Exceed And Excel retired from stud duty
In the week of the Group 1 that was Exceed And Excel’s biggest win as a racehorse, Darley on Wednesday announced that its champion sire had been retired from stallion duties.
The 23-year-old has been pensioned after putting together one of the great careers by an Australian stallion, having thrown 215 Stakes winners – 19 of them Group 1 winners – around the world and won champion sire titles in Australia and Hong Kong.
“I can’t overstate how great an influence he’s been on this stud and the entire Australian racing and breeding scene,” Darley Australia’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford said.
“As a very fast son of Danehill, who at that stage was highly recognised as an elite sire of sires, he was extremely popular from the word go.
“He became the leading sire of two-year-olds, but it wasn’t only two-year-olds, he ended up being a great sire of horses of all ages.
“He was just an amazing horse from day dot, and I have every confidence his sons at stud will do the same.”
Trained by Tim Martin, Exceed And Excel was taken to England after his win in the 2004 Newmarket Handicap but was retired after finishing down the track in the Group 1 July Cup, his 12th start in a career that netted seven wins.
Multiple Group 1 winners Bivouac, Helmet, Guelph, Flamberge and September Run were among his Australian progeny, along with Golden Slipper winner Overreach and Blue Diamond winners Reward For Effort and Earthquake, while he shuttled to Europe for 16-straight seasons.
Among his Northern Hemisphere progeny was Excelebration, a three-time Group 1 winner and his highest-rated product under the Timeform scale with a peak rating of 133.
He has a chance to add another Newmarket Handicap win to his resume this weekend with Cylinder to contest the $1.5 million Group 1 sprint another of Exceed And Excel’s sons, Bivouac, won in 2020.
Exceed And Excel has also produced 14 mares who have given birth to Group 1 winners, which his progeny are responsible for almost $271 million in earnings.
More Racing News
Dan Morton keeps faith with 2024 Railway Stakes mare
Trainer Dan Morton has shrugged aside Super Smink’s horror barrier draw and still thinks she can win the Group 1 Swan Draught-Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot on Saturday. A layer of complexity was added to Super Smink’s Railway Stakes bid after she was handed barrier 18, but Dan Morton is keeping the...
Timing right for Port Lockroy in G1 Railway Stakes bid
He’s one of five interstate raiders and the outsider of the quintet, but co-trainer, Rob Archibald believes there is a sense of timing about Port Lockroy in Saturday’s Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot. Rob Archibald, who shares training duties with Annabel Neasham, says Port Lockroy put himself into Railway Stakes...
Royal task for Gilded Water at local debut
A benchmark race on The Gong undercard will add some Royal flavour to the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting when a horse owned by His Majesty King Charles III makes his local debut. Four-year-old Gilded Water has been sent to Australia to continue his racing career, having started just four times in the...
Improving trio to fly flag for Godolphin at Kembla Grange
Godolphin doesn’t have a representative in The Gong, but James Cummings is content to rely on a trio of up-and-coming sprinters to carry the stable’s hopes at the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting. Fleetwood will headline the leading yard’s squad when he resumes in the Group 3 The Warra (1000m), while Pisanello and Restonica contest benchmark...
Jason Collett hoping to find Express lane in The Gong
Jason Collett is resigned to the fact that he will be more reliant on luck than good management as he tries to coax another win out of Territory Express in the $1 million The Gong at Kembla Grange. The Provincial-Midway Championships Final victor in the autumn, Territory Express has a get-back racing pattern...
Mark Walker aims for ‘new’ hometown Cranbourne Cup
Trainer Mark Walker has a good record when in form New Zealand gallopers land in Australia. Walker’s latest ‘import’ is It’s A Wild Night who will have his first Australian outing in the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) on Saturday. It’s A Wild Night arrived at Walker’s Cranbourne base just over a week ago...
Trainer Gavin Bedggood chasing Fortune in The Meteorite
Gavin Bedggood hopes the decision to take Oscar’s Fortune to Cranbourne for a midweek gallop will pay off handsomely on Saturday. Oscar’s Fortune runs in the $1 million The Meteorite (1200m), a new ‘slot race’ that Southside Racing, a merged entity of the Cranbourne and Pakenham Clubs, runs for the first time. The former...
Railway Stakes 2024 timing perfect for Baker’s Bel
In-form mare Belclare will need to overcome a wide alley to land her first Australian Group One win in the Railway Stakes at Ascot, and connections believe Nash Rawiller is the perfect man for the job. A two-time victor at the highest level in New Zealand, Belclare joined the Sydney stable of Bjorn...
John Stewart eyes Melbourne with 2024 Japan Cup fancy
Goliath faces one of the toughest tasks in racing this weekend, beating the Japanese at home in their biggest race, but John Stewart is already planning his next moves with his star recruit and Australia is on the itinerary. The ambitious American has quickly become a powerful investor in Australian racing and...
Hedged poised to give The Warra rivals a trim-up
The Magic Millions carnival is the campaign focal point for promising sprinter Hedged, but trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are hoping he can knock off a feature race along the way. The gelding will resume in the Group 3 The Warra (1000m) at Kembla Grange on Saturday, his first start...
