Satyanarayana trained City of Harmony carried his monsoon form into the winter season by recording his third straight win by swamping the opposition in the 1400 metres Sri Shamlal Gupta Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 66 to 96, the feature event of opening day`s Hyderabad Winter Season on Tuesday. Form horses ran true to expectations and those who backed horses of credentials, were well rewarded.

The Hyderabad Race Club has introduced the rating system to bring it in with conformity with that prevailing at all centres in the country. However, the categorization varies slightly. Since the new system is put in place, the club should not put in its official race card what could be the equivalent in the category system of old. This only adds to the confusion and the club would well not to give the comparative value of the present to the old. Since the system is based on the existing model practised elsewhere, the integration in the minds of racegoers would be easy without reference to the past.

Coming back to the feature event, City of Harmony was widely expected to having things his way and was offered miserly odds by the bookmaker. Trevor Patel kept the favourite in a handy third position as Baashagar led the field into the straight. City of Harmony easily overtook the front-runner inside the final two furlongs and sped away for an effortless win over Net Champ. Baashagar managed to retain the third slot.

Satyanarayana`s other ward Ragas Ajalias ended up as a firm favourite to win the 1100 metres Moment of Glory Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated up to 30. The favourite overwhelmed the opposition with a start to finish mission and Ragas Ajalias gave an arm-chair ride to victory for Sai Kiran. Yes Baby chased the front-runner without hope and settled for the second position ahead of Rohini. Apprentice jockey B R Kumar did a tidy job on Sher Afghan and his persistence enabled the lesser fancied runner to get the better of Pride And Joy in the closing strides of the lower division of the race. Favourite Sefarina was a well-beaten third.

The season`s first race for two-year-olds saw the progeny of new stallion Western Aristocrat making a winning debut. Fashion High was fractious and bolted without the jockey but the filly was caught up with and brought to race. Fashion High proved too speedy for the rest as she shot into the lead from the start and kept on expanding it to eventually win by an impressive margin of eight lengths over New State and Plane Jane in the1000 metres Beginners Plate. Western Aristocrat is a highly thought of stallion standing at Manju Meadows and is owned by Faruq Rattonsey and his partners.

Laxman Singh trained Naazaan won the 1600 metres Dawn Plate, a race for horses rated 46 to 70 in the Stewards room. After Breezeofthesouth set the pace and weakened in the straight, Naazaan came into strong contention under a vigorous ride by jockey T S Jodha. Closer home, Western Wind rolled onto the rails under pressure, resulting in Jodha being unable to ride out Naazaan as the gap along the rails completed closed, causing him to lose a winning chance. The resultant objection by Jodha against Mukesh was upheld by the Stewards. Breezeofthesouth stayed on to finish third.

The season started with the success of on money favourite George Cross in the1400 metres Welcome Plate, a race for horses rated 26 to 50. Trevor brought George Cross into the limelight with a strong effort down the final furlong and the favourite sped away for a facile win over Money Shoulder. Wine N Dine nosed out Augusta Bombshell to get the third place.

Pamella showed great alacrity this time out to lead the field from the start and shaped to win the 1200 metres Deccan Star Cup (Div I), a race for horses rated 26 to 60 but closer home slackened which resulted in Wonder Eye`s late flourish getting the desired result. Wonder Eye overhauled the front-runner a few lengths before the winning post could be crossed. Astra edged out Pegasus for the third slot. Satheesh trained Delta Force produced a powerful burst of speed in the final furlong to win the lower division of the race in great style. Egyptian Wind got the better of Malakeya Ziba to get the second place.

Donald Netto trained Rahuls Pet easily overtook favourite Paprika in the straight and sped away for a big win over Ashwa Raftar in the 1200 metres Grand Entry Plate, a race for horses rated 46 to 70. Paprika gassed out in the final 300 metres and was literally grinding to a halt which enabled Ashwa Raftar to get past the long-time front-runner to claim the runner-up berth.