Sky On Fire lit-up Riccarton racecourse on Wednesday, 9 November and became another Stakes winning two-year-old for Exceed And Excel (AUS) when she led all the way to win the Listed Welcome Stakes over 1,000m.
Having her third start after two close seconds, Sky On Fire - ridden by visiting Australian jockey Josh Parr and prepared by Mark Walker at Matamata - showed speed and then great tenacity to hold off Rubicon Crossing by three-quarters of a length. Rhetorical was another 1.6 lengths away in third place.
The filly was offered by Eureka Stud at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and bought by David Ellis (Te Akau Racing) for $400,000.
Just a few days earlier, Barber (Exceed And Excel) won the $1 million Golden Gift for two-year-olds at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney, Sky On Fire won her first race at Stakes level for Te Akau Racing to boost her sire’s incredible juvenile-winning record.
A dual G1 winner during a racetrack career that yielded six wins in Stakes company, Exceed And Excel now has 560 individual two-year-old winners of 774 races, including 85 individual Stakes winners of 115 Stakes races.
No stallion in the world can match Exceed And Excel in any of these four categories.
From 2407 runners, the stallion has sired 1705 winners (almost 71 per cent) of 5685 races worth nearly $247 million in prize money.
Exceed And Excel heads the stallion roster at Darley’s Kelvinside property in the NSW Hunter Valley, standing at a service fee of $132,000 (GST inclusive).
Stakes winner 205 for the remarkable Exceed And Excel (Danehill) @DarleyAus as Sky On Fire (2 f ex Elusive Meteor by Northern Meteor) records a tough win in the Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at Riccarton. A $400,000 @mmsnippets purchase for @TeAkauRacing. A Te Akau trifecta! pic.twitter.com/ly1hulfnIk
— ANZ Bloodstock (@anz_news) November 9, 2022
