The first-day, first-show was satisfactory from the punters point of view. A majority of railbirds returned home with a spring in their stride, three favourites and an equal number of well fancied second choices nailing bold colours to the mast in the seven-event card. 

The Irfan Ghatala-trained Zayana emerged the first winner of the season, justifying favouritism in the opening event, the lower division of the Camino Plate. The on-money favourite confidently piloted by the promising apprentice Pavan tracked the front runner Mystical Queen from Azhar Ali's yard all through the six furlongs trip before Pavan reminded Zayana of the task ahead approaching the distance post and the top fancy responding well to her master's call streaked ahead and put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong. Mystical Queen, who was strongly fancied to upset the applecart of the favourite by her connections, backed down from (5/1) to (11/4), found the winner too hot to handle at end and had to rest content with the runner-up berth, while Embosom finished third ahead of Star Of The Future. 

Irfan and Pavan again combined successfully to record a double, the half-money favourite Zephyrine bolting in without raising a sweat in the upper division of the Camino Plate. Zephyrine opened even-money favourite, but the moment the second choice Agrima from Michael Eshwer's yard dropped his rider Trevor and bolted at the starting gate, the bookies rightly and quickly slashed the price on the public choice knowing that Agrima would be withdrawn and that had to happen. And the moment the Eshwer ward was officially withdrawn, it clearly became a one-horse affair and Zephyrine proved that right cantering home nice and clear ahead of the second placed Royal Jewel. The topweighted Windcleaver from the stables of Vishesh partnered by five-kilo claimer Vishwa caught the eye while finishing a suggestive third and is one for the notebook. 

The first plum of the season produced a shock result, the 10 to one long shot Deep Respect from Satish Narredu's yard making every post a winning one in the International Labour Day Trophy run over a sprint. The Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled Burevestnik on the strength of his impressive debut, third behind stablemate Moonveil in winter was fancied most, but the piping hot favourite never could match strides with the speedy Deep Respect, who hit the front from the word go and gamely thwarted the belated challenge of Legacy Field close home. Burevestnik to the disappointment of a large following finished a tame third. 

Eagle Eye from trainer Pradeep Annaiah's yard was one other hotly fancied contestant, who bit the dust. Backed to the exclusion of his 11 rivals in the Usha Stud Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs, Eagle Eye piloted by Trevor, who drew a blank, losing on all three public choices he partnered on the opening day, struggled to first keep pace and later failed to challenge the top two, Tolkien the winner and D Fronx an impressive runner-up. Leading pro Akshay Kumar produced a copybook effort on the Darius ward, who appears in good nick and is set to provide an encore. 

The Pattadakal Plate was tipped to be a two-horse affair, the topweighted Thrill Of Brazil from Sajid Qureshi's yard and Bellavita from the stables of Neil Devanay garnering good support. The Sajid trainee finally topped the betting board on the sole count that her pilot Mukesh Kumar was more experienced and highly talented in comparison with the five-kilo apprentice Sachin. But the quality of saddle artistry didn't really matter, Sachin outwitting the top saddle artiste from Hyderabad on Bellavita, who proved much superior at end. She Rules again lost more than five lengths at the start, but covered good ground in the hands of apprentice Laxman Singh to finish a creditable third. The Darius ward is in good shape and will earn her winning bracket only after she improves her gate manners in the weeks ahead. 

Pradeep Annaiah camp pulled off a good gamble on Frederika in the lower division of the Epsom Plate run over a distance of 1300 metres. Making a belated debut, the sweetly fancied Frederika shared  favouritism with Queendom from the stables of Sulaiman, who had caught the eye in a mock race last week. The Pradeep ward confidently piloted by Ashhad Asbar after racing in mid-division for most part of the trip produced a sparkling gallop in the final furlong to assume command and then quickly put the race to bed in the final 100 metres. Queendom finished a game second ahead of Vibrant Queen. The winner appears in good form and it will pay to support him again when next saddled. 

The upper division of the event was claimed by the second favourite Hazel in a thrilling finish from the rankoutsider Auctav from the stables of Darius and the Sulaiman schooled Larissa who was hammered down in the betting ring, the Sulaiman camp hoping to recover the losses they suffered in the defeats of Queendom and Burevestnik. But that was not to be, Larissa lost narrowly at end, finishing a close third much to the chagrin of her supporters.