Images courtesy of Darley
Bred by the Ascot Breeding Partnership and secured by trainer Tim Martin for $375,000 at the 2002 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Exceed And Excel was one of the better 2-year-olds of his year - winning the G2 Todman S.
In flying form as a spring 3-year-old, he won the G2 Up And Coming S. and the G3 Roman Consul S. before defeating older rivals in the G1 Dubai Racing Club Cup at Caulfield. Seeing out his local career with wins in the G2 Royal Sovereign S. and the G1 Newmarket H., he headed to the UK where he tired after showing his usual pace in the G1 July Cup.
Exceed And Excel | Standing at Darley
Retired to stud in 2004 (along with fellow surviving Danehill stallion Court Of Jewels (NZ) who has not stood every season), Exceed And Excel has not surprisingly been consistently supported throughout his career but has rarely served very large books of mares.
Exceed And Excel is one of the great shuttling success stories, doing a wonderful job at home and abroad. He has been represented by winners in 41 different countries and by stakes winners in 16; 1709 of his 2413 runners (70.8 per cent) are winners including 205 (8.5 per cent) stakes winners - 17 at Group 1 level (12 in the Southern Hemisphere, five in the Northern Hemisphere).
| First | 89 | 76 | 8 | $55,000 |
| Second | 104 | 82 | 9 | $55,000 |
| Third | 87 | 54 | 6 | $55,000 |
| Fourth | 97 | 76 | 11 | $55,000 |
| Fifth | 93 | 74 | 11 | $110,000 |
| Sixth | 76 | 60 | 11 | $110,000 |
| Seventh | 69 | 49 | 5 | $66,000 |
| Eighth | 91 | 72 | 10 | $66,000 |
| Ninth | 69 | 49 | 4 | $66,000 |
| 10th | 90 | 77 | 10 | $88,000 |
| 11th | 80 | 66 | 8 | $110,000 |
| 12th | 76 | 54 | 10 | $110,000 |
| 13th | 68 | 56 | 4 | $110,000 |
| 14th | 64 | 47 | 3 | $110,000 |
| 15th | 29 | 11 | 2 | $82,500 |
| 16th | 14 | 3 | 2 | $88,000 |
Table: Exceed And Excel's Australian-bred runners by crop
The pedigree
With Danehill bred on a 3 X 3 cross of Natalma (USA) (Native Dancer {USA}) - his own third dam and the dam of Northern Dancer (Can), his sons tend to pick up well on the influence of both Natalma and her dam Almahmoud (USA) (Mahmoud {Fr}).
And Exceed And Excel is no exception with three of his multiple Group 1 winners - Bivouac, Helmet and September Run all line-bred to Almahmoud, the latter also to Natalma with her damsire Street Cry (Ire) being a son of Machiavellian (USA) - a great-grandson of Natalma out of a Halo (USA) - grandson of Almahmoud - mare.
It is interesting to look at how Exceed And Excel has fared with broodmare sires boasting Machiavellian and/or Halo strains...
| Street Cry | 47 | 32 | 3 | 1 |
| Machiavellian | 22 | 20 | 1 | 0 |
| More Than Ready | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Singspiel | 38 | 28 | 5 | 1 |
| Rahy | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| Noverre | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Table: Broodmares sires boasting Machiavellian (USA) and/or Halo (USA) strains
Exceed And Excel has also sired nine stakes winners line-bred to Danehill - including his multiple Group 1-winning three-quarter siblings Guelph (2 X 3 - Danehill is her second damsire) and Bivouac (2 X 4 - Danehill is his third damsire).
A further five of these stakes winners feature their Danehill cross via a son and daughter whilst only two are line-bred to him via two sons - one out of a daughter of Mastercraftsman (Ire) and one out of a daughter of that stallion's sire Danehill Dancer (Ire).
