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.