Horse Rescue Built on Memory of Exceller
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Reprinted with permission from Horse rescue built AMERICA’S TURF AUTHORITY SINCE 1894 on memory of Exceller In trying to fathom why Bricks was champion older male, and and Mortar has become the Mac Diarmida was champion finest grass horse in the United turf horse. States – perhaps the finest race- Yes, the grapes are still sour, horse, period especially for those of us lucky – students of enough to have watched Char- pedigree will lie Whittingham train and turn imme- campaign Exceller with fear- diately to his less confidence (he also carried sire, Giant’s 130 pounds to victory when that C a u s e w a y , was still a thing). He retired in who won five 1979, after an intercontinental Group 1 races JAY career of 33 starts. At stud, it in England and HOVDEY turned out that his 12-furlong Ireland in 2000 pedigree mixing Vaguely Noble and came within Tiznow’s neck and Stage Door Johnny had of winning the Breeders’ Cup become unfashionable, provid- Classic in Kentucky. The experts ing no chance to taunt the also like the fact that Bricks and Eclipse Award slight through Mortar is inbred at only the his offspring. There was barely third remove to Storm Bird, a flutter of acknowledgement DEBRA A. ROMA a fabulous runner and excep- when, in 1991, he took up stal- Bricks and Mortar captures his fifth straight stakes win in the tional stallion who imparted lion duties in that most vigor- Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont. both stamina and speed. ous of horse racing nations, Then again, as Bricks and Sweden. doing business through a broad of Alfeet Alex with 67 starts Mortar walked his beat in the From his 1985 crop of only network of foster farms. Excel- who was a refugee from the Manhattan last Saturday at 13 named foals, Exceller left ler Fund executive director Puerto Rico hurricane, to safe Belmont Park, winning his behind the filly Excedent, who Nicole Smith has been with the harbor at a mainland foster fourth significant turf race of gave birth to Beyond the Waves organization since 2005. home. In addition, several of the the year, it was impossible not in 1997. Bricks and Mortar, now “The good news is that there veterans supported by the Fund to imagine he was summoning age 5, was her seventh foal. are a lot more organizations have found a second career in the genetic fuel supplied by the The same year Beyond the serving the aftercare needs Oklahoma, serving the youth of maternal grandsire of his dam, Waves was born, the Excel- of racehorses these days,” the Tulsa Boys’ Home in equine Beyond the Waves. ler story turned a sad corner Smith said. “And that is very therapy and companionship His name was Exceller. when it was learned that he had good news. For our founding programs. Just as any number of pro been sent to a Swedish slaugh- members, that has been a huge “We call it Operation Thera- golfers walk around wearing terhouse. He was 24, but that star. But with so many organi- peutic Warrior,” Smith said. the badge of best player without was beside the point. His inter- zations needing support, we do “These are some of our horses a major, or Ernie Banks went to national following rose up in have a challenge to keep the who will not be adopted or his grave without a World Series righteous indignation that such message of our work out there.” ridden, but who are evalu- ring, the shorthand reference to a grim fate could befall a Thor- The Exceller Fund currently ated and retrained for on-the- Exceller in the years following oughbred once so highly prized. targets the support of race- ground therapy. Pete’s Fleet his retirement was Best Horse The anti-slaughter movement horses who have cranked out just went there.” Ignored by the Eclipse Awards. in the U.S., in its infancy at the upward of 50 or 100 starts. There is no worse end to any There was good reason. time, suddenly had a handsome, There still are such creatures, Thoroughbred than a slaugh- In 1978, the son of Vaguely blaze-faced poster boy, and in such as Citizen John, a foal of terhouse, and Exceller repre- Noble started 10 times. He 2001 the Exceller Fund was 2005 who made 132 starts, or sented just the high-profile tip won the San Juan Capistrano, established as resource to fund Mister Dish, a foal of 2007 who of an iceberg that badly needs Hollywood Invitational, Sunset efforts to rescue racehorses made 81 starts. melting. But at least the grim Handicap, and Oak Tree Invi- from slaughter, or to keep them “We call them our racing memory of his fate has been tational on grass, all Grade from the pipeline at all. warriors,” Smith said. “They’ve overlayed by the work of the 1 events. He defeated Vigors Today, through the Thor- earned their retirement. If Exceller Fund, and by the blood and J.O. Tobin in the Holly- oughbred Aftercare Alliance, we can find them an adoptive legacy of a budding champion wood Gold Cup on the dirt and there are 70 organizations home, that’s great. But a lot of like Bricks and Mortar. Seattle Slew and Affirmed in across the country that serve them have so much wear and “You can believe we noticed the Jockey Club Gold Cup in the needs of retired racehorses. tear that adoption is not really Exceller in his pedigree from the mud. When the awards The Exceller Fund remains an option.” the start,” Smith said. “Every were announced, Affirmed was among them, one of the first The Exceller Fund also time he runs, our hearts are Horse of the Year, Seattle Slew accredited by the TAA, and still helped bring Pete’s Fleet, a son along for the ride.”.