Exceed And Excel’s ability to sire Stakes-winning speedsters was again evident at the Scone metropolitan meeting on Saturday, 13 May when Athelric won the Listed Ortensia Stakes over 1,100m.
Beautifully ridden from barrier one by boom apprentice Dylan Gibbons, Athelric raced behind the leaders until the home turn before bursting through to grab the lead and hold off the fast-finishing Quantico.
It was Athelric’s second Stakes victory after success in the Listed Queensland Day Stakes in Brisbane last winter.
The four-year-old gelding out of Ida, now has seven wins and four placings from 23 starts for earnings of $853,730 under Godolphin head trainer James Cummings.
Athelric stopped the clock on a slick 1 minute 2.71 seconds to win by a short-half-head, with the winner’s stablemate Andermatt in third place, a half-length further away.
Exceed And Excel was a dual G1 winner who has now sired the winners of more than A$256 million in prize money.
The Australian stallion has 209 Stakes winners of 383 Black-Type races, including Mawj - who won G1 The Thousand Guineas at Newmarket in England last weekend.
At the Magic Millions and Inglis yearling sales, Exceed And Excel had 30 yearlings fetched an average price of $476,000 and selling up to $1,800,000.
Exceed And Excel again leads the Darley roster at Kelvinside this season, standing for a service fee of $132,000 inc GST.
Athelric wins the Ortensia Stakes!
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) May 13, 2023
Quantico backers look away... 🤢@godolphin @djgibbons22 pic.twitter.com/iGr9WIzC4Z
