Galileo bidding for sixth Derby success in the year after his death
John Ingles looks at the late Galileo’s remarkable record in the Derby, won by five of his sons, as his era draws to a close.
If another son of Galileo wins the Derby this year, it will be the first posthumous winner of the race for the great sire who died last July at the age of 23.
Galileo might no longer be with us, but it’s certainly not the end of the Galileo era for the Derby just yet as a glance at the entries for this year’s race shows. In fact, he could be represented by as many as three of his sons on Saturday.
Were one of them to win, it would take Galileo’s total of Derby winners to six. He’s already the most successful sire in the history of the race which will be run for the 243rd time this year. He broke the record in 2020 with shock winner Serpentine who, now racing in Australia, has the dubious claim to fame of being the first Derby winner since at least 1900 to have been gelded, according to the race’s historian Michael Church.
In winning at Epsom, Serpentine was following in the hoofprints of Galileo’s earlier winners New Approach (2008), Ruler of The World (2013), Australia (2014) and Anthony Van Dyck (2019). In 2001 Galileo was a first Derby winner for both his own sire Sadler’s Wells and for Aidan O’Brien who became the most successful trainer in Derby history when Serpentine gave him an eighth winner. Five of those have been provided by Galileo and his sons.
As well as five winners of the Derby, Galileo has sired the runner-up another four times; At First Sight (2010), Treasure Beach (2011), US Army Ranger (2016) and Cliffs of Moher (2017). Another five sons of Galileo have finished third, and while he hasn’t managed to sire a one-two-three at Epsom, he had the third and the fourth, Galileo Rock and Battle of Marengo, as well as the winner Ruler of The World, in 2013.
Galileo’s current crop of three-year-olds is his 17th and, remarkably, he has never failed to have at least one runner from each of those crops in the Derby line-up. Future St Leger winner Sixties Icon was his first Derby runner, finishing seventh in 2006, while last year beaten favourite Bolshoi Ballet became Galileo’s 51st Derby runner. They were his sole representatives in their years, but in most renewals of the Derby, including this one, he has a multiple entry, his record being six runners in 2019.
Besides that year’s winner Anthony Van Dyck, four of Galileo’s other runners in 2019 were past or future winners at the top level; third-placed Japan went on to win the Grand Prix de Paris and Juddmonte International, the sixth Circus Maximus won the St James’s Palace Stakes, Prix du Moulin and Queen Anne Stakes back at a mile, the ninth Line of Duty had won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, while the tenth Sovereign went on to beat Anthony Van Dyck and Norway (eighth at Epsom) in a Galileo one-two-three in the Irish Derby.
Galileo could still be represented in another two or three editions of the Derby after this year’s race so the days of his direct influence on the race are numbered. But his Epsom legacy beyond that is already assured as his sons are themselves now siring Derby winners. His first Derby winner New Approach sired the 2018 winner Masar, while Galileo’s masterpiece Frankel produced last year’s winner Adayar.
In the grander scheme of things, there was another sign of the Galileo era drawing to a close in 2021 when Frankel ended 11 years of domination (12 titles in all) by his sire as champion in Britain and Ireland. Earnings from Adayar’s Derby win and his subsequent success in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Galileo had been the last to complete that double – went a long way towards the handover from father to son.
A look at this year’s possible Derby field suggests Galileo is highly likely to figure prominently again, either as sire or grandsire. No fewer than six of his sons could have runners of their own on Saturday, notably Nathaniel, sire of ante-post favourite Desert Crown. So far, at least, Nathaniel has tended to get better fillies than colts, though Desert Crown has the potential to redress that balance.
Frankel (potentially double-handed with Nahanni and Westover) bids to be successful again, while Teofilo (West Wind Blows and the supplemented Nations Pride), Churchill (Grand Alliance), Ulysses (Piz Badile) and Al Rifai (the other supplementary entry El Habeeb) are other sons of Galileo with entries. Ulysses finished down the field behind Harzand in the 2016 Derby when the race came a bit too soon in his development but he became a top-class four-year-old, winning the Eclipse and Juddmonte International, and Piz Badile comes from his first crop of three-year-olds.
As for Galileo himself, his three potential runners each go to Epsom after winning one of the recognised trials. Chief among them is Stone Age, a clear-cut winner of what used to be the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown which Galileo himself won on the way to the Derby. Also successful were Changingoftheguard in the Chester Vase and Star of India in the Dee Stakes.
Changingoftheguard, incidentally, became Galileo’s 349th stakes winner shortly after Oaks entry Thoughts of June took Galileo past Danehill’s record number of stakes winners when winning the Cheshire Oaks the same afternoon.
As far as this year’s Derby is concerned, Aidan O’Brien is in a strong position as trainer of all three of Galileo’s entries. But, looking to the not-too-distant future with the end of the Galileo era looming on the horizon, it’s a concern that Ballydoyle and owners Coolmore still have all their Derby eggs in the Galileo basket. That wasn’t the case until ante-post favourite Luxembourg (by one of Montjeu’s Derby winners Camelot) sustained a setback, but his absence exposes the lack of an apparent successor to Galileo as a source of Derby candidates among his sons standing at Coolmore.
Godolphin, on the other hand, were frozen out of using Galileo for much of the time he has dominated in the Derby, but now find themselves in potentially the stronger position when it comes to making the most of his stallion sons. As mentioned above, New Approach and Frankel are two of Galileo’s sons to have already sired Derby winners for Godolphin, and if Nations Pride justifies being supplemented his sire Teofilo would be another.
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