Ken and Helen Smith chasing a second Exalted Adelaide Cup win

KEN and Helen Smith are hoping lightning can strike twice in today’s $400,000 Group 2 Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville

LOCAL: Trainer Grant Young with Adelaide Cup hope Exalted Lightning and his owners Ken and Helen Smith at Murray Bridge. PIC: TAIT SCHMAAL.

KEN and Helen Smith are hoping lightning can strike twice in today’s $400,000 Group 2 Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville.

The prolific South Australian breeders have already tasted Cup success with Exalted Time in 2006 and hope Exalted Lightning is the horse to deliver a second home-town feature.

Ken said his wife took some time to come around to his lifelong love for breeding and racing horses.

“She didn’t like it at the start,’’ Smith said.

“She’d been bought up with a father who was a bookmaker, so she loathed bookmaking at that stage, but once she started to get involved with our horses she came around.

“She now probably enjoys it as much, if not more than me,’’ he said.

Smith said having their Exalted and Meadows named horses frequently in South Australian form guides for the past 40 years had provided some great moments while they maintain a philosophical approach to thoroughbred racing.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with our horses,’’ Smith said.

“Neither of us get emotional; if they win they win and if they don’t there is always another day.

“My father just absolutely loved them, he would loved to have been here and been a part of it, especially with the set-up at our Narrung property,’’ Smith said.

The pair breed from between five and six mares each year, managing a 300-plus herd of Angus beef cattle at their Narrung farm while owning a third of local company Golden North Ice Cream.

“We breed five or six each year, we sell nothing. So we’ve got them coming through all the time,’’ he said.

“We’ve had a fair amount of success. Lightning winning the Birthday Cup was the third time we had won that race, all with Exalted horses,’’ Smith added.

“It’s not a bad bloodline. We bought the first one in the early 70s and have been breeding from that family ever since

“We bred Lightning, his mother and his grandmother, so it’s an exciting time for us to have another chance in a race like the Adelaide Cup.’’

Smith said being able to enjoy the excitement of thoroughbred racing with their friends was one of the most enjoyable things about their involvement in racing.

“I think some of our friends get more excited than us,’’ Smith said.

“If we’re standing watching a race with them, we try to be close but not too close.

“They start cheering from a mile out which is fun,’’ he said.

Exalted Lightning’s rise to Cup contention has been a rapid one.

Since joining the Murray Bridge stables of Grant Young Exalted Lightning has won five of nine starts with three seconds and Smith said the former jumps jockey had always been on the radar as someone he wanted training their horses..

“He wasn’t doing any good for the last trainer so we changed our ideas a little,’’ Smith said after having numerous private trainers at Narrung.

“We did some ground work with Lightning at our property and we felt he was going a lot better than he had been and that’s when Grant decided to take him on.

“Grant rode horses for us over the jumps, I’ve know him for a long time. We like his style, we like his work ethic and have always liked what he does.

“I’d offered him a job several times and thankfully this time he said yes and everything is working out,’’ he said.

Like Exalted Lightning, Exalted Adam has been a rapid improver since joining Young.

The horse makes the jump from an impressive restricted Saturday win to make his Listed debut in today’s $100,000 Matrice Stakes with star former SA jockey Dwayne Dunn booked to ride.

“Grant feels he might even be better than Lightning, but he’s a very different horse,’’ Smith said.

“He’s running over 1200m while Lightning is running over 3200m.

“He might get over distance eventually but he’s come a long way in a short space of time,’’ he said.