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

Twenty years to the day since Exceed And Excel won the Group One Newmarket Handicap, Darley Australia announced the retirement of the stallion from stud duties. 

The 23-year-old put in 20 seasons at Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley, along with 16 consecutive seasons shuttling to Darley’s Northern Hemisphere headquarters at Dalham Hall. By the time his final crop arrives in Australia next spring he would have produced over 3000 foals.  

He’s been champion sire in Australia and Hong Kong, has had 215 worldwide stakes winners in 17 different countries, and his service fee in Australia has ranged from an entry-point $55,000 to the career high of $132,000, on which he is retiring.

If you multiply the number of foals by the service fee they have been conceived from across the world, he has produced an astonishing $250 million worth of bloodstock. His progeny, meanwhile, have earned over $270 million. 

“He’s been the most remarkable horse,” says Alastair Pulford, head of stallions at Darley Australia. “I mean, you could almost say he was a foundation stallion because we started the business at Kelvinside in 2003, and he started with us in 2004.

“So he was very early in the piece and, in many ways, he set the ground because His Highness Sheikh Mohammed allowed and endorsed the horse’s purchase, which was well above the value of any other stallion prospect that had been sold up to that time. 

“Exceed And Excel was a ground breaker and he probably set the tone for the exorbitant prices that people pay for stallions these days.”

Just over a week after Exceed And Excel won his Newmarket on March 6, 2004, Darley announced to the world its purchase of the sprinting son of Danehill. The deal was reportedly worth $22 million to the horse’s co-owners, Sydney lawyer Alan Osburg and produce tycoon Nick Moraitis.

Exceed And Excel had won seven of his 11 career starts, including the Group Two Todman Stakes as a juvenile and, as a three-year-old, what is now the Group One Rupert Clarke Stakes.

His sale, 12 months after the death of his own champion sire Danehill,  had been a lengthy negotiation between Osburg, Moraitis and the Darley team, which was headed by Olly Tait.

“He was a very expensive horse to buy, but he justified the amount of money many times over. And not just in financial returns, but in terms of improving not only Godolphin’s herd but the breed worldwide,” Pulford said.

“He was an unbelievable sire of two-year-olds, which he demonstrated time and again, but he’s now the broodmare sire of an English Derby winner and a July Cup winner, and multiple Group One winners down here. He’s been such a reliable source of quality and speed for anyone that has had anything to do with him.”

Run the Numbers – What has happened to Australia’s reverse shuttle sires?

With just one Australian-bred stallion shuttling to the Northern Hemisphere in 2024, Bren O’Brien examines what has happened to reverse shuttling and the legacy of Exceed And Excel and Fastnet Rock.

The StraightBren O’Brien

Lisa Miall, long-time partner of the late Alan Osburg, told The Straight that as hard as it was in 2004 to let go of Exceed And Excel’s racing career, his future at Darley was more important.

“We always knew that his breeding career would be one of the most valuable in the country, and we were blessed with service rights every season,” Miall says. “E&E, as we knew him, has been a critical part of our equine family for more than 20 years and it’s been hard not to feel like a proud parent with all that he’s achieved.

“He’s given us such wonderful memories and we hope now that retirement serves him well.”

Exceed And Excel’s progeny record:

For Rosehill trainer Tim Martin, who in 2002 picked Exceed And Excel from an Inglis Easter catalogue, and who trained the horse throughout his million-dollar-winning career, the announcement of the horse’s retirement was welcome news.

“I’m glad they retired him,” Martin says. “He went to a great farm and they’ve really looked after him, clearly putting the horse’s welfare first, which is what you always want to see.”

Martin says that Exceed And Excel is the best horse he has trained by a long way. He still holds the track record for 1400 metres at Caulfield. 

“I’d just moved down from Tamworth when I bought him at the sales, so I thought I was a rockstar, but actually I was just lucky. He was a lovely, quiet horse to handle and easy to train. He was a fairytale, really.”

Exceed And Excel was Lot 343 in the 2002 Easter catalogue, back in the days when Inglis hosted its sales under the Newmarket fig tree. He was the first horse to market from the American-bred mare Patrona, and Martin went to $375,000 to buy him.

“I liked both him and Untouchable at that sale,” Martin says. “Untouchable was a bit more highly strung than Exceed And Excel and he made three times as much, so I bought Exceed And Excel and it worked out pretty well.”

Untouchable, also by Danehill, was bought by Darley for $950,000. He was Group 2-placed when he headed to stud, but he sired a single stakes winner in what proved an ordinary career. His barn mate, on the other hand, was life-changing.

Exceed And Excel is the only Australian-bred stallion to register 200 worldwide stakes winners, joining Danehill, Sadler’s Wells, Deep Impact, Galileo, Dubawi and More Than Ready.

“Exceed And Excel was a very quiet, relaxed horse,” Martin says. “He always handled his preps really well. Later on, I didn’t have an awful lot of his progeny come through the stable, but I broke a lot of them in. 

“They were a bit tougher to break than I expected. A lot of the fillies were quite hot but they sobered up quickly with work, and of course he proved a great juvenile stallion.”

Run The Numbers in Review – Exceed And Excel extends extraordinary record

Saturday’s stakes racing added another chapter to the amazing record that Exceed And Excel has with his two year-olds.

The StraightBren O’Brien

With his final covering duties done and dusted at Kelvinside, Exceed And Excel will head to retirement pastures at Darley’s Woodlands Stud property, joining Lonhro, who retired last year in equally good fettle after a long and brilliant career also.

“There are beautiful facilities for them at Woodlands,” Pulford says. “With the hustle and bustle of the stallion barn and all the mares around, it’s not fair on them to remain here, so we’re lucky to be able to use Woodlands.

“We’ve had various stallions like Sepoy, Reset, Octagonal and Canny Lad live out their days at Woodlands. It’s a beautiful farm where they get the opportunity to chill out, and they will be handled similarly to how they were when they were serving, just without the angst of seeing all the goings-on at the stallion barn.”

Exceed And Excel currently has 16 sons at stud in Australia, from Bivouac and Microphone at Darley to Headwater and Exceedance at Vinery, and Sidestep at Telemon Thoroughbreds. 

Darley also has the three-year-old colt Cylinder coming through, a son of Exceed And Excel and a four-time Group winner who will attempt to emulate his sire this weekend in the Newmarket Handicap.

“Bivouac is probably his greatest race son and the one most like his father, in terms of winning a Newmarket, and we have very high hopes for Bivouac,” Pulford says. “We’re all hoping and praying that Cylinder can be the second Newmarket winner for him. but there is still no doubt that Exceed And Excel is a big hole for us to fill. 

“Losing a high-class, proven horse like that is never easy, but we’re always conscious of the horse. He still could have covered mares physically, and people were still wanting to use him, ourselves included, but there comes a time, doesn’t there?”