Exceed And Excel is one of the leading sires of juvenile Stakes winners at the Royal meeting. Click here to read more about his successes.
Exceed And Excel, sire of three juvenile Stakes winners at Royal Ascot to date.
Royal Ascot has been a happy hunting ground for Australian sprinters for over a decade now, but arguably the most successful of them all is a horse who never contested a race at the Royal meeting himself.
Exceed And Excel has rightly carved out a name as the leading source of juvenile talent in both hemispheres since entering stud in 2004 in his native Australia and in 2005 in the northern hemisphere. A lightning fast sprinter, Exceed And Excel set two course records at three, including in the G1 Newmarket Handicap, on his way to being crowned Champion Sprinter in Australia.
In full possession of the speed that appeals to breeders worldwide, Exceed And Excel immediately proved a popular draw at stud, even with European breeders who were less familiar with his race record.
Flashmans Papers storms to victory in the 2008 Listed Windsor Castle Stakes
At Royal Ascot in 2008, the Australian speed influence on whom attention focused was the popular Takeover Target who had stormed to success in the G1 King’s Stand two years earlier and finished a narrow second in 2007.
But just over two hours after the eight-year-old Takeover Target finished runner-up for the second consecutive year, an Australian influence of a different kind took centre stage.
Flashmans Papers, named for the series of books starring the fictional British soldier Harry Flashman, was little considered when he entered the stalls for the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes. Sent off at 100-1, the John Best-trained juvenile was from the first crop of Exceed And Excel, and had finished third on both of his previous starts.
Settled towards the rear of the field, Flashmans Papers showed the electric turn of foot that would become the hallmark of Exceed And Excel’s progeny when blasting away from his 24 rivals with 50 yards to run to triumph by half a length from the subsequent G1 Middle Park Stakes winner Bushranger. Also in arrears was another future G1 winner in Total Gallery, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Donativum.
Two days later, Flashmans Papers turned out again, bidding to complete an unlikely double in the G2 Norfolk Stakes. There was little shame in his fourth-place finish, beaten only a length and a half, given his exertions in the Windsor Castle.
Best Terms (centre) triumphs in the 2011 G2 Queen Mary Stakes
As Flashmans Papers was giving an early indication of what was to come from Exceed And Excel’s offspring, the Kris mare Sharp Terms was already in foal to the Aussie ace, and duly foaled a filly for the Barnett family the following May. Unsold at just 10,000gns at Tattersalls as a yearling, she was retained to race for her breeders.
Named Best Terms, the filly had already won twice before her actual second birthday of 19th May and arrived at Royal Ascot in 2011 unbeaten to contest the G2 Queen Mary Stakes over 5f.
Racing close to the pace throughout, Best Terms showed plenty of grit and determination to hit the front inside the final furlong and then simply refused to give way to the runner-up and hot favourite Shumoos, prevailing by a short head.
Buratino makes it a Royal Ascot hat-trick for Exceed And Excel when winning the 2015 G2 Coventry Stakes
In contrast to both Flashmans Papers and Best Terms, Exceed And Excel’s son Buratino was already exposed when he arrived at Royal Ascot last year.
Having debuted at the end of March, winning at Chelmsford, Buratino had then raced a further five times prior to Royal Ascot, winning the Listed Woodcote Stakes at Epsom on Derby day by an impressive six lengths, and never finishing out of the first three.
Buratino might have already laid his credentials on the line, but he showed a marked improvement again to trounce a high-class field in the G2 Coventry Stakes, travelling strongly behind the leaders before quickening well to storm away with a two-length victory. The vanquished included the runner-up and subsequent multiple G1 winner Air Force Blue and the future G1-placed First Selection.
Exceed And Excel is one of just three stallions to sire three juvenile winners at Royal Ascot, including his fellow Darley stallion New Approach who became the first stallion ever to sire three juvenile winners from his first crop at the Royal meeting in 2012.
Exceed And Excel, the world's dominant sire of juvenile winners, Stakes horses and Stakes winners.
