Exhilaration, the son of Captain Al, notched up the first grade 1 of his career when fighting out a close finish with Bulsara in the grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes on Saturday.
The 2 year old colt trained by Dominic Zaki entered this race with excellent credentials from his 4 career starts. After an imposing victory on debut he followed up with two close seconds in the Gr2 Nursery and the Gr1Gold Reef Resorts Medallion before following up with another convincing display over a touch more ground in a juvenile at Turffontein the following month.
The imposing colt found plenty of support in the early betting market and with the services of champion jockey Anton Marcus, the scene was set for his first group 1 victory in the Champion Stakes. Marcus sent Exhilaration early in the Clairwood straight with Bulsara, Solid Choice and Smanjemanje in hot pursuit but the colt showed heaps of courage in the closing stages to hold off the more inexperienced Bulsara to win by short neck, and in so doing securing him self as a strong candidate for 2yo champion colt this season.
Bred by Klawervlei Stud Exhilaration is out the Elliodor mare Entice The Wind and owned by Messrs V P Botha, M L Becker, G D E Kahan, D Zaki and Mesdames L Gordon and M Tsongas
