Exultant prevails in Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup

Exultant capped a sterling Hong Kong season Sunday at Sha Tin, winning the Group 1, $1.27 million Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup by 1 1/4 lengths.

Champion jockey Zac Purton gave Exultant a perfect trip while recording one of his six winners on the 11-race program. Purton also rode Little Giant to victory in the card’s supporting feature, the Group 3 Sha Tin Vase Handicap.

Exultant, by Teofilo and out of Contrary, by Mark of Esteem, was imported from Ireland after racing there in 2017 under the name Irishcorrespondent. He was among the best 4-year-olds last season in Hong Kong, and in the 2018 renewal of the Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup, he finished second to Pakistan Star.

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Pakistan Star actually made the front Sunday with a little more than 200 meters left to race but proved no match late for Exultant. Both horses had pulled too hard for their own good while settling in third and fourth behind pacesetter Time Warp and his younger brother, Glorious Forever.

Pakistan Star was wheeled off the inside at the top of the home straight to put in his bid but flattened out after making the front and was run down by Exultant. Rise High, who came from last of nine, was up for second, a neck in front of Dark Dream. Pakistan Star held fourth, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Glorious Forever, as a disappointing Time War struggled home seventh.

Exultant, the strong favorite, clocked 2:26 over a good-to-yielding course while notching yet another big-race win for trainer Tony Cruz. Exultant, a gelding, has been improving all season and clearly is Hong Kong’s best long-distance horse now, adding this victory to wins in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase in December and the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup in February. His connections had contemplated a trip to Japan next month but instead will put Exultant away to await the 2019-20 racing season.

• The top-weighted Little Giant carried 133 pounds, including Purton, to a three-quarter-length win in the 1,200-meter Sha Tin Vase. Little Giant gave 15 pounds to runner-up Dragon General while winning for the second time this season as he dropped in class from Group 1 competition.