Pace makes the race but it doesn't dictate who can benefit from swift early fractions, as Exaultedand Irideo proved conclusively in the $500,000 Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T) May 29 at Santa Anita Park.
The race, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) over the same course on Nov. 4, always shaped up for a closer, with longshot speedball Lamplighter Jack expected to lead a brisk pace up front.
He did his job, getting the first quarter in :22.58 and leading into the far turn. But it was not the warm favorite, Hong Kong Harry, who reaped the main benefit as Lamplighter Jack faded away. Instead, Exaulted and hot jockey Juan Hernandez grabbed the lead in the lane and held on to win by a half-length in 1:34.08.
Irideo raced well off the early pace, wove through traffic in the stretch, and was the only serious challenger in the final yards, finishing second at 40-1 odds. Hong Kong Harry was gaining quickly on the outside but settled for third, another length in arrears.
For Exaulted, who scored his first grade 1 win, the surface may have been more important than the pace. He's 4-for-4 since trainer Peter Eurton switched him to the grass after he'd gone 1-for-11 on dirt.
"I was just saying he just looks like a genius," winning owner Lee Searing said of Eurton. "I mean, take the horse off the dirt, he'd had a few problems, put it on the grass, win four in a row."
Eurton shrugged off the accolades but clearly was pleased to win a race named for the late superstar jockey and trainer Bill Shoemaker, who among his many other feats rode John Henry to victory in the first Arlington Million (G1T).
"Yeah, right," he said of the "genius" monicker. "I'm just so happy, so pleased to do it for this man here. It's the kind of race you wanted to win ever since you were a kid, you know? I knew Bill (Shoemaker). I played golf with him and my father-in-law. All those things together make it a great day."
"To win the Shoemaker mile, pretty fun," Searing said. "I go back here 50 years ago. So when you talk about the Gamely, you talk about this race, the Santa Anita Handicap (G1), the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1), you talk about races I'd love to win."
Exaulted, a 6-year-old son of Twirling Candy from the Gilded Time mare Gilded Miracle, was bred in Kentucky by Jack Swain III. Searing bought him for $200,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale from the Select Sales consignment.
His "few problems" resulted in his being away from the races for a year at mid-career. He finished third in the Triple Bend Stakes (G2) May 29, 2021, and his next start came in the same event a year later with a fourth-place finish.
He was relegated to optional claiming events after that, without a win in four starts. Shown the turf, he jumped up to win a $70,000 "non-winners of one other-than" Jan. 2. After clearing the next condition Feb. 5, he won the American Stakes (G3T) April 2.
Irideo was second in the American, too, with a move similar to the one he employed in the Shoemaker.
Eurton said it's a good feeling to know the Breeders' Cup World Championships return to Santa Anita in November.
"I've never done anything anywhere else. So I'm glad it's here," he said, chuckling.
Hong Kong Harry was the star among three horses entered by trainer Phil D'Amato but was the only one of that trio to be seen at the finish. Gold Phoenix and Balnikhov reported seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 11-horse field.
Flavien Prat, who rode Hong Kong Harry, discussed the pace scenario before the race, saying the key for his horse was "to have some pace to run at" but dismissing thoughts he had a preferred distance.
"To be honest, I don't know," Prat said about distance concerns. "He has run well at a mile. He has run well at a mile and an eighth. So I don't think it really matters to him. I think the pace is more key for him."
In the Shoemaker, he got the pace but could have used an extra furlong or two.
