Exceed And Excel continued Darley stallions’ dominance of Australia’s juvenile programme when Microphone added the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes to their tally of top-flight winners at Randwick on Saturday, 6 April.
Microphone became the third Darley-sired two-year-old G1 win for the season, following on from the victories of Lyre (Lonhro) in the Blue Diamond Stakes and Kiamichi (by Sidestep, a son of Exceed And Excel) in the Golden Slipper.
Earlier on the same Randwick card, Bivouac, another son of Exceed And Excel, won the G3 Kindergarten Stakes, adding to his sire’s reputation as the world’s leading sire of juvenile Stakes winners.
Microphone appeared to have been the unlucky runner of last month’s Golden Slipper, finishing second to his stablemate.
With an extra 200m in the Sires’ Produce, Microphone was able to use his stamina to good effect, storming through the pack in the final stages to win by three quarters of a length. Loving Gaby ran in for second with Kiamichi dead heating for third.
Microphone is out of the Stakes-winning mare Sung, a sister to G1 winner Yell and closely related to another G1 winner in Anthems.
Bivouac did his bit for the team, gaining consolation for having missed the start in the Golden Slipper.
Given the run of the race, Bivouac sprinted clear topping the rise and maintained his advantage to the line to beat Libertini with Athiri (Lonhro) a close third.
Bivouac is the third foal out of the More Than Ready mare Dazzler, a half-sister to the outstanding racehorse Guelph, who was bred and raced by Sheikh Mohammed.
