Almost a decade after his racing career concluded, Exceed And Excel has been back in the headlines this year owing to his deeds as a sire.
The son of Danehill collected his maiden Australian Champion Sire title, largely due to his brilliant crop of two-year-olds, which include Golden Slipper winner Overreach and dual Group 1 winner Guelph.
He created worldwide headlines when it was revealed he had been selected as the first breeding barn companion for recently-retired sprinting legend Black Caviar.
For perhaps the first time, his deeds as a stallion are starting to exceed his racetrack performances.
And while he scored his biggest win in the Newmarket Handicap, the performance on the track that many remember him for was his win in the 2003 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, or Dubai Racing Club Cup as it was known at the time.
The Tim Martin-trained three-year-old colt, who was being ridden by Corey Brown for the first time, unleashed a relentless front-running performance the likes of which have never been seen over the Caulfield 1400 metres.
Certainly no horse has covered that trip faster. The 1:21.2 that Exceed And Excel took to cover the journey set a track record that stands to this day.
After jumping well from barrier five, Exceed And Excel led at a solid tempo but was still able to explode away from his rivals when Brown asked for the supreme effort at the 250m.
He scored by 1-3/4 lengths from quality sprinting mare Reactive with Titanic Jack half-a-length away third.
The Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes success was the coming of age for a colt who had always been one of the best of his generation.
Although he failed in the Golden Slipper, finishing ninth behind Polar Success, he won two and was runner-up at his only other starts as a juvenile. One of those wins came in the Group 2 Todman Stakes.
He was well beaten in the Sam Domenico Stakes at his first as a three-year-old, but bounced back to win the Group 2 Up And Coming Stakes (1200m) and the Group 3 Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) in the lead-up to the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.
He remains the most recent three-year-old to win the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, a feat achieved by fellow colts Our Maizcay, Encosta de Lago and Testa Rossa in the decade before his victory.
Exceed And Excel fell victim to a low-grade virus following his Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes success and although he recovered swiftly enough to take his place in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m), he was unable to replicate his performance from three weeks earlier and punctured late to finish sixth behind In Top Swing.
He returned to Melbourne a few months later to win the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m), which was his final start in Australia.
He was sold to Darley for a sum reported to be in excess of $20 million and travelled to England where he had his final start in the 2004 July Cup at Newmarket, in which he finished second-last.
– Spring Racing Carnival
