The trainers championship is not usually a contest that gets the rank-and-file racing fan`s pulse going, but the 2006/07 season kept observers enthralled right to the end as Geoff Woodruff, Charles Laird and Mike de Kock fought out a titanic battle that was only decided on the last day of the season.

In the end, it was Woodruff who prevailed by a mere R80,000 according to the latest statistics to hand and when one considers that all three trainers crossed the R10m earnings mark, it really was a case of winning by a short-head.

In a sense, the final result was both irrelevant and hugely important. On the one hand, all three trainers are acknowledged as outstanding conditioners and none of them has anything left to prove, so from that point of view, none of them was ever going to lose any stature by finishing second or third. On the other, all three are great competitors and set the highest of standards for themselves - which is exactly what makes them so successful -  so there`s no doubting that each of them really wanted the title.

Fans of Woodruff will feel particularly pleased for a man who is not only brilliant at his job but whose professionalism and gentlemanly demeanour make him one of the most respected and well-liked figures in South African racing. I remember chatting to a member of the Tellytrack crew in Hong Kong last December, who pointed out that although he is one of SA`s elite trainers, with a very large string and working in a pressure-cooker environment, Woodruff ensures that he dedicates time to every one of his patrons, no matter how big or small.

The man`s mettle really came to the fore around that time, as his stable was undergoing a slump and it would have been easy to let the undoubted frustrations he was experiencing to boil over. Instead of going on the defensive, Woodruff remained unfailingly courteous and philosophical in all his public utterances and when the yard finally returned to form, he refrained from issuing any "told-you-so`s" to his critics.  He has proved a refreshing antidote to the notion that nice guys always come last.

Whilst his victory was no surprise (it was always on the cards at the start of the season that all three trainers would be among the favourites for the title) the manner in which it was achieved did not quite follow the anticipated script. Indeed, scarcely can any trainer have endured such a roller-coaster ride en route to the title.

At the start of November, Woodruff looked to be sitting pretty. Soft Landing claimed a brilliant victory in the November Handicap, to suggest she was the best filly in the land, while a few weeks earlier, stable star Elusive Fort had make a cracking seasonal debut with a runaway win over a too-sharp 1300m. Many rated the handsome Fort Wood colt as the best horse in the country and he looked an obvious contender for the Summer Cup at the end of November, with of course the J & B Met to follow. If he was going to win the title, these two would play a key role, or so it seemed.

With weeks, things had gone dreadfully awry. Elusive Fort was injured in training, forcing him to miss the Cup. On Cup day itself, promising Woodland City failed when a short-priced favourite in the Hertz Fillies Mile and a few days later, Soft Landing crash-landed out of contention in the Ipi Tombe Stakes. It was a start of a bleak period for the stable, with a number of key runners simply failing to run to form and it became apparent that some sort of virus had beset the yard (Soft Landing has never been the same since).

In late January, Elusive Fort`s failure to run a place in the Met would have deepened the gloom, but shortly after that, the tide started to turn. A youngster named Ravishing finished second in the Gauteng Guineas to the smart Biarritz, indicating some promise and Woodland City picked up a listed event to suggest things were getting back on track. Meanwhile an up-and-coming Festive Occasion had twice run second to champion Sun Classique during the Cape summer, giving hope that she might well have a big win in her.

The various strands converged gloriously at the end of March when Woodruff landed a remarkable treble on Derby day at Turffontein. Ravishing confirmed his earlier promise by landing the R1m SA Derby; Festive Occasion gained a deserved win in the Oaks and Elusive Fort hung on long enough to take the Horse Chestnut 1600.

Woodruff was now in pole position to take the title and with the country`s richest race looming, the R3m Gomma Gomma Challenge, he certainly looked to be holding a trump card in Elusive Fort.

However, that turned out to be an illusion in more ways than one. Shortly before the race, Elusive Fort changed hands and was moved to the stable of Herman Brown. In any event, something went serious amiss on the day as the colt ran miles below his best form. And, just to add a further twist to the saga, it was Charles Laird who used the race to propel himself into the title race as Pick Six landed a brilliant start-to-finish victory.

Although Woodruff continued to win races, it is significant that he started the crucial KZN winter season looking somewhat short of firepower in terms of the big ones. With Ravishing kept aside for the July, his trainer did not make any impact in the classic races, although Royal Fantasy and a heroic Festive Occasion battled their way into the placings in the KZN Fillies Guineas and Woolavington Stakes respectively. He also had no cards to play in the Gold Challenge or any of the big sprints and only Royal Air Force`s fighting victory in the Astrapak 1900 kept him afloat in the winter`s key races.

On July day, both his runners sank without trace in the big race and only champion Argonaut ensured he stayed in the hunt with an eyebrow-raising victory in the Golden Horseshoe (where it didn`t hurt that stablemate Profit Motive finished second).

With Hunting Tower landing a superb July victory for Laird, Woodruff - as he has subsequently admitted - could see the title drifting out of reach.

So it came down to Clairwood`s big day where he looked decidedly third best. True, he had a near penalty kick with Argonaut in the R500,000 Premiers Champions Stakes, but compared to de Kock and Laird, his runners looked comparatively weak in the other big races of the day.

