances their size can be reduced to three. They are Muntazir, Lady In Grey and Alpine Creek. But that does not exclude the others from the contest. They are very much on chance like the other three and have the only disadvantage of returning to the course after a long absence of nearly 10 weeks, which is indicative of some problem they have been facing to remain off the course for such a long time when the meetings were at their prime.

A card of seven events will be decided on Sunday. Four races are to be contested over the sprinting distance of 1,000 metres, one over 1,400 metres and two over 1,100 metres.

Following is the field and our selections

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV III & IV 1,000M

Jungle De Malka 9-4, Arzoo 8-10, Pawan Prince 8-5, Sona Chandi 8-2, Mantar Prince 7-10, Quick 7-4 and Big Buck's 7-0.

Win Jungle De Malka.
Place Quick and Pawan Prince.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV II-B 1,000M

Racing Legend 9-4, Focus 9-0, Polo Star 8-12, Twinkle 8-10, Cool River 8-6, Lucky Goshi 8-6, Little Princess 8-6, Skippy 8-2, Salman Sahib and Silent Assassin 7-12.

Win Lucky Gohsi.
Place Focus and Polo Star.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV I-B 1,000M

Provocative 9-0, Bedouin Raider 8-13, Victory Gift 8-13, Triple Star 8-8, Desert Flame 8-7, Curlin 8-7, Safe Play 8-7, Super Addition 8-7, Norfolk 8-5, Al Fateh 8-5 and Captain Templer 8-5.

Win Provocative.
Place Curlin and Victory Gift.

MULTAN PLATE CLASS VI DIV I-A 1,000M

Red Stone 9-0, Sakhi 8-13, Royal Breed 8-9, Missing You 8-9, Black Mamba 8-9, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar 8-9, Al pine Creek 8-6, Reborn 8-6, Good Wood 8-5, Kasseno Royal 8-5, Master Duniut 8-5, Muntazir 8-5, Baker's Rep 8-5, Lady In Grey 8-4 and Mr Accurate 8-2.

Win Muntazir
Place Lady In Grey and Alpine Creek.

HYDERABAD PLATE CLASS IV (Class III included) 1,400M

Punjabi 10-0, Valenday 10-0, Bold Boy 8-0, Lucky Creek 7-10, Princess Of Wales 7-10 and Victory Hero 7-6.

Win Bold Boy.
Place Lucky Creek and Punjabi.

SPRING CUP CLASS V DIV I 1,100M

One Way II 9-0, Fire Accord 9-0, Speed Zone 8-11, Tuba Show 8-6, Valour 8-2, Daring Creek 8-1 and Royal Gesture7-12.

Win Speed Zone.
Place Royal Gesture and One Way II.

SPRING PLATE CLASS V DIV II 1,100M

Sarblund 9-2, Jurrat 9-0, Decent Baker 8-6, Fly Away 8-3, Sweet Dream 8-2, Zalzabeel 8-2, Be Glad 8-2, Zohra Jabeen 7-12, Monica 7-12, Rose Gate 7-9, Nayab 7-8, Super Gate 7-7, Mirana Shaheen 7-6 and Pretty Girl 7-4.

Win Sarblund.
Place Sweet Dream (first place). Monica (second place).