In Excess Has Nine at Del Mar 

DEL MAR, Calif. (July 23, 2002) -- Few New Yorkers around in the summer of 1991 will readily forget In Excess' march through Belmont Park's classic races for older horses.

In a four-month span, In Excess won the storied Metropolitan and Suburban Handicap, autumn's Woodwind Stakes, and for good measure added the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. In doing so he placed his name beside the few legendary performers who have won the same events in succession.

A little more than one year later, the climb for recognition began anew for the brilliant dark bay in the equally competitive stallion market. What the Irish-bred grandson of top international sire Caro needed was strong support from his home base and a fast start on behalf of his progeny. Looking back, it is safe to say he had both.

With regularity his name has been near the top of most California sire lists, from leading progeny earnings and progeny wins to 2-year-old earnings and stakes wins. The 2001 3-year-old champion Romanceishope is his seventh Cal-bred honoree, five of whom were juvenile recipients. 

His first sophomore champion was the fluid-striding colt Indian Charlie, who ran third in the 1998 Kentucky Derby after shipping to Churchill Downs as a favorite for the off a strong victory in the Santa Anita Derby. His national profile ensured In Excess' syndication and both a permanent home at Vessels Stallion Farm and a continuing network with strong California breeders.

A full sister to stakes winner Excessive Prayer heads his nine Del Mar yearlings. The filly, Hip 26, is out of River Sunday, a daughter of Cutlass Reality.

Thanks in large part to Cozen, and later of course In Excess, the Caro sire-line has built considerable momentum over the past decade in America. In Excess is at once the sire of choice locally and a perfect outcrop among American breeders.

Other broodmare sires aligned with In Excess include Desert Wine (Hip 28), like Cutlass Reality a Damascus-line stallion whose mares possess a well-established presence in the breeding world, and Stately Don (Hip 103), a half-brother of the great turf champion Manila.
-- Robert Knollhoff