Tracked – The Saturday Racing Review

Just days after being pensioned from stallion duties by Darley Australia, Exceed And Excel has sired his 19th Group 1 winner with Cylinder claiming the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington.

The only three-year-old in the field, Cylinder chartered a path down the outside of the famed ‘straight six’ course under Jamie Kah to upset the favourite Imperatriz in a 1-1/4 length win.

Cylinder joins another Godolphin colt in Bivouac as a son of Exceed And Excel to win the Newmarket.

Exceed And Excel won the famous sprint himself in 2004.

Trainer James Cummings, who watched the race from Sydney, shared the sentimentality of the win as Cylinder assured himself a future in the breeding barn with his maiden success at the highest level.

“It is with great sadness that we retired Exceed And Excel from the roster this week and it’s amazing that in the same week one champion exits the stage and potentially the next potential champion stallion joins the roster,” Cummings said.

“He’s a very interesting horse, Cylinder.

“He’s by Exceed and Excel who won a Newmarket and had over 200 Stakes (winners) with an amazing career as a stallion.

“He was the first horse that Sheikh Mohammad bought in Australia, his first really big move into this country with Darley at the time.

“Now we’ve got Cylinder who is by that horse, from the family of Lonhro and he’s out of a Street Cry mare so he’s got it all and what he didn’t yet have was a Group 1.”

‘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

Cylinder’s biggest victory prior was the Group 2 Todman Stakes as a two-year-old, which was taken out by Switzerland on Saturday at Randwick.

Having impressed in two previous wins, the son of Snitzel was given his first crack at black-type level, where he was able to skip past Straight Charge and cement himself as a key player in the Golden Slipper Stakes.

The victory provides Snitzel with stakeswinner number 142, with 55 individual two-year-old winners at black-type level.

Earlier in the day, Erno’s Cube came out on top of the Group 2 Reisling Stakes, which produced a thrilling three-way finish involving Silmarillion and Too Darn Lizzie, both daughters of Too Darn Hot.

Her late lunge at the winning post provided her sire, Rubick, with his 12th stakeswinner, a list that includes Group 1 winner Jacquinot, who has commenced his stallion career at Widden Stud.

While he’s based in NSW, it was one of Widden’s Victorian residents, Overshare, who notched a major milestone for his stallion career, with his daughter Lady Laguna upsetting Think About It and Espiona to win the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick.

Ridden patiently by Tyler Schiller, the Annabel Neasham-trained mare pulled away in the final stages of the 1300m contest, which was just her second appearance at Group 1 level.

Lady Laguna ran in the 2022 Golden Slipper Stakes but finished down the course.

“It is with great sadness that we retired Exceed And Excel from the roster this week and it’s amazing that in the same week one champion exits the stage and potentially the next potential champion stallion joins the roster” -Cylinder’s trainer James Cummings

Some 35 minutes later, veteran trainer Les Bridge secured another win at the highest level, with Celestial Legend knuckling down to narrowly get the better of Militarize and Cafe Millenium in a thrilling finish to the Group 1 Randwick Guineas.

Never finding a position closer to the rail than three horses off, the son of Dundeel needed every scrap of tenacity he could muster, with the trio settling down to battle out an enthralling edition of the race.

He is the eighth individual Group 1 winner for his stallion, who capped off a banner day for Arrowfield Stud.

Arrowfield stallions claimed three black-type races, with Dundeel joining Snitzel (Switzerland) and The Autumn Sun, who sired Kewney Stakes winner Autumn Angel.