THIS is proving to be a year and some for Montassib, the Shadwell-bred, six-year-old gelded son of Exceed And Excel (Danehill). Incredibly, given Shadwell’s connections to this family going back generations, they don’t own the best winner in it.

Starting out the year as the winner of five races, Montassib had no blacktype to his credit. Now, in four outings this season, he is a triple stakes winner, landing the Listed Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster, the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle, and now a headline success in the Group 1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup.

At the beginning of March this year, and on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Exceed And Excel’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap victory, his second success at the highest level, Darley Australia announced his retirement from stallion duties. A son of Danehill (Danzig) out of the US-bred mare Patrona (Lomond), Exceed And Excel realised $375,000 at the 2002 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, bought by trainer Tim Martin.

Nick Moraitis and Alan Osburg took ownership of the colt, and Exceed And Excel developed into a racing phenomenon, winning the Group 2 Todman Stakes at two before reaching his prime as a three-year-old, when he won the Group 1 Dubai Racing Club Cup and Group 1 Newmarket Handicap.

This was a stellar three-year-old season which also included wins in the Group 2 Up And Coming Stakes, Group 2 Royal Sovereign Stakes and the Group 3 Roman Consul Stakes. He was Australia’s champion sprinter in the 2003-04 season.

Exceed And Excel finished his 11-race career with seven wins, six at group level, with a Timeform rating of 126.

Aggressive

“We priced him at A$50,000 in his first season at stud, and that was aggressive back then. He was immediately very popular, he covered a really good book first year, and they sold very well,” Alastair Pulford, Darley’s head of stallions said when news broke of Exceed And Excel’s retirement from the breeding shed.

He went on: “His first crop was absolutely outstanding, so he really announced himself as a stallion immediately. Exceedingly Good won the first two-year-old race of the season at Flemington and we thought, ‘We’re in business here’. He got the [Group 1] Blue Diamond winner in his second crop, Reward For Effort, who went on to a career at stud himself.

“His sixth crop was an exceptional one; we sent a lot of high-class mares of our own to him that year. The level of mares he was getting was high and that crop included the [Group 1] Golden Slipper winner Overreach, Guelph and Sidestep.

“He became the leading sire of two-year-olds, but it wasn’t only two-year-olds, he ended up being a great sire of horses of all ages. He was just an amazing horse from day dot.”

Group 1 winners

With his victory at Haydock, Montassib becomes the 20th Group 1 winner for Exceed And Excel. While most have achieved their biggest wins down under, his northern hemisphere stars include the classic winner Mawj, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup winners Mischief Magic and Outstrip, triple Group 1 winner and brilliant miler Excelebration, and Nunthorpe Stakes winner Margot Did.

“He was one of the first reverse shuttle stallions, we shuttled him to England and Ireland,” Pulford said. “His influence has been outstanding in both hemispheres, and as a broodmare sire he has also been outstanding.” Exceed And Excel completed 16 consecutive seasons of reverse shuttling to the northern hemisphere, divided equally between stints at Kildangan Stud and Dalham Hall Stud. He is one of seven sires to achieve 200-plus stakes winners, joining Danehill, Galileo, Sadler’s Wells, More Than Ready, Deep Impact and Dubawi.

His sons are responsible for such as Group 1 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip, and Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow, while his daughters have produced Group 1 Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo), champion juvenile Vandeek (Havana Grey), and leading sprinter Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never).

Immense influence

Exceed And Excel’s influence has been and will remain immense, and Montassib’s Group 1 win has lifted a pedigree that was good, but far from exceptional.

Indeed, it appears that every second generation of the family produces a winner of note. Montassib is one of five progeny of Felwah, and she was culled by Shadwell for €11,000 at Goffs the year after foaling her now Group 1 winner. All of Felwah’s offspring have run, and four are winners.

Felwah is a daughter of Aqlaam (Oasis Dream), and she won four of her seven starts. Her final run, in a listed race, saw her beaten just a length and a half when fifth, so she was a filly of some ability. Felwah and her winning sibling Wardat Dubai (Mawatheeq) are the only foals out of the unraced Efisio’s Star (Efisio). The latter mare had six winning siblings, notably the dual Group 3 winner Lady Gloria (Diktat), and the stakes-placed Light And Shade (Aqlaam).

Montassib’s fourth dam, the two-year-old winner Tarf (Diesis), almost brought this branch of the family to a standstill. She had seven foals, all of her three runners were unplaced, but a couple of her daughters bred winners. This was in contrast to the success enjoyed by her dam, the stakes winner Tadwin (Never So Bold). She had eight foals, eight winners and the best of these was Nadwah (Shadeed), winner of the Group 3 Queen Mary Stakes in 1997 for Hamdan Al Maktoum and Peter Walwyn.