When Exultant cruised to an easy Class 2 win over 2000 metres two days before Christmas, he stood out as a natural born BMW Hong Kong Derby candidate. On Sunday (18 March) at Sha Tin, the Irish import will get his chance to prove it.

The bay has raced twice since that impressive victory at the Derby course and distance, both times at trips short of his best.

Trainer Tony Cruz is adamant that “the 2000 metres is perfect for him,” so dropping back a quarter-mile to run fourth in January’s Hong Kong Classic Mile was not ideal. And, with Cruz convinced that 1800m is “on the short side, too,” there was clear merit in finishing a length and a quarter second to Singapore Sling at that distance in last month’s Hong Kong Classic Cup.

“He’s improved from his last run and I have a lot of confidence in him,” Cruz said at Sha Tin, a couple of days out from his HK$18 million Derby assignment.

Zac Purton is the man who will attempt to guide Exultant to Derby glory. The former champion jockey has partnered the Teofilo gelding in his last three races, using all of his expertise to teach the horse the kind of manners needed to succeed in Hong Kong. That could prove to be crucial in the pressure cooker of Derby day.

“He’s definitely got better,” Purton said. “He’s got to the stage that in his last barrier trial he did chill and he did just roll along nicely. I think he’s at a stage now where he’s going to be able to be managed correctly in the race.”

The rider is hoping for a solid tempo as he seeks a second BMW Hong Kong Derby victory, having scored aboard Luger in 2015. But a true 10-furlong pace is not overly common at Sha Tin and Purton fears that a tepid or muddling speed would not suit the horse that finished third to Churchill in last year’s G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas (1600m) when named Irishcorrespondent.

“He’s just an out-and-out stayer,” Purton said. “A sit and sprint is not going to suit him, he’s going to need it to be a grinding test.”

Stablemate The Golden Age is a natural front-runner, perhaps the only genuine pace option in the 14-runner race. The fact that Exultant has already notched a win at 2000m, and is up against a host of rivals with stamina queries to answer, is enlarging Purton’s confidence.

“It works in his favour,” he said. “There are a lot of horses in this race that I think won’t run the distance.”

And the man who is gunning for Joao Moreira in this season’s premiership race is okay with Exultant’s draw, even though he will break from gate 12 of 14.
“I was happy to draw wider, I want him to be out where he can gallop a little bit more  than being inside, stuck in amongst a heap that’s going to be coming back. I think, for him, it’s not a bad barrier, the only problem is the horse to beat (Singapore Sling) is drawn inside and is going to get a plum run and will be hard to beat from that gate (three).

“There are a lot that, to be honest, don’t have the rating to be competitive in it either,” he continued. “I think there are only a limited number of chances and a couple of those like The Golden Age and Nothingilikemore are drawn wide, so they’re going to have to work; and we’ll have to see how Ping Hai Star can handle the step up in distance, but outside of those horses it’s a pretty shallow race.”

The BMW Hong Kong Derby is race eight on Sunday’s 10-contest card, with a start time of 4.35pm.

The field also features the Cruz-trained Doctor Geoff and Savvy Six; the John Moore-trained G1 winners Ruthven and Rivet will line up, as well as stablemate Rocketeer; the Danny Shum-trained Lockheed, Rattan from the Richard Gibson stable, the Dennis Yip-trained Good Omen, and Patriot Hero, trained by David Ferraris, complete the line-up for this year’s Derby, the third and final leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series.