Exaulted moves to next level with Shoemaker Mile victory
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ARCADIA, Calif. -- What started as a wintertime experiment has become a career-defining change.
The 6-year-old horse Exaulted is thriving in one-mile turf races in Southern California this year, extending his unbeaten streak on the surface to four races with a sharp win in Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
The $503,000 race was not only Exaulted’s richest win in his 15th start, but assured the horse a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile here on Nov. 4.
Similar to allowance race wins in January and February, and his first career stakes win in the Grade 3 American Stakes at a mile on April 2, Exaulted stalked the pace in the Shoemaker Mile and took the lead in early stretch.
Confidently ridden by Juan Hernandez, Exaulted ($8.60) led by a length with a furlong remaining and won by a half-length over 41-1 Irideo.
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Hernandez has been aboard for all four of Exaulted’s turf wins. The leading rider in Southern California this year, Hernandez has noted improvement through the season in Exaulted, and said his mount was even better on Monday than earlier this year.
“The horse has improved with every race,” Hernandez said.
Exaulted was timed in 1:34.08 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
Exaulted was third of 11 on the first turn and backstretch, tracking 31-1 Lamplighter Jack and 39-1 Flavius through early fractions of 22.88 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.10 for a half-mile.
“It looked like he put himself in a good spot,” Hernandez said. “He broke sharp and I sat off the other two horses.
“I had a nice trip. At the three-eighths pole, he picked it up and he knew it was time to go.”
While Irideo narrowed the gap on the winner in the final furlong, Hernandez said Exaulted finished with energy.
“He didn’t let that horse pass him,” Hernandez said.
Irideo, second in the American Stakes, finished a length in front of 8-5 favorite Hong Kong Harry.
Ridden by Hector Berrios, Irideo was the second-longest shot in the field. Irideo closed from 10th and was fifth with a furlong remaining, trailing by slightly more than two lengths.
“He rode him perfectly,” trainer Marcelo Polanco said of Berrios. “We wanted to make a move and he made it.”
Hong Kong Harry did not have an ideal journey. Jockey Flavien Prat had Hong Kong Harry in ninth on the inside to the turn before switching the three-time stakes winner to the outside in early stretch. Hong Kong Harry had an interrupted rally on the turn.
“The pace was fair and I thought I was behind the horses that would make a move,” Prat said. “I was stuck. I made a nice move, but it was too late.”
Il Bellator, a 68-1 outsider, finished fourth, followed by Cabo Spirit, Du Jour, Gold Phoenix, Balnikhov, Salesman, Flavius, and Lamplighter Jack.
Exaulted, by Twirling Candy, has won five races and earned $603,660 for owners Lee and Susan Searing and trainer Peter Eurton. Exaulted was third in two Grade 2 sprints on dirt in 2021.
For Eurton, the Shoemaker Mile was his first Grade 1 win since Storm the Court recorded an upset victory in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.
The win by Exaulted was easier to predict.
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