More often, favourites dominate the turf at the onset of the season at every racing centre. But barring three fancied runners, the rest went for shelters in the card of seven races framed for Delhi races on Tuesday. However, the day turned out to be a gold mine for saddler Shah Nawab, who has taken charge of the suspended Ishwar Singh Parmar's horses, as he saddled four winners for the first time his career. Among other professionals, jockey L Prashant earned a creditable double.

Heavy showers prior to and during the races welcomed the patrons. The jockeys were seen toiling hard to peer through the goggles, which were full of slush coming out of the hooves of the horses, to ascertain the whereabouts. In fact, inclement weather has been haunting the Club for the last few years. This year too, the races scheduled for the first day were cancelled on the ground of unsatisfactory track condition rendered by torrential rain.

Shah Nawab's Green Ribbon (Barood – Wings Of Dawn), who was backed to the conclusion, cut the ribbon of the season's inaugural race - lower division of The Dandee March Plate. In the beginning, Hashim settled the mare behind the front-runners, and asked for a sprint after passing the early furlong of the 1000m competition. However, Green Ribbon had to face a stiff challenge from the late warmer Grey Dancer before passing the post. Grey Dancer should make amends soon. Enter And canter, who opened as the favourite and saw the odds drifting out, finished third ahead of Crystal Pistol. The upper division of the plate saw Sameer Khan having an armchair ride on Go With The Flow (Kly Green – Americana) at nourishing odds. Don't You Dare and Master Crown shared the second and third place respectively and are expected to earn brackets soon.

Picking up momentum from the last winning venture during the fag end of the last racing calendar, Nawab-trained Don't Be Silly (Warrshan – Shirley Valentine) kept the stablemate First N Impression away by three-parts-of-a-length in The Namak Satyagrah Plate. However, the latter should soon score.

Chandrapal Singh's trainee Ashwa Pallvi (Sahm – Make Over) landed spoilsports in The Welcome Trophy. Air Forse One led the front till top of the homestretch, but then had nothing left in her tank. Firecracker took the baton to the next distance but by then, utilising the shortest way, Ashwa Pallavi went ahead to prove her superiority.

The Round Table Conference Plate saw jockey Salam Raza, who is known as one of the backbenchers, meeting with success after a gap of three years. Astride Amity (Hymn – Eternal Beauty), Raza adopted his usual tactic of keeping the mare widest of all till she managed to stun Genius Boy and Ouef Toba near the wire. The tote offered the highest dividend of Rs 325 recorded for any horse in the recent years at the club.

A three-way finish was witnessed in the senior division of The Quit India Movement Plate. Fearless Tiger (Emerald Cat – Anivarsary) succeeded in pushing back Dream Debut and Green Seals for the runner-up berth and third position respectively. Green Seals was handled poorly. The lower division of the event saw a close finish between the favourite Take A Chance (White Crown – Passionate Baby) and Master Speed. The former prevailed by a little less than a length. Master Speed should strike soon.