Exceed And Excel stallion Reward For Effort added another chapter to his successful comeback story with a G3 victory in the Concorde Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. He had been sidelined for 67 weeks with a suspensory ligament injury.
Reward For Effort (4h Exceed And Excel-Miss Prospect by Rory’s Jester) resumed with a Listed victory in the Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield on July 17. And he franked that form against some of Sydney’s best sprinters second-up.
Reward For Effort was sold by Basinghall Farm to Dynamic Syndications at the 2008 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale. He cost $190,000 and has now earned over $906,000.
The Peter Moody trained sprinter won the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes but missed almost his entire three-year-old season. “He was the best two-year-old colt in the land up to the Golden Slipper,” Moody said. “It’s no surprise to me he has come back.”
Darley shuttler Exceed And Excel sired Reward For Effort from Randwick and Moonee Valley stakes winner Miss Prospect. He is a half-brother to 7 winners including iron-horse Consular (Royal Academy) who won 16 races to Listed level in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Reward For Effort was returning to Rosehill for the first time since an unplaced run in the 2009 G1 Golden Slipper won by Phelan Ready. “I think he would have won the Golden Slipper except for the heavy track,” Moody added. “He’s going to be a hell of a four-year-old.”