Xcellent (foaled 29 November 2001 in New Zealand) is a thoroughbred racehorse who was trained by

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

& Paul Moroney. He won 6 races from his first 9 career starts, including four

Group One Group One, Group 1, Grade I or G1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. In Europe, the level of races for Thoroughbred racing is determined using the Pattern races, Pattern race sys ...

s - The

New Zealand Derby The New Zealand Derby is a set-weights Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, run over a distance of 2,400 metres (12 furlongs) at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. It is held on the first Saturday in March, as the opening day o ...

and

New Zealand Stakes The New Zealand Stakes currently run as the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes is a Group One thoroughbred horse race in New Zealand. It is run at Ellerslie racecourse on the final day of the Auckland Cup Week Carnival in March for a stake of $200,0 ...

at Ellerslie Racecourse, and the Mudgway Stakes and Kelt Capital Stakes at Hastings. On 1 November 2005, he ran third in the Melbourne Cup, behind three-time winner Makybe Diva. In early 2006, Xcellent damaged both front tendons and was out of action for 18 months before returning to the track in the 2007

Stradbroke Handicap The Stradbroke Handicap is a Brisbane Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred open handicap horse race, run over a distance of 1,400 metres at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane in June during the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival. It is one of the highligh ...

and doing little on an unsuitably wet track under a large weight. Beginning another campaign in December 2007, he remained unbeaten in New Zealand in scoring a stunning win first up in the Group 3 Sir James Fletcher Stakes over 1600m at Ellerslie against a strong field including the likes of

Sir Slick Sir Slick (foaled 2001) is a bay gelding Thoroughbred racehorse by Volksraad from the Paris Opera mare Miss Opera. The New Zealand bred Sir Slick was the winner of Six Group One races in New Zealand and he also raced in Australia, Singapore an ...

and fellow Derby winner Wahid. He suffered his only defeat in New Zealand when finishing second to Sir Slick in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. In January 2008, Xcellent won the Group 3 Trentham Stakes. However, he pulled up sore after that race, and had to be led back riderless to the birdcage. It was discovered he had ruptured a suspensory ligament and his retirement was announced the following day. In the 2005-06

World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings The Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (LWBRR), known as World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings (WTRR) before 2012, are horseracing's equivalent to World Rankings by other major sporting organizations such as ATP Tennis Rankings, World Golf R ...

: 1 August 2005 – 31 July 2006, Xcellent was ranked 18th by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. He was the New Zealand Horse of the Year in both the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.

References

{{Reflist
The 2005-06 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings: 1 August 2005 – 31 July 2006

Xcellent website

Xcellent takes Horse of the Year award

Xcellent's pedigree and stats
2001 racehorse births Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in New Zealand Thoroughbred family 7-d

See also

References