Excellent Meeting

© 1999 Patty Yount Excellent Meeting

An Excellent Filly To Remember - by Amanda Saunders

1998 through 1999 was a year to remember in American racing. Real Quiet and Charismatic performed back-to-back thrilling runs at the Triple Crown only to end it in heartbreak, Skip Away and Beautiful Pleasure dominated the older horse ranks, Daylami and Artax continued to set records, but as Silverbulletday took home the Eclipse Awards
for her division in 1998 and 1999, racing fans can't help but remember America's other champion...John and Betty Mabee's Excellent Meeting.

A daughter of General Meeting out of the Chief's Crown mare Fitted Crown, Excellent Meeting was often chasing her talented stablemate Silverbulletday, placing second behind her in the Sorrento Stakes and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in her two year old year. Excellent Meeting did defeat Silverbulletday in the Del Mar Debutante (G2), and then took the Oak Leaf Stakes (G1). After the Breeders' Cup loss, Excellent Meeting was given the chance to show the world that she had just as much talent as her stablemate and the gutsy filly did not dissapoint, winning the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes to make it four wins in eight starts as a two-year-old.

Her three-year-old year started with a bang. With trainer Bob Baffert keeping his two prized fillies far apart so one would not overshadow the other, Excellent Meeting won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks, the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes, and the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes, earning herself a spot in the 1999 Kentucky Derby. She was coupled with her
other stablemate General Challenge, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, and went off as the early betting favoite. In the field of 19, Excellent Meeting broke last, lagging far behind the leaders, and it looked as if she was completely outclassed by the colts. Coming around the final turn, she began to pick up her pace, picking off horse after horse after horse. She was gaining momentum and had the lead in her sights when things started to go wrong. She was bumped,
jostled, and thrown around but she picked herself up and kept coming every time, showing her true heart. She finished fifth that day, just two and a half lengths behind the winner Charismatic.

Two weeks later she was set to run in the Preakness Stakes. Handicappers and fans alike had her Derby performance etched clearly in their minds and picked her to win yet again, though Menifee was sent off as the morning-line favorite. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. As Charismatic won the second leg of the Triple Crown, Excellent Meeting broke last and was eventually eased, never finishing the race. She was never the same, winning just one race, the Grade 2 Princess Stakes, in seven starts after that and eventually being retired at age four the following August. Her record stands at 8-5-3 in 20 career starts and $1,402,396 in earnings.

She was sold to Betty Moran for an undisclosed ammount and sent to Indian Hill Farm near Lexington, KY to be bred to Storm Cat the following year. In 2002 she foaled a healthy colt, a bay like herself, and went barren that year, but was sent back to Storm Cat's court in 2003. Plagued by health problems all her life, such as bleeding in the lungs or a bone chip in her knee found after her 9th place finish in the Del Mar Oaks, her retirement was no different. In 2004 and heavy in foal, she underwent multiple colic surgeries before and after the birth of a healthy Storm Cat filly, but dispite hours of fighting, the brilliant filly died at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Equine Hospital on March 23rd.

The racing world mourned a hero that day, a champion who would have been great any other year. She had the tallent, the heart, the courage...she gave it her all every time out and never failed to impress those who watched her, even if she didn't get there first. As many fans search for words to describe her, Betty Mabee said it best, "I will always remember her courage," she said. "She had a nice temperament. She was a gentle lady and she always gave her best."