Exceed And Excel's dam sire Lomond (USA) hails from the same branch of the prolific Frizette (USA) (Hamburg {USA}) family as Mr Prospector (USA) - the former's fifth dam Myrtlewood (USA) (Blue Larkspur {USA}) being the latter's fourth dam.
Within five generations alone those two stallions have combined in the pedigrees of 334 stakes winners, 34 of whom have been successful at the elite level. Six of those Group 1 winners are by Exceed And Excel, another five - including this year's G1 Melbourne Cup hero Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}) - are by his sons.
More Than Ready (USA), Street Cry and Machiavellian have already been noted but how does Exceed And Excel best pick up with other strains of Mr Prospector?
| Dalakhani | 19 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Dayjur | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Daylami | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| Elusive Quality | 58 | 50 | 11 | 2 |
| Encosta De Lago | 57 | 43 | 7 | 0 |
| Galileo | 30 | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| Gone West | 19 | 16 | 4 | 1 |
| Lonhro | 45 | 32 | 5 | 0 |
| Seeking The Gold | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| Twining | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Table: Exceed And Excel combing with other strains of Mr Prospector (USA)
The Exceed And Excel/Elusive Quality (USA) cross works so well that it begs further scrutiny. Not only does it provide for the Myrtlewood duplication, but also for crosses of the great mares Flower Bowl (USA) (Alibhai {GB}) and La Troienne (Fr) (Teddy {Fr}).
The former is the dam of Danehill's damsire His Majesty (USA) whilst the latter appears three times in Exceed And Excel's pedigree via Buckpasser (USA), Jet Action (USA) and Poker (USA).
Exceed And Excel picks up very well on La Troienne's influence, also siring Group 1 winners out of mares carrying strains of her descendants More Than Ready, Woodman (USA), Bimelech (USA), Cohoes (USA) and Hitting Away (USA).
And stakes winners out of mares with Rhythm (USA), Belong To Me (USA), The Axe (USA), Tropical Breeze (USA), Caerleon (USA), Don't Say Halo (USA) and Beau Brummel (USA).
Exceed And Excel parading at this year's Darley stallion parade | Image courtesy of Darley
Exceed And Excel's success with Snippets (eight stakes winners including the G1 Golden Slipper S. heroine Overreach bred on this cross) has much to do with that stallion's third damsire being Hitting Away whose dam Striking (USA) (War Admiral {USA}) is the grandam of Poker, damsire of Lomond.
Interestingly, Overreach has as her second damsire the speed influence Rory's Jester and another three Exceed And Excel stakes winners (including the G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Reward For Effort) carry a strain - noting that Rory's Jester's damsire Roan Rocket (Ire) is a descendant of Lomond's ancestress Frizette.
And Frizette is also ancestress of several other stallions with whom Exceed And Excel has enjoyed success, namely:
Darshaan (GB): 11 stakes winners including the G1 Nunthorpe S. winner Margot Did (Ire) - herself a descendant of Frizette.
Seattle Slew (USA): six stakes winners.
Sing Sing (GB): five stakes winners.
Seattle Dancer (USA): four stakes winners.
Baldric (USA): four stakes winners.
Bailjumper (USA): two stakes winners.
Hello Gorgeous (USA): two stakes winners.
And one stakes winner each for Daliapour (Ire), Jugah (USA) and Distant Relative (Ire).
Exceed And Excel parading at this year's Darley stallion parade | Image courtesy of Darley
Exceed And Excel has also done an excellent job with mares by Dehere (USA) who provide for a cross of the classy race and broodmare Bellesoeur (USA) (Beau Pere {GB}), Pivotal (GB) and his sire Polar Falcon (USA) who is bred on the same Northern Dancer/Tom Fool (USA) cross as Danehill, Sadler's Wells (USA), Spectrum (Ire) and Zabeel (NZ), noting that his sire Sir Tristram's (Ire) third damsire Bobsleigh (GB) is closely related to Citation (USA) whose son Watch Your Step (USA) is Exceed And Excel's second damsire.
