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Exultant successfully defended his Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup title at Hong Kong's Sha Tin track, landing his fifth Group One win.
Exultant showed all his class to dig deep and defend his crown in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Known as Irishcorrespondent when with Michael Halford in Ireland, the Tony Cruz-trained six-year-old finished second in the Group One feature in 2018, but went one place better last year when beating Rise High by a length and a quarter.
The Teofilo gelding - who had most recently held Furore in last month's QEII Cup - was quickly on the heels of stablemate Time Warp in the final Group One of the Hong Kong season.
Zac Purton's mount was going best turning for home and had a clear advantage two furlongs out, but it was becoming hard work for the red-hot favourite with just over a furlong to go and inside the last he looked like he might be swamped.
But while Chefano and Furore threw everything at him, Exultant would not be denied a fifth Group One triumph of his career.
Exultant is now firmly in the mix for Horse of the Year honours and Purton said: "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. That might be the telling factor."
He added: "It's never easy in small fields when you're on the favourite. Everyone goes out there to make your life difficult and they tried to do that again today, but fortunately I was on a horse that was able to absorb some pressure and still be able to fight out a finish.
"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."
It was another day where Purton and his title rival Joao Moreira dominated proceedings, with both riders bagging four-timers to end the day tied on 123 winners apiece.
