Group 1-Winning Exceedance Retired to Vinery

Exceedance will become the latest member of this season's stellar 3-year-old crop to join Australia's stallion ranks in 2020 after his retirement was announced by Vinery Stud.

The winner of the Coolmore Stud Ascot Vale Stakes (G1) and Sky Racing Active San Domenico Stakes (G3) and an earner of AU$1,181,115 (US$810,914), Exceedance has already arrived at Vinery Stud after departing the Rosehill stables of Michael, Wayne, and John Hawkes for his new home in the Hunter Valley.

"He's just arrived," Vinery general manager Peter Orton told ANZ Bloodstock News April 16. "He just walked off, and he's settled in beautifully. He's such a lovely, calm horse with a super temperament, and he's such a beautiful-looking horse, too. Apart from everything that is happening with racing, the time is right now. He had nothing left to prove. He's a supreme athlete and a really exciting addition to our roster going forward."

Exceedance's short career became a demonstration of his potent turn of foot and sheer class, which placed him at the forefront of his generation. Orton described the son of the Vinery-raised Exceed And Excel as possessing an "X-factor" that makes him attractive as a stallion prospect.

"He had an extraordinary turn of foot, and that's what an X-factor horse does," he said. "That's what we look for in terms of stallions, too, that little bit of an X factor that you hope they can put into their stock. Everything about the horse ticks so many boxes. He's got a great pedigree, he's from a great sire line, he's a stunning type. You can get plenty of those, but you are looking for that horse that's a little bit different, a little bit special. He had that."

Purchased for AU$180,000 ($138,294) by Orton and the Vinery Stud team from the draft of Newgate Farm at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the Nick Vass-bred Exceedance is the first foal out of listed winner Bonnie Mac, who is a half sister to two group 3 winners.

Exceedance was raced by a syndicate that included Neil Werrett and Rupert Legh, the managing owners of two of the best sprinters over the past decade in Black Caviar and Chautauqua, respectively, as well as Orton, Steve McCann, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, Colin and Jannene Madden, Doug Alderslade, and Glenlogan Park. He had three wins and three placings in nine starts. He placed third in the De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose (G1) and the Sydney Markets Run To The Rose (G2).

Though Exceedance didn't tackle a stakes race at 2, Orton said he had "natural precocity," which was on display in his first campaign, particularly with his barnstorming debut over 5 1/2 furlongs at Wyong.

"He probably would have been at the races earlier. He was traveling well, but he went shin-sore twice in his 2-year-old year," Orton recalled. "We weren't particularly pressed with him, and then he went to Wyong and did what he did. He had that natural precocity to him, which is important to us."

Exceedance's spring 3-year-old campaign saw him vying with Bivouac and Yes Yes Yes as king of the 3-year-old sprinters. He struck first blood, defeating Bivouac to win the San Domenico Stakes. Bivouac took the Golden Rose at Rosehill, and Exceedance prevailed in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington.

"Exceedance certainly went on with it at 3," Orton said. "He won the race that you want to win at Flemington, the group 1, and he tackled the older horses, too. We certainly weren't afraid of them and we didn't protect him, and he always performed well. It was a very good crop of colts. The number of times they started in those races, it was reported that it was the best collection of horses for this particular race in some time.

"When you get the caliber of horses like Bivouac and Yes Yes Yes, they are all within a half-length of each other, and whatever the circumstances of the race, they'll all have a crack at winning, too. Some of his placings were just as exciting as some of his wins, the way he was to rattle home. He'd miss his opportunity a bit, but you only need to rate the horse and you know what a special athlete he was. We'll always bank on them to pass it on to their progeny.

"When we do start supporting these horses that do go to stud, we put an enormous amount of resources into it with the value of our mares to go to him. You want to know that he's raced against the best and that he is competitive at that level."

ANZ Bloodstock News reported in February that Exceedance is a ridgling. Vinery bloodstock manager Adam White said at the time that "it will just impact how we manage him, certainly in the first year." This was a point that Orton reaffirmed Thursday.

"I've had (ridlings) here before. We had Congrats here, and he covered over 200 mares at one point," Orton said. "A lot of stallions can be rigs and can still be very successful, right back through to A.P. Indy and his sons—Lyphard, too. That aside, the best way to go about that is to have them on conservative books. We'll just see how he develops from there. Usually, the one existing testicle does compensate. It's usually bigger than normal."

Vinery's stallion fees for 2020 will be announced "in the near future," the stud said Thursday, with their full lineup also to be confirmed.