Apart from the gutsy heartwarming performance of debutant Gold Empire in the final plum of the season, the Governor's Trophy, two small trainers stole the limelight on the concluding day, the seasoned Lokanath Gowda and  fresh to this premier centre, Sajid Qureshi, the two recording a double apiece, much to the delight of their supporters. Lokanath struck it rich through the lesser fancied All Attraction and the well fancied Connecting Dots, while Sajid proudly led in NRI Victory and NRI Ace. 

An impressive last start winner, Baashha from the stables of Umar Shariff garnered the maximum support in the Champion Trainer Trophy. Another fluent last start winner Dufy from the stables of Rajesh Babu too had his fair share of supporters. But it was the lesser fancied All Attraction who rocketed home in the hands of Koshi Kumar. The winner hit the front while the dozen-horse field negotiated the final curve and quickly put the race to bed in the final furlong. Baashaa, who found the winner too hot to handle on this day followed All Attraction home ahead of Prophecy, while Dufy found this company too hot to handle. 

After leading in All Attraction, Lokanath sent out the topweighted Connecting Dots spot on for the upper division of the Champion Jockey Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. Second behind Stentorian last week, Vafadar from the stables of Sulaiman Attaollahi and the Padmanabhan schooled Desert Goddess too were fancied strongly in this open event. But the moment Darshan setalight Connecting Dots when the race came on a boil, it was no more an open affair, in fact it turned out to be a one-horse race, Connecting Dots powering home, sparing five lengths to the runner-up Priceless Prince, while Desert Goddess only managed to save money in place. Vafadar performed below par, not able to again perform at his best in less than 10 days. 

Lokanath looked set to record a treble, the moment champion jockey Akshay Kumar guiding the fortunes of the favourite Legendary Impact hit the front at the top of the straight in the Good-Bye Cup run over a sprint before Trevor astride the second in demand at the betting ring, Chinky Pinky from MR Singh's yard, slowly and yet surely bridged the gap and to the joy of the supporters of the six-year-old mare gained the verdict by the shortest of margins in the final stride. Master Victory did well to finish third, while the lesser fancied Estafania in her attempt to make every post a winning one shot her bolt at the top of the straight and eventually finished in the ruck. 

The Satish Narredu-trained Star Honour gained the top billing in the lower division of the Champion Jockey Trophy on the strength of his satisfactory effort at Guindy in his last essay, third behind King Ke during the Invitation Cup week-end, But the slow coach in the hands of Neeraj Rawal never really threatened the lesser fancied winner NRI Victory from Sajid Qureshi's yard, who assumed command at the top of the straight and never let the initiative slip powering home nice and easy in the hands of Jagadeesh. The consistent Gismo did well to again make his supporters happy, finishing a creditable third, while Glowing Moonlights from Sriram Komandur's yard who was strongly tipped to pull off a coup was never in the hunt.

Spurred by the success Sajid again hit it big, NRI Ace coming up trumps in the Leading Stud Trophy run over a sprint. The winner confidently piloted by leading pro Antony Raj produced his best to outclass her 10 rivals including another Sriram Komandur fancied contestant Ladylion who bit the dust, finishing a poor fourth. The topweighted Aherne from Imtiaz Khan's yard who finished a game second behind Knotty Patton in his last essay again found one better and had to settle for the runner-up berth, while Agera on promotion did well to take the third spot. All credit to Sajid who led in three winners from the lowly stock he moved to Bengaluru from Mysuru. None of the professionals including the racing pundits gave his horses a chance to score in their first season against the big boys from Bengaluru, but the trainer accepting the challenge proved them all wrong, working hard and attaining the results which made his owners proud. Sajid appears to be a go-getter and all he needs is a couple of good sporting owners to keep him going at this highly competitive centre. 

The Narredus are continuing with a good habit and that is to score in most big events. They did it with Shamrock in the Super Mile at Guindy on the Invitation Cup day and before that Mallesh and Suraj hit the bulls-eye in the Poonawalla Multi-Million, Big Bay galloping to fame. In the Governor's Trophy here on Saturday, Rajesh had two debutants, the fashionably bred Gold Empire and Midnight Blue against the duo, the on-money favourite Cigar Galaxy and Darrington, the lone contestant with a run under his belt from the stables of Irfan Ghatala. The half-money favourite Cigar Galaxy partnered by Trevor Patel lost a couple of lengths at the start of the mile long journey and though he finished on strongly at end, he just could not get the better of Gold Empire brilliantly piloted by Suraj. The top `Knight' was at his best and his skill-set made the difference at end. 

You have to doff your hat to the patience and perseverance of Sulaiman Attaollahi. The champion trainer kept entering  Elpenor, the winner of the Poonawalla Multi-Million, hoping that he would resume his winning ways some day and it all paid off in the Leading Owner Trophy run over a mile on the concluding day of winter, Elpenor in the hands of Shreyas Singh edging out the top fancy Auspicious Queen in a thriller.  This incidentally was Elpenor's first win after his big success at Mumbai and it took the horse and his never-say-die trainer 755 days to make it possible. Well done Sulaiman. 

Earlier Sulaiman led in the second in demand at the betting ring, Mystical Air, a deserving winner of the upper division of the Press Reporters Cup. Thewhisperquietly from Dominic's yard was fancied sweetly in this event, but the public choice was never in the hunt from the word go and at end only took sacks of good money down the drain.  But earlier, in the lower division of the event, it was the Dominic-trained Treasure Chest who justified favouritism in the hands of Trevor Patel, donkey-licking his 10 rivals while making every post a winning one. 

It was the `Doosra' from leading trainer Prasanna Kumar's yard who reigned supreme in the opening event. Imperador was the half-money favourite touted a `moral certainty' after his impressive second behind the talented Gloriousness on debut, but the pipping hot favourite flopped in his mission to shed his maiden success finishing a poor fourth, while stablemate Pole Star piloted by the emerging star G Vivek, offered at (10/1) made a smashing debut.