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Excellent Art (GB)

Pivotal - Obsessive, by Seeking The Gold
Bay, foaled 2004.
Breeder: Cheveley Park Stud.
Other sons of Pivotal at stud: Captain Rio, Kyllachy, Needwood Blade, Windsor Knot.

Admirably consistent miler retires to Coolmore

Excellent Art retires to Coolmore as one of five sons of Pivotal at stud – Captain Rio, Kyllachy, Needwood Blade and Windsor Knot are his other representatives. Excellent Art was sired at a fee of £25,000 on the Cheveley Park stallion’s march to a fee of £85,000, the most expensive in Britain, on the back of Group/Grade One winners Kyllachy, Peeress, Saoire, Somnus, Chorist, Golden Apples, Silverster Lady and Megahertz.

Trained by the now-retired Neville Callaghan as a juvenile, Excellent Art registered third places to Holy Roman Emperor at the Curragh and Dutch Art in the Prix Morny before his first Stakes success came in the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury.

Excellent Art transferred to Ballydoyle over the winter and made his seasonal debut in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains where he showed what was to become a trademark racing style of being held up by jockey Jamie Spencer before coming past beaten horses with a late flourish. On that occasion he was unlucky, meeting all sorts of trouble in the straight and settling for fourth behind stablemate Astronomer Royal. He turned the tables a month later in the St James’s Palace Stakes, coming from last to first with a thrilling run to land a 1-2-3 in the race for trainer O’Brien.

An admirably consistent sort, Excellent Art was pipped by Ramonti on his next two starts in the Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, where he had a pacemaker that was of no benefit to him and struggling to make up ground on soft going. A wide draw in the Breeders’ Cup Mile did for his chances, with Kip Deville getting first run and Excellent Art running well to finish within a length of him.

Excellent art is from a Cheveley Park family that hails from their purchase of Secret Obsession, a three-parts sister to Six Crowns, the dam of champion two-year-old colt Chief’s Crown. The fourth dam, Miss Carmie, is the dam of eight dams of Group/Graded Stakes producers, including the exceptional broodmare Chris Evert.

Race record

At 2
1st Mill Reef Stakes, G2, 6f, Newbury
1st National Stakes, L, 5f, Sandown
3rd Prix Morny, G1, 6f, Deauville
3rd Railway Stakes, G2, 6f, Curragh

At 3
1st St James's Palace Stakes, G1, 8f, Ascot
2nd Sussex Stakes, G1, 8f, Goodwood
2nd Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, G1, 8f, Ascot
2nd Breeders' Cup Mile, G1, 8f, Monmouth Park

EXCELLENT ART (GB), 2004

Stud details

Stands: Coolmore Stud.

Fee: €25,000.

Amadeus Wolf | Arcadio | Authorized | Baltic King | Cockney Rebel | Common World | Dark Angel | Dutch Art | Dylan Thomas | Echo Of Light | Excellent Art | Heliostatic | Jeremy | Lawman | Manduro | Milk It Mick | Misu Bond | Moss Vale | Notnowcato | Orientor | Primary | Rail Link | Red Clubs | Scorpion | Sir Percy | Strategic Prince | Teofilo | Three Valleys | Vital Equine | Windsor Knot |