Chasing Ex-cellence

Godolphin’s Exosphere (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) has been the shining star among 3-year-old sprinters this term Down Under, and the consensus seems to be that he only needs to handle the Flemington straight to record another facile Group 1 victory in Saturday’s G1 Coolmore Stud S. The dark bay was the handy winner of the G2 Run to the Rose S. Aug. 29 over the subsequent G1 Caulfield Guineas scorer Press Statement (Aus) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}), and he was impressive when taking the G1 Golden Rose S. Sept. 12 and the G2 Roman Consul S. Oct. 3. Exosphere won’t be the only exciting son of Lonhro to carry the Godolphin blue in this contest, however. He is joined by Mogador (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}), who won a benchmark race at Warwick Farm Sept. 23 before finishing second to Keen Array (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) on stakes debut in the Listed Blue Sapphire S. Oct. 14. That 1200 meter Caulfield contest was the fourth win from five outings this term for Keen Array, who is rapidly improving but has been busy this spring thus far. Counterattack (Aus) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) earned his first black-type win in Randwick’s Listed Heritage S. Sept. 19, and was beaten nearly five lengths by Exosphere when fifth in the Roman Consul. He bounced back to take the Listed Brian Crowley S. over this trip at Randwick Oct. 17, but will have to have come on considerably to frighten the favorite. The same scenario applies to Japonisme (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}), who had won four straight, including the G3 San Domenico S. Aug. 15, before running into Exosphere in the Run to the Rose and Roman Consul, where he was fourth and third, respectively.