Our Owner of the Month award winner for March is Helen Smith part owner of Exalted Dame. She was nominated by Ian Brown who wrote:
It is with great pleasure that I have been given the opportunity to say a few words regarding this month’s SAROA Owner of the Month Helen Smith for Exalted Dame.
Helen along with her late husband Ken have been prolific owners/breeders in SA racing for many years, their Exalted horses who have raced in the white silks, with a pink sash and blue sleeves with so much success.
It has been a very tough few months for Helen with the loss of Ken, sale of the property at Narrung and the sale of most of their horses.
The Exalted name goes back to the stallion Exalt who featured in the breeding of 1990, Group 3, Auraria Stakes winner Alleged Lady, who became their foundation mare.
Helen married Ken in 1965 and moved to their current home in Meadows where she was a teacher for some years.
Since that time, they have won a total of 229 races with 59 individual winners including the 2006 Group 1 Adelaide Cup with Exalted Time trained by Jimmy Smith and ridden by Clare Lindop.
Recently both Helen and Ken (Dec) were inducted into the SA Hall of Fame for their service to the racing industry in SA.
Both Kate and I were delighted when asked by Helen whether we would like a share in two Exalted horses as she wanted to keep an interest in racing. It was not hard to say yes as it is important that the Exalted name continues in some way. We decided on Exalted Dame and Exalted Kate named after my wife.
Exalted Dame had her first race for us in February at Gawler finishing second and two weeks later she won her Maiden race at Balaklava ridden by Jason Holder.
Jason indicated that he thought she could win at metro level and that we should head that way. We knew that it is extremely hard to go from a midweek maiden win to a metro but we listened to Jason and trainer Jon O’Connor and we are glad we did as she won in a hard fought finish by 0.3 Len.
Exalted Kate will have her first race for us at Gawler on Anzac Day and we are hoping she can perform as well. (If she is like my wife, Kate positive but a bit feisty, she will)
Exalted Dame with 2 wins from nine starts is by Zebedee out of the Blevic mare Exalted Madam. The dam won five races and almost $100,000 and has left six named progeny including Exalted Filly (by Barely a Moment) winner of three and over $55,000; Exalted Honey (by Stratum) who won over $85,000 and Exalted Adam (by Reann) who won seven and $234,000.
The grand dam is Alleged Lady (by Delgado), who as Ian mentions was the Smith’s foundation mare and won the Auraria Stakes, left three stakes winners Exalted Lad (by Blevic) who was able to win seven and amass over $240,000 in earnings; Exalted Miss (by Keepers) who also won seven and emulated her dam by winning the Auraria Stakes in addition amongst her progeny is five times black type winner Exalted Ego (by Blevic) who was able to win 11 times and earn just shy of $550,000. Alleged Lady also left Exalted Time (by Bellotto) who won twice at stakes level culminating in an Adelaide Cup which at the time was still a Group 1 race. He was able to amass over $525,000 in his career with eight wins in total.
By the time this goes to print Exalted Kate will most likely have had her second start. She is by Valentia out of the Blevic mare Exalted Beauty whose other progeny include six-time winner of over $200,000 Exalted Craftsman (by Skilled) and Assyrian Beast (previously Exalted Beast) by Good Journey who has won four and over $100,000.
Exalted Beauty is a daughter of the previously mentioned Exalted Miss thus she is also part of the line that emanates from Alleged Lady.
I think that it is notable when we look at the pedigrees of the Exalted horses that many have been sired by stallions that stood in SA and they are a testament to the support that Ken and Helen gave to the breeding industry in this state. It would be great if Exalted Dame and Exalted Kate can keep the flag flying into the future.