After enjoying a good run at the Bangalore winter races on Saturday, punters adopted a brave and bold approach at the races in Guindy on New Year's day. The mantra was simple. When the luck is running, run the marathon. And it paid off. Railbirds dominated the exchanges again in the bookmakers ring and walked of with pocketful of pink currency. The fact that they started the New Year on a winning note was a big plus. It provided the confidence required to slay the Goliath and a pumped up David is ready to cross swords and do battle in the big ring.

Five firm favourites including one winning the race in the Stewards room and two well-backed second choices nailing bold colours to the mast and you couldn't have asked for anything better. The punters loved the action and enjoyed the results obtained. The on-money favourite Golden Kingdom from Adhiraj Singh Jodha's yard proved too good in the Governor's Cup, the plum event run over a distance of nine furlongs and the topweighted Euphoric later provided Adhiraj a big reason to smile, chalking out his fourth straight win in the Flightline Handicap run over a distance of seven furlongs.

Golden Kingdom on sheer performance was head and shoulders above his seven rivals.The fact that he had finished second ahead of the South India 1000 Guineas winner Remediesofspring in his last start over a seven furlongs trip won by Glorious Grace and that the Adhiraj ward had beaten the talented Emperor Roderic  in his Pune stint added value. And the punters were not going to miss out on the opportunity to cash big. They did just that doubling their bets. And the double-barrell approach paid of, the moment Kaviraj pushed Golden Kingdom to the front at the top of the straight and it was all over bar the shouting. Windmere followed the winner home, while Dominant finished a creditable third. In receipt of eight kilos from the topweighted Euphoric, Dark Son from the stables of Sebastian garnered the maximum support in the Flightline Handicap. Euphoric too had his fair share of followers and at end it was Euphoric in the hands of Kaviraj who galloped home to the delight of the Jodha camp. Ayur Shakthi caught the eye while gaining the runner-up spot ahead of Wind Symbol, while Dark Son performed below par and eventually finished last in the dozen-horse field.

Trainer Dr Anil Kumar shared the training honours with Jodha recording a popular double through the on-money favourite Shez R Star and the well fancied Kay Star. The former partnered by apprentice jockey B Darshan justified the confidence of her supporters pegging back the second in demand at the betting ring Paris O'Connor who tracked the pillar to post winner all through the seven furlong exercise in the upper division of the New Year Cup. The lower division of the event was claimed by top fancy Turf Melody from Deepesh Narredu's yard piloted by brother Yash.

Darshan earlier in the opening event, the Classic Style Handicap  booted home the 10 to one shot Maranello from Mandanna's yard. The favourite Amarone from Dhruv Futnani's stable did produce his best, but that was just not good enough to beat Maranello on this day.

Despite a three-month lay-off Kay Star looked a picture of fitness at the parade ring and all credit to Anil Kumar for sending out Kay Star as fit as hands can make. The well supported second choice in the hands of Brisson hit the front soon after the eight runners came under the starter's flag and never let the initiative slip. The strongly supported Star Lap piloted by Dashrath Singh stormed up to challenge the winner approaching the distance post, but with Kay Star in no mood to surrender the advantage gained, the Jodha ward threw in the towel, much to the disappointment of the favourite punters.

On the strength of his impressive effort in his last essay, second behind Break The Silence, Oberon from Fahad Khan's yard partnered by the promising five-kilo claimer Inayat was sweetly fancied in the lower division of the White Knight Handicap run over a sprint and the top fancy made every post a winning one to the delight of his supporters, who confidently made big investments on the old at tooth, seven-year-old game galloper. Shadow of Love gained the runner-up berth, while another fancied contestant Dancing Queen piloted by Yash Narredu after gracing the wrong end of the field for most part of the six furlongs trip charged home late to finish third. It is learnt that the stipes and stewards not too happy with the effort of Yash Narredu have decided to open an enquiry.

After the success of Oberon, the connections of the topweighted Demerara punted big and soon the Fazal-Ul-Rehman's ward topped the betting board in the concluding event, the upper division of the White Knight Handicap. The favourite despite Kiran Rai packing punch only managed to finish second behind the lesser fancied Glorious Symphony piloted by Yash Narredu. But as luck would have it, Yash had cut across Lord Of The Turf and as a result, Lord Of The Turf partnered by the promising apprentice Sah Farid Ansari stumbled and went down on his knees before Ansari did commendably well to hang on and finish fourth. Ansari expectedly lodged an objection against the winner and the stipes and stewards after a long deliberation rightly chose to upheld the protest to the delight of the lucky railbirds who returned home all smiles. Glorious Symphony was relegated to the fourth spot, while Lord Of The Turf gained the third place following the successful protest.