KARACHI: A field of seven horses will battle it out for honours in The Surprise Cup when it takes place in the winter Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Saturday.

The race, which is third in days racing order, is the supporting event, combined scale order III and IV and will be contested over four-and-a-half furlongs.

This will be followed by feature event, top scale order I and II, which has five acceptors. It will go over five furlongs.

Nine horses will vie for honours in the second race — combined scale order IV, V, VI and VII that will be run over four-and-a-half furlongs.

Formerly Big Boy Blue and Shada Gunna will run under new names — Watson and Swimming Star respectively in the opening race alongside four horses.

The first race gets into action at 2.30pm.

Following is the field and selection:

THE SURPRISE PLATE SCALE ORDER VIII 4 F:

Blue Revenue 9-0, Watson (Big Boy Blue) 9-0, Quetta Queen 8-12, Sharapova 8-4, Boolan Queen 8-2, Swimming Star (Shada Gunna) 7-6.

Win: Quetta Queen.

Place: Sharapova.

THE SURPRISE PLATE SCALE ORDER IV, V, VI AND VII 4 ½ F:

Parachuter 9-2, Shandar Love 9-0, Tip Top 8-10, Dilwali 8-10, Queen’s Best 8-7, I Gold 8-0, Black Smoke 7-2, Second Life 7-0, Shorab-e-Bhakkiar 7-0.

Win: Tip Top.

Place: Queen’s Best and I. Gold.

THE SURPRISE CUP SCALE ORDER III AND IV 4 ½ F:

Poetry 9-0, Native Prince 8-13, Dhannak 8-8, Meri Saba 8-7, Baab-e-The Rani 8-6, Duran Duran 8-0, WhatsApp 8-0.

Win: Native Prince.

Place: WhatsApp.

THE SURPRISE PLATE SCALE ORDER I AND II 5 F:

Toofan 9-0, Chief Sahab 8-6, Sher Khan 7-13, Sweet Victory 7-0, Ghazi Gift 7-0.

Win: Toofan.

Place: Sher Khan.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2019