EXULTANT proved himself the king of the Hong Kong stayers’ division with a gritty second success in the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin last Sunday.

The six-year-old Irish-bred, on the anniversary of his third place in the Irish 2000 Guineas when known as Irishcorrespondent for Michael Halford, dug deep to repel Chefano and Furore and give trainer Tony Cruz a seventh victory in the race.

“He’s the better stayer of all of them – he has no speed but he has a great attitude,” Cruz said.

Cruz rates Exultant the best of his winner that includes California Memory, Blazing Speed and Pakistan Star, when it comes to ability over a mile and a half.

Exultant’s second Group 1 of the season, after his hard fought success in last month’s QEII Cup, puts him in line for Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year title, with star four-year-old Golden Sixty the other contender.

Jockey Zac Purton added that “there’s no doubt he’s the best stayer I’ve ridden in Hong Kong,” after driving his mount to a length verdict.

“He can’t really do any more than he’s done, he’s been great all season, as he has been for the past few seasons. He does deserve it – everyone wants to talk about Golden Sixty but he only did it in the four-year-old series, he didn’t come out and do it against the older horses and I think it’s important that is taken into consideration.”

Exultant was sent off the 1/2 favourite to repeat his win of 12 months ago. Stablemate Time Warp set a solid tempo up front and Purton settled one off him, ready to make a drive for home as they came into the straight. Sent about his business, he held his lead all the way to the line as Chefano and Furore closed but never looked like getting on terms.

“It’s never easy in small fields when you’re on the favourite. He was the best horse – just get him up there, let him travel and let him do his job,” Purton said. “I was surprised Furore kept kicking up on the inside, he had every chance just to drop down and give himself an easy run but he wanted to make my life difficult and in turn made his own life difficult – that in turn made Chefano do a little more work and set my fellow alight as well. I thought, once again, I was out on my feet at the 200 (metres) but today it was like he was waiting for them a little more, it’s like he’s become more cunning and I could feel, when they were coming, he started to surge underneath.”

Exultant’s win meant that Purton bagged both of the afternoon’s features, and despite the champion jockey banging his head against the starting gate before race seven and hitting the deck when Regency Bo Bo stumbled after the start of the 10th race.

He captured the Group 3 Sha Tin Vase Handicap on the John Moore-trained Thanks Forever.

Thanks Forever earned his fifth win at his 16th start off the back of high-class efforts this term, notably top-three placings in the Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) and last month’s Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).

But, despite riding a four-timer, Purton was unable to shake off his rival Joao Moreira in the jockeys’ title race.

The Brazilian matched the Australian’s quartet and the pair ended the day all-square on 123 wins. Purton added three wins on Wednesday to take the lead again.