Prominent Darley shuttle sire, Exceed And Excel, continues to make his mark on the stud book.
Champion Sire in Australia in 2012-2013, and twice Champion Sire of 2yo’s in Australia, Exceed And Excel has consistently ranked among the very best sons of his champion sire, Danehill.
Danehill
The sire of over 140 stakes winners (and another 100 plus stakes performers), Exceed And Excel is now making his presence felt as a sire of sires and as a broodmare sire.
The sire already has 11 Gr1 winners to his name, with Exceed And Excel runners having captured such major races as the Golden Slipper, Al Quoz Sprint, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Nunthorpe Stakes, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Oakleigh Plate, Hong Kong Sprint and Blue Diamond Stakes (twice).
Exceed And Excel
In 2017, Exceed And Excel was represented by more than 20 stakes winners, including Hong Kong sprint star, Mr Stunning, Gr2 Temple Stakes winner, Priceless and high class 2yos James Garfield (Mill Reef Stakes), Sound And Silence (Prix Eclipse) and Threading (Lowther Stakes). Exceed And Excel son, the multiple Australian Gr1 winning Helmet is the sire of 2018 Gr1 Dubai World Cup winner, Thunder Snow, while another son, the triple Gr1 winning miler and Frankel’s nemesis, Excelebration, left behind the fertility struck Gr1 winner, Barney Roy, from his very first crop last season.
Another Exceed And Excel sire son to make the news (albeit this year) is Rathasker Stud resident. Bungle Inthejungle, who was registered as standing for €5 000 this year.
A very fast two-year-old, and winner of both the Gr3 Cornwallis and Molecomb Stakes at two, Bungle Inthejungle, a direct descendant of Pretty Polly (Gallinule), has made a very fast start with his early runners in 2018.
At the time of writing, Bungle Inthejungle, the first of the UK first crop sires to have a winner, has been represented by seven first crop two-year-old winners, which sees the horse top the First Crop Sires List in Britain. He is one of three of Exceed And Excel’s runners to have won the Molecomb Stakes, with the sire also responsible for Yalta and Cotai Glory.
Wolfhound (Nureyev – Lassie Dear)
Bungle Inthejungle is out of a mare by Nureyev’s dual Gr1 winning son, Wolfhound, a half-brother to champion sire, Al Mufti, who finished his stud career in South Africa. His dam, Licence To Thrill has been a superb broodmare, and is also responsible for Gr1 Golden Shaheen winner, Muarrab (Oasis Dream), and Bungle Inthejungle’s stakes winning own sister, Waveband.
His sire Exceed And Excel, whose most recently announced Southern Hemisphere stud fee was AUS$82 500, has been in the news through maternal granddaughter, Alizee, who recently won the Gr1 Coolmore Legacy Stakes, and who is a filly from the second Southern Hemisphere crop of Golden Slipper winner, Sepoy (Elusive Quality). Alizee is one of two Gr1 winners produced by the Exceed And Excel mare, Essaouira, whose Golden Rose winning son, Astern (Medaglia D’Oro), is now a Darley shuttle sire.
The champion son of Danehill is also broodmare sire of the talented filly, She’s So High (I Am Invincible), winner of Saturday’s SAJC Proud Miss Stakes with other notable performers out of mares by Exceed And Excel including Three Troikas winner, Fish River (Canford Cliffs), Gr2 winning young sire, Birchwood (Dark Angel), Lebelo Sprint hero, Naafer (Lonhro), French Gr3 winner, Sweet Dream (Dream Ahead), and New Zealand star, Bounding (Lonhro).
Thunder Snow charges home to win the 2018 Dubai World Cup
Exceed And Excel enjoyed a particularly rewarding spell during the Dubai World Cup Carnival earlier in the year with his grandson, Thunder Snow, not the only highlight for the Darley stallion. His eight-year-old son, Heavy Metal (out of SA champion Rock Opera) picked up all of the Gr2 Godolphin Mile, Gr3 Firebreak Stakes, Dubai Creek Mile, and Gr3 Maktoum Challenge (Round 1) at Meydan in 2018, while another son, Folkswood, landed Meydan’s Gr3 Dubai Millennium Stakes.
Another son of the dual Gr1 winner (Exceed And Excel won both the Newmarket Handicap and MRC Invitation Stakes) is talented 3yo, James Garfield (out of a mare by another sire who stood briefly in South Africa in the form of Daylami), who won the 2018 Gr3 Greenham Stakes before running seventh in the Qipco 2000 Guineas.
The sire has fared particularly well when mated to daughters of US champion sire, Elusive Quality (Gone West), with that combination producing champion filly, Guelph, as well as group winners, Sound And Silence, Serenely Discreet, Cotai Glory, Yalta, Calliope, and Ottoman. Exceed And Excel, whose dam Patrona is a winning daughter of 2000 Guineas winner, Lomond, and a 17 time winner, and Gr3 Interborough Handicap winner, Gladiolus, is descended directly from Mannie Himyar, a full-sister to the great racehorse, Domino.
This is the same family as Triple Crown winner, Affirmed (Exclusive Native), multiple champion sire, Smart Strike (Mr Prospector), Breeders’ Cup winner, Dance Smartly (Danzig), leading US sire, Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) and the latter’s brilliant siblings, Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) and Beholder (Henny Hughes), and US champion and Kentucky Derby winner, I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley).
Jackson (Dynasty – Moonlit Prairie)
South African Gr1 winning sires, Jackson (Dynasty) and Soft Falling Rain (National Assembly), are also members of this family, which traces back to the mare Gallopade.
While not numerically well represented in South Africa, Exceed And Excel’s handful of local runners have included useful two-year-old, Her Excellency, while Excelebration is sire of the Cape galloper, Phelan Lucky.
