Darley’s standout sire of juveniles Exceed And Excel had his stellar record enhanced yet again when Performer took out the first Australian Stakes race of the season for two-year-olds, the Listed Breeders’ Plate at Randwick on 30 September.
Performer became his sire’s 138th Stakes winner, running on powerfully after settling just off the pace to score by three-quarters of a length from Bondi.
The colt joins a list of his sire’s stakes-winning progeny that includes the G1 Golden Slipper winner Overeach, Godolphin’s G1 winning filly Earthquake in Australia and the three-time G1 winner Excelebration from his northern hemisphere crops.
Performer had shown typical Exceed And Excel precocity in his official trial, and added tractability and resilience to the mix on race day.
A half-sister to the G1 winner Bel Sprinter, Performer is from the family of the US-bred, Australian G1 winner Always Aloof.
Exceed And Excel was Australia’s champion overall sire of the 2012-13 season and has been among the top 10 sires of juveniles in Britain for each of the past 10 years.
He stands at Kelvinside, NSW, at a fee of A$110,000 including GST.
