In an action packed Saturday, Exceed And Excel, Cape Cross and Elusive Quality were responsible for the winners of the Lowther Stakes, Prix Guillaume d'Ornano and Celebration Mile on Saturday, while colts by Slickly and Refuse To Bend filled the one-two in the Listed Criterium de FEE at Deauville and Kheleyf sired yet another winner - this time in Japan.
The astonishingly successful first year enjoyed by the progeny of young Australian-bred dual-hemisphere sire Exceed And Excel was further embellished by the success of his daughter Infamous Angel in the G2 Lowther Stakes, transferred from York to Newmarket. Furthermore, this race proved particularly satisfying for Darley because the first three home were all sired by Darley stallions.
Exceed And Excel only had his first runner on 6 October last year when Exceedingly Good made a winning debut in the Maribyrnong Trial Stakes at Flemington, but in the intervening period he has won Australia’s first-season sires’ premiership, established himself the champion-elect in Britain and Ireland, and been represented by fourteen individual Stakes performers, of whom Exceedingly Good, Wilander, Believe’N’Succeed and now Infamous Angel have won at Group level and Sugar Babe, Outdo and Flashman’s Papers (at Royal Ascot) have tasted Listed success. Infamous Angel’s win in the Lowther Stakes ranks as one of his best successes to date, as the race is one of Britain’s premier events for two-year-old fillies, and was won last year by the subsequent G1 Falmouth Stakes heroine Nahoodh. Infamous Angel, who was bred by Bricklow Stud from the unraced Sadler’s Wells mare Evangeline, is now likely to be aimed at more of the top fillies’ races by her trainer Richard Hannon and owners Geoff Howard-Spink and Peter Marshall.
In a thrilling finish, Infamous Angel got home by a nose from Penny’s Gift, a daughter of Tobougg, the former dual Group One-winning juvenile who is now responsible for a solid flow of good horses in both hemispheres, including NZ Group One winner The Pooka and Sweet Lilly, winner of three Stakes races in the UK. Third home, only a head behind Penny’s Gift, came Langs Lash; previously the winner of the G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, she this brave filly made a bold bid to make all the running in the Lowther Stakes. Like Infamous Angel, Langs Lash was conceived at Kildangan Stud, being a daughter of the 2001 Sussex Stakes winner Noverre.
In Deauville, the highly promising three-year-old Cape Cross colt Russian Cross coninued his upward curve with victory in the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano over ten furlongs. His one-and-a-half length strike was his third career victory. On the same card, Slickly two-year-old Sokar tussled with Canwinn, a recent winner for Refuse To Bend, in the one-mile Criterium du Fonds Europeen d'Elevage, Sokar gaining the advantage on the line by a short-neck.
Also of note for fans of American pedigrees is yet another valiant effort from Stonerside Stable's Raven's Pass, by Darley America stallion Elusive Quality, who recorded a well deserved win in the G2 Celebration Mile. The consistent colt has finished runner-up in three G1 events this season and was fourth in the 2,000 Guineas.
Leading first-season sire Kheleyf had a rare runner in Japan, a filly named Kanetoshi Vanilla, who proved herself just as adept at winning as her European counterparts with victory over six furlongs at Niigata. She is the 23rd individual winner from Kheleyf’s first crop, which includes G3 winner Percolator and the G2-placed Sayif.
