Exceed And Excel, one of the world’s leading sire of juvenile Stakes winners, has been a stalwart of the Darley stallion roster in both his native Australia and Europe for more than 15 years.
He reached a new milestone as a stallion on Thursday, 4 June when recording his 500th two-year-old winner with a double at Newmarket.
Cheveley Park Stud’s homebred filly Sacred won the opening race of the first meeting this year at Newmarket, taking the five-furlong fillies’ maiden by a length and three quarters. This was swiftly followed by victory for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’s Eye Of Heaven, who landed the novice over the same distance.
Since retiring to stud as Champion sprinter in 2004, Exceed And Excel has produced a consistent flow of talented runners.
His first Australian crop, who hit the track in 2007, included no fewer than five Black Type winners that season – three of whom won at Group level. He was just as quick to make an impression in the northern hemisphere, with G2 Lowther Stakes winner Infamous Angel heading the six Stakes performers he sired in 2008.
In the years that followed, Exceed And Excel has sired an exceptional 75 two-year-old Stakes winners including seven G1-winning youngsters.
They include Overreach, winner of the 2013 renewal of the world’s richest two-year-old race, the Golden Slipper. That year’s race was truly remarkable for Exceed And Excel, as not only did he sire the winner, but also the second (Sidestep) and fourth (Guelph). In fact, Guelph went on to win that year’s G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes and G1 Champagne Stakes.
Exceed And Excel has another Sires’ Produce Stakes winner in Microphone, who has just joined the Darley stallion roster in Australia and is already proving extremely popular with breeders.
His G1-winning two-year-olds haven’t been confined to Australia, as he is also sire of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Outstrip, who now stands at Dalham Hall Stud and is making a superb start to his career as a stallion.
Exceed And Excel’s total of 500 two-year-old winners cannot be beaten by any other stallion and his strike rate of almost 36 per cent juvenile winners to runners is right up there with the best.
He is also a member of an elite group of just 17 stallions to have sired 150 individual Stakes winners (of any age) and his outstanding sons will ensure his legacy at stud remains for many years to come.
