Exultant brings win streak into QE II Cup

In December, Exultant won the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse, a $2.5 million race that is part of Hong Kong’s leading international program of the year.

Sunday at Sha Tin, Exultant will be favored to win his fourth consecutive start in Hong Kong’s richest race of the spring – the Group 1, $3.05 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Exultant’s winning streak includes the Group 3 Centenary Vase at 1 1/8 miles at Sha Tin on Jan. 27 and the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on Feb. 17. Trained by Tony Cruz, Exultant will be ridden by Zac Purton, the leading rider in Hong Kong.

Purton is likely to position Exultant off the pace in the field of 13, which includes four foreign-based runners.

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Eminent was second in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles in Australia on March 23, but only eighth behind Winx in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on April 13. Winx had her final start, and 33rd consecutive win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

There are three Japanese-based runners in Sunday’s field – Deidre, Lys Gracieux, and Win Bright.

Deidre was fourth to Japan’s Almond Eye in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in the United Arab Emirates on March 30. Lys Gracieux was second by a neck to Exultant in the Hong Kong Vase in December. Win Bright won the Group 2 Nakayama Kinen at 1 1/8 miles in Japan on Feb. 24 for the second consecutive year.

The other top locally based starters are the 4-year-olds Furore, Waikuku, and Dark Dream, who finished first, second, and fourth in the Hong Kong Derby on March 17.

There are three Group 1 races at Sha Tin on Sunday. The $2.039 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs is the second-richest sprint of the year in Hong Kong and has drawn the brilliant Australian sprinter Santa Ana Lane, who won the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes on April 6 at Randwick.

Santa Ana Lane is expected to be an odds-on favorite in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, despite drawing the outside in a field of 10. Trained by Anthony Freedman, the 6-year-old Santa Ana Lane is scheduled to start at Royal Ascot in England in June.

In the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, Santa Ana Lane will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, well-known as the regular rider of Winx. Bowman is expected to have Santa Ana Lane off the pace for the first half of the race.

Hong Kong has a top-class group of locally based sprinters, led by Mr Stunning and Beat the Clock, who were first and third in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in December, a race worth $2.54 million, and second and third in the 2018 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

They also were second and third to Rattan in the Group 2 Sprint Cup at Sha Tin on April 7, when Rattan had a five-pound weight break. Rattan is part of the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, a race in which all males carry 126 pounds. The mares Viddora and Nac Venus have been assigned 122 pounds.