Black Caviar to be bred to Exceed And Excel

Darley shuttle sire Exceed And Excel will be the first mate for unbeaten two-time Australian Horse of the Year Black Caviar when the Southern Hemisphere breeding season begins in September.

Exceed And Excel, who is on track to be Australia's leading general sire for this racing season, was selected from a shortlist of six potential stallions – five based in Australia and one overseas – to be bred to Black Caviar, who was retired in April after winning all 25 of her career starts.

A 13-year-old Danehill horse, Exceed and Excel is based at Darley's Kelvinside Stud in New South Wales, and stands the Northern Hemisphere season at the operation's Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, England. He was a multiple Group 1 winner and Australia's champion sprinter of 2004.

Exceed And Excel is the sire of 646 winners, including 72 stakes winners, from his first seven crops of racing age through Sunday. His progeny have bankrolled $51,991,637. His runners have earned over $10 million in Australian funds this racing season – which concludes at the end of July – led by a pair of juvenile Group 1 winners, Overreach and Guelph. Exceed And Excel is also the sire of multiple Group 1 winners and millionaires Excelebration and Helmet and Group 1 winners Margot Did and Reward for Effort.

Black Caviar, a daughter of Bel Esprit, bankrolled $7,497,754 while earning both Horse of the Year and champion sprinter honors in Australia in 2011 and 2012. Her 15 Group 1 victories included a score in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at the famed Royal Ascot meeting in June 2012.