The Governor's Trophy is a prestigious race for three year olds and is held during the latter part of the winter season. Being a mile event, it gives an opportunity to the connections of horses with classic potential to test their abilities at this early stage of their careers. It used to be one of the most well endowed races in the prospectus prior to the advent of the various "Million" events all over the country. The results of this event used to be a pointer to the summer classics since many winners of this event had gone on to do extremely well in their subsequent starts. It was disappointing to see only four lightweights face the starter in this year’s edition of the Governor's Trophy. Miss Honeydew was the only one amongst them who had won a race in her previous start, but that was over a distance of 1100 metres. The other three had run on numerous occasions and had touched the board only once. It was difficult to understand the reason that why the all trainer's had given a miss to this race, considering that the Bangalore boasts of having almost 300 three year olds in training at this centre.

The bookmaker's lost no time in installing the Ganapathy trained Violet Honey (Razeen-Hablitzia) as an odds-on favourite to win this race ahead of Miss Honeydew, who was backable at 2/1. The other two could be backed at longer odds. The presence of Prakash in the saddle as well as Violet Honey's staying pedigree enthused some punters to wager on her. Snow Prince was there to set the pace for Violet Honey, and this job he performed to perfection. He was followed all the way by Super Sha, Violet Honey and Miss Honeydew. Snow Prince disappeared from the scene after the bend and that saw Super Sha emerging as the new leader. Prakash was seen cajoling the favourite for an effort, while the Gnaneshwar ridden Miss Honeydew was finding it very difficult to last out the full distance. Violet Honey was heavily whipped before she gathered momentum to down Super Sha near the winning post .It was the most insipid running of the Governor's Trophy race to be seen at this centre and it may not be out of place to say that these participants will find it difficult to win races in the higher class.

The S Rangarajan Memorial Trophy was the added attraction in the day’s card. It was held in the memory of a gentleman who was a great lover of the sport, a keen owner in his times, an authority on breeding and a prominent member of the Club. It was a sheer coincidence that a horse once owned by him and sold after his passing away was able to bring glory to his new owner. Hesperus had accepted to run this race with the heavy impost of 63.5 kgs on his back. He was set to concede chunks of weight to most of his adversaries. Mercurial and Sugar Blaze cornered the betting with a fair amount of support coming for Hesperus. Trainer Dhariwal did well to claim an allowance on the top weight by declaring apprentice John to ride him. Aurelian went to the front and was chased by Mercurial, while Hesperus was content to race in mid bunch along with Sugar Blaze and Classical Dancer. Hesperus moved through the field and passed the frontrunner in the last furlong and ultimately won with a measure of comfort over stable mate Aurelian, a flatfooted Mercurial and a disinterested Sugar Blaze.

Ganapathy and Prakash had been in the background during the last few weeks of the current season. They were back to their normal business when they combined effectively to achieve a treble during the afternoon. In addition to the above mentioned Violet Honey, they won with Noble Kingdom and Mystified. Jockey Prakash was seen at his best on both these mounts as he showed great perseverance on them and nailed the frontrunner's in the last few strides of the respective races. Noble Kingdom was the favourite in the opening event of the day. Vinod Shinde took second in demand Kajuraho to the front and seemed to be holding on; before Prakash and Noble Kingdom swooped down on them .Near N Dear was a faraway third. The win on Mystified was quite spectacular. In a tightly packed field of a dozen runners for this sprint event, Prakash found himself cramped for space in the early stages of the race. Not to be perturbed, he bided his time as Ace Act made all the running and seemed to be going away from Lord of Illusion and Surprise Package. Mystified was shown daylight at the 200 metres marker, and the response Prakash was able to get from her was electrifying. She flew on the wide outside and won close home from Ace Act, Lord of Illusion and Surprise Package.

The top division of the maiden's race saw the appearance of the much talked about Valid Expectation (Valid Concept-Jing Bang). This Arjun trainee had been blazing the track and was the shortest priced horse in the seven event card. The moment the horses arrived in the paddock, the price on the favourite started to expand for unexplained reasons. With some big betting on Spark Of Gold, Valid Expectation reached the starting gates as the 11/10 favourite. Spark Of Gold led the field till the final furlong before Valid Expectation took over the running and was hard ridden by Srinath to hold Salsera at bay. The latter came with a nice run and should be noted for an early success. Spark of Gold plodded on to be a fair third ahead of Ottawa.

Super Sonic had started her career in Mumbai and had been brought back to Bangalore during the summer season. She was given three runs and then kept for a gamble. She was pitted against a very poor lot of class IV horses in the concluding event of the day and was backed like a good thing. Krishnan took her to the front and was oblivious to what was happening behind him, since Super Sonic kept increasing her lead with every stride. Super Sonic passed the winning post well clear of Char Chand and Allegro. She could have easily doubled her margin of victory. It will be interesting to see what the handicapper has in store for this horse owned by trainer B Puttanna.