Excellent Art was a dark-coated bay horse with a white star and snip bred in England by the Newmarket-based Cheveley Park Stud.
He went on to become an "excellent" sire, getting the winners of more than a thousand races across a range of distances including Sariska, Somnus, Farhh, Kyllachy (Nunthorpe Stakes) and Immortal Verse.
starting the odds-on favourite against three opponents, Excellent Art took the lead approaching the final furlong and drew away to win by nine lengths despite being eased down by Dettori in the closing stages.
Ridden by Mick Kinane, he started the 11/8 favourite but after reaching second place in the straight but could make no further progress and finished third behind Holy Roman Emperor and Drayton.
Excellent Art tracked the leaders before taking the lead two furlongs out and held off a sustained challenge from Doctor Brown to win by a short head despite being hampered by the runner-up in the closing stages.
[10] In December 2006, a controlling share in Excellent Art was bought by the Coolmore Stud, and the colt was sent to Ireland to be trained by Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle.
[12] On his first appearance for his new connections Excellent Art was sent to France for the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches over 1600 metres at Longchamp Racecourse on 13 May and was ridden for the first time by Jamie Spencer.
In a race dominated by Irish-trained colts, Excellent Art recovered after struggling to obtain a clear run in the straight and finished fourth behind Astronomer Royal, Creachadoir and Honoured Guest.
He overtook Duke of Marmalade inside the final furlong and won by a neck, with Astronomer Royal taking third ahead of Dutch Art.
[13][14] On his next appearance, the colt was matched against older horses for the first time in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and started 15/8 favourite ahead of the four-year-old Asiatic Boy and the five-year-old Ramonti.
In September Excellent Art met Ramonti again and again started 15/8 favourite ahead of his older rival, with the other runners including Darjina and Duke of Marmalade.