EXCELEBRATION won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp as a three-year-old, added both the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at four, and he retired to stud known as an outstanding miler. In any normal time, he would have been crowned champion of his division, even hailed as a shining star among the best milers of recent decades – Timeform rated him 133 – but he spent his racing career in the shadow of the greatest of them all, Frankel.
He chased home that Timeform 147-rated colossus in the Lockinge Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes, and his first attempt at the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and that same colt also beat him in the St James’s Palace Stakes and the Group 3 Greenham Stakes.
Excelebration (by Exceed And Excel) is a son of one of the world’s leading stallion sons of Danehill (by Danzig), and he has made a promising start to his stud career with five stakes winners and 13 other blacktype earners from his first three crops.
His eldest offspring turned five last month, and the unlucky Barney Roy heads his roll of honour. That first-crop son won the Greenham Stakes and Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, he chased home Churchill in the Group 1 2000 Guineas and was pipped by Ulysses in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse, and finished third in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York. Sadly, he proved to be sterile.
Excelebration’s other stakes winners have struck in Ireland, England, Australia and France, with the first two being sprinters. Rebel Assault won the Listed Rockingham Stakes at York as a two-year-old, whereas the Joseph O’Brien-trained Speak In Colours got his best win in the Group 3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh in August, beating Gordon Lord Byron by one and a quarter lengths.
Excelebration also has the attraction of being a half-brother to two European horses of note; Group 2-placed triple Group 3 scorer Mull Of Killough (by Mull Of Kintyre) and last year’s Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup star Lancaster Bomber (by War Front). The latter stands at the National Stud in Newmarket.
His third dam, Sarah Siddons (by Le Levanstell), won the Irish 1000 Guineas and Yorkshire Oaks, and Princess Pati (by Top Ville), Wicklow Brave (by Beat Hollow), and Leggera (by Sadler’s Wells) are other Group 1 stars who descend from her.
Excelebration is siring mostly sprinters and milers, plus some who are effective over middle-distances, and he is getting his winners in all age groups.
This profile is what could have been expected of him, and it is just a matter of time before the identities of his next pattern winners become known.
EXCELEBRATION (IRE). Champion 3yr old colt in Germany in 2011. Champion older horse in Ireland in 2012. Won eight races, £1,692,792, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, 2 to 4 years including, P. Fresnay le Buffard Jacques Le Marois, Deauville, Gr.1, Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Longchamp, Gr.1, Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, CGA Hungerford Stakes, Newbury, Gr.2, Mehl-Mulhens Rennen (2000 Guineas), Cologne, Gr.2, Big Bad Bob Gladness Stakes, Curragh, Gr.3, also placed second in JLT Lockinge Stakes, Newbury, Gr.1, Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Queen Anne Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, totesport.com Greenham Stakes, Newbury, Gr.3, and third in St James’s Palace Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1.
Retired to Stud in 2013, and sire of the winners of over 270 races, and over £4,297,199 including BARNEY ROY, SPEAK IN COLOURS, TILLY’S CHILLI, REBEL ASSAULT, SAINT PATRICKS DAY, Fulminato, Siberian Iris, Hey Jonesy, Inverleigh, Lincoln, Liwanu, Exceltic, The Conqueror, Pellucid, Tulipa Rosa, Istan and Ratiocination.
Stands at: Castlehyde Stud, Fermoy, Co Cork, Ireland.
Contact: David Magnier, Tom Gaffney, Joe Hernon, John Kennedy, Cathal Murphy
Telephone: +353 25 2531966
Email: info@castlehyde.com
Web: www.coolmore.com
Fee: €8,000