His excellence continues

Exceed And Excel finished 2012 with a very respectable total of 20 Stakes winners worldwide, headed by G1 winner Excelebration. However, he looks set to eclipse that impressive total this year as he has already recorded a staggering 16 Black type winners, four more than his nearest rivals – an elite group that includes none other than Dubawi.

His two-year-old daughters in the southern hemisphere have been flagbearers for their sire in the early part of the year, with Overreach taking one of the world’s most coveted juvenile contests, the G1 Golden Slipper; and Guelph annexing both the G1 Sires’ Produce and G1 Champagne Stakes. Thanks to their exploits, plus those of his five further two-year-old Group winners, Exceed And Excel is Champion Sire elect in Australia.

Now that the attention has turned to Europe, and particularly next month’s Royal Meeting at Ascot, it seems that his northern hemisphere youngsters are well primed to follow in the footsteps of their Antipodean siblings. Exceed And Excel has an outstanding record at Royal Ascot. Since 2008, he has had no fewer than seven juveniles who have gained Black type at the prestigious meeting – three more than any other stallion over the same period.

This year he has one very exciting contender in Richard Hannon’s Championship, an impressive winner of the Hildon Maiden at Newbury last week. This race was won previously by the trainer’s former charges Canford Cliffs, Strong Suit and Major Cadeaux.

Another promising performer is Windfast, second in a Newmarket maiden on his debut before winning in eyecatching style on 21 May, beating another exciting colt in Mawfoor (Iffraaj). 

So far this year, Exceed And Excel has five juveniles rated 80+ by Timeform (only one stallion has more), and with a ‘p’ against the names of four of these, the summer of 2013 promises plenty of success for the world’s best sire of two-year-olds.