Newmarket winner Cylinder retired, set to stand for Darley in Victoria

Newmarket Handicap winner Cylinder will stand for Darley in Victoria in 2024, with confirmation that the talented three-year-old son of Exceed And Excel has been retired from racing.

Darley/Godolphin announced on Thursday that Cylinder had run the final race of his career when down the track in the recent William Reid Stakes.

The start prior he had upset Australasia’s best sprinter Imperatriz when winning the Newmarket Handicap, one of Australia’s most revered sprints, emulating what his sire did in 2004.

“Now he’s got the Newmarket to his name. That is a huge result for the farm, he had them covered a long way out. I love the fact that good horses were in the race; it just underlines the form, and he powered away from them,” trainer James Cummings said after that win.

“He’s a very interesting horse, Cylinder. He’s by Exceed And Excel, who won a Newmarket and has produced over 200 Stakes wins – an amazing career as a stallion.

“Now we have Cylinder, who’s by that horse (Exceed And Excel) from the family of Lonhro and out of a Street Cry mare; he’s got it all.”

There are only two sons of the recently pensioned Exceed And Excel active in Victoria, with Cylinder to become the third.

A winner of five of his 13 starts, all of his victories came at Group level, including the Group 2 Run To The Rose and Group 2 Todman Stakes. He was also runner-up in the Golden Slipper behind Shinzo.

His dam Circular was a Group 3 winner and has also produced multiple stakes winner, Parisal. His second dam, Hexameter, is a three-quarter sister to champion racehorse and stallion Lonhro, who was pensioned by Darley last year.

‘The most remarkable stallion’ – Exceed And Excel, Darley’s $250 million superstar, retires

From superstar racehorse to trailblazing stallion, Exceed And Excel set new records at every turn. He retires from stud the most successful stakes-producing Australian sire of all time.

The StraightJessica Owers

Darley’s Australian Head of Sales, Andy Makiv, said the addition of Cylinder to the Northwood Park roster would be a fillip for the Victorian industry.

“This is a significant boost for Northwood Park and shows how much we admire the property and the breeding industry in Victoria,” he said.

“A Newmarket winner, who’s by Exceed And Excel out of the Group-winning Street Cry mare, from the family of Lonhro, Cylinder captures three great Darley stallions from the last two decades.

“He was an elite two-year-old, by the best sire of two-year-olds who trained on at three to win the Newmarket, just like Exceed And Excel.

“To win the Silver Slipper, dominate the Todman, finish second in the Slipper, and display brilliance in the Newmarket, defeating the 10-time G1 winner Imperatriz and a handful of G1 winners, is quite some record,” Makiv said.

Darley already stands a Newmarket Handicap-winning son of Exceed And Excel in NSW in Bivouac, while Brazen Beau, a son of I Am Invincible who won that race in 2015, is at its Victorian base.