Argonaut duly destroyed the opposition in the Premiers (and crucially, his stablemates finished third and fourth at a time when every cheque was going to count) but in the end, it was an unlikely pair of heroes who sealed it for Woodruff.

The final feature of the season, the KZN Derby, saw Prince Asad run the race of his life to get Woodruff`s nose in front. The R1m purchase had been somewhat disappointing to date, but all was forgiven as he showed tremendous courage under pressure, having hit the front early in the straight, to hold off all challengers.

Then, on the final day of the season, it was moderate Jet Blaster of all horses who did the job, scrambling home for second in lowly company and settling what had a been a thrilling and nerve-wracking battle.

It`s not the first time that Woodruff has won the title, of course, but after the lows he endured around the end of 2006 and early 2007, he may well look at this as his sweetest triumph, as he really had to battle the odds to land this one.

Charles Laird may have been disappointed at missing out after coming so close, but all things considered, he had plenty to smile about. Thanks to Hunting Tower and Pick Six he won two of the biggest prizes on the calendar and he came desperately close to a memorable treble when Likeithot -arguably the unluckiest horse of the season - was touched off in the Summer Cup.

Perhaps the most decisive "what if" moment came in the Cape Derby: Pick Six would surely have won in another stride as he was finishing much stronger than the tenacious Jay Peg and that would have tilted the scales significantly in Laird`s favour. And it was also unfortunate that Lion Tamer could not take his place in the winter features: at his best, this gutsy front-runner would have been a serious contender in races such as the July and Champions Cup.

When all is said and done though, Laird has a great season to look forward to with any number of promising youngsters in his yard.

Mike de Kock found himself in the somewhat unfamiliar role of settling for third place and while his stable fired pretty consistently through the season, they were surprisingly short of big prizes for much of it. By the time the KZN winter kicked in, he had only landed a single Grade 1 - Little Miss Magic in the Empress Club Stakes, which is unusual for him to say the least.

However, once the winter season began in earnest, he hit top gear with a vengeance. Kildonan ended Mythical Flight`s unbeaten run in the Golden Horseshoe and Rat Burana easily disposed of her opposition in the Alan Robertson, while Bold Ellinore and Gilded Minaret won Gr 1 events on July day. The likes of Royal Vintage and Khebraat also added handy feature race prizes to his tally.

In the end, he will also look back at certain key moments. Kildonan missed a large part of the season and to have a horse of that calibre out of action was undoubtedly a serious blow. Then, in his second run after returning to the track, he was literally a stride from winning the Gold Challenge, only to be collared on the line by two serious older horses in Succesful Bidder and Pocket Power. History repeated itself a few weeks later in the Champions Cup, when he was once again going like a winner, only to be nabbed at the death by African Appeal.

Another horse whose fate played a key role in de Kock`s season was Emperor Napoleon who ended up second in no less than three Gr 1 events, two of them decidedly unlucky: he raced wide throughout in the Cape Guineas when downed a mere half-length by Jay Peg and was then only beaten on the nod of heads in the SA Classic. The last of those efforts saw him beaten by Pick Six in the Gomma Gomma Challenge, although this time there were no real excuses and he was simply beaten by a top-class rival. Needless to say, had he managed to get his head in front in any of those races, the title race would have taken on a new complexion.

While the title itself came down to three men, there were plenty of other noteworthy performances.

Mike Bass stole much of the show with his superb skills, handling and placing Pocket Power and Sun Classique to perfection as they notched up five Gr 1 wins between them, with the former`s Queens Plate - Met double the obvious highlight. He almost added the Gold Challenge as well, only failing by a nose after making up a huge amount of ground in the straight. Lest we forget, Bass won the first Gr 1 of the season, the Canon Gold Cup, with Diamond Quest and won the last one of the term as well with African Appeal in the Champions Cup.

Basil Marcus continues to win many admirers and it`s great to see one of the outstanding jockeys of his era transferring his skills to the training arena. Jay Peg was his stable star, but he turned out a steady stream of winners overall and he has already shown that given the opportunity, he is very much at home in the big league.

Sean Tarry also enjoyed a great season, with Mythical Flight turning in a series of breathtaking performances, Ethereal Lady establishing herself in the front rank of the country`s fillies and Buy And Sell - after his runaway win in the Daily News 2200 - coming heartbreakingly close to landing the July. Tarry`s greatest achievement, however, must surely be his handling of the wonderful Succesful Bidder, the horse with the fragile legs and the big heart. Many would have been tempted to give up on this classy son of Jallad, but Tarry always kept the faith and his patience and perseverance paid off when the then 5-year-old crowned his season by winning the race of the year, the Gold Challenge.

Looking at the final log positions, the one alarming statistic has to be the absence of any KZN-based trainers in the top ten (and none managed to get a runner into the July). There is no doubt that financial considerations play an important role in this as the Gauteng trainers in particular appear to have access to the wealthiest patrons, but one hopes that the authorities in KZN are able to come up with a strategy to see the region take its rightful place amongst the leading centres of South African racing.