The three on-money favourites, classic hopeful Shamrock, the vastly improved English Bay and the in-form Siege Courageous put the punters on the high road and the satisfactory start provided the railbirds a reason to smile after the thunder of hooves provided a lyrical ring on the opening day of the winter season. Most pros after parading their skills on the lush green track revealed that the track is now in ship-shape condition and the onus is on the professionals to scale a new high. 

The well-backed favourite Rightly Noble set the trend, winning the opening race of the season, the Inauguration Plate in convincing style and the punters simply loved it, firing the first salvo in what appeared a good competitive seven-event card. Imran Khan astride the Pradeep-trained Rightly Noble produced a copybook effort convincingly pegging back Activated, while the lesser fancied Cash Out piloted by the in-form Antony Raj managed to save place money. 

After finishing second behind Splendido in his maiden appearance in the summer season, Siege Courageous was considered a cinch in the lower division of the Man `O' War Plate run over a sprint and the talented Prasanna Kumar ward provided top saddle artiste Srinath an arm-chair ride to success, while shedding his maiden status. The winner appears in good nick and it will pay to follow him again in his next start. Stablemate My Solitaire expectedly finished second behind Siege Courageous, while Contador from Arjun Manglorkar's yard edged out Ooh La La by the shortest of margins to gain the third spot. 

On the strength of a couple of pleasing performances on the trial track, English Bay from trainer Dominic's yard was strongly fancied to score in the lower division of the Almatti Plate run over a sprint and the overwhelming on-money favourite did that without really raising a sweat. The winner showed a clean pair of heels to his eight rivals, the moment Srinath reminded the Dominic ward of the task ahead. English Bay it is clear has improved most after his none too happy summer campaign and is set to provide an encore when next saddled. 

In what was a very open affair, Stormy Ocean from trainer Darius Byramji's yard garnered the maximum support in the Altenburg Plate run over a mile. The public choice tracked the eight to one shot Triple Wish for most part of the journey before the top gun Trevor Patel astride the favourite realised that Triple Wish was travelling too well in front and that he needed to hang onto the second spot. Trevor managed to do that, pegging back the challenge of Aldgate, while Triple Wish romped home in the hands of Shamaz Shareef by more than eight lengths. The winner, it is needless to mention is in great heart and will stand tall at the podium again if her connections choose to saddle her in the next couple of weeks. 

After the big success of Triple Wish, stablemate Last Wish was fancied most in the opening plum of the season, the Jayanth Shah Memorial Trophy. Most followers of form impressed by the performance of Last Wish in a mock race pinned their hopes on the Neil Devaney ward, but the favourite much to the chagrin of his supporters raced in patches and finished third behind the long shot Rapidus piloted by the promising Likith Appu, son of KPG Appu who shot to fame, combining with one of the masters at the art of training, Zareer Darashah,many summers ago. Zareer incidentally was a National sprint champ in the Track & Field before he learnt the ropes and graduated to get into the elite Scroll of honour and the Hall Of Fame. The second in demand at the betting ring Tranquilo reigned supreme in the event.

Irfan Ghatala pulled off a good gamble on the speedy Tripitaka in the upper division of the Man `O' War Plate run over a sprint. The be brave and bold approach of the trainer must be appreciated taking into account that he chose Babulal Paswan to partner Tripitaka, while nominating the Dr Dayananda Pai and Mrs Mahima Shailesh owned filly to score and the filly to the delight of Babulal and Irfan made every post a winning one in emphatic fashion. Alcides Synergy from Neil Darashah's yard gained the runner-up berth ahead of the consistent Archway, while the favourite Blues Ballad failed to make a race of it and eventually finished a poor fourth. 

Half-money favourite Shamrock, like Siege Courageous had no opposition worthy of mention in the concluding event, the Almatti Plate run over a sprint. Leading pro Suraj Narredu didn't really need to flex his arms on the public rage who will make his presence felt against the best in the bigger tests ahead. Stablemate Sheer Bliss surprised most finishing second ahead of Urban Borbon, while the topweighted Star Admiral who was strongly fancied in place by the connections only managed to finish fourth.