It's been a year since super stallion Galileo passed away at the age of 23 - Ben Linfoot takes a look at his top eight progeny based on official ratings.
Frankel – Official Rating 140
Galileo’s greatest gift to racing, Frankel is widely considered the best horse ever to grace the turf after a phenomenal career that yielded 14 victories from 14 starts including 10 Group Ones.
Magnificently handled by Sir Henry Cecil at the end of the legendary trainer’s life, Frankel’s brilliance was seen to best effect in a jaw-dropping 2000 Guineas and a scarcely believable 11-length Queen Anne romp from six-time Group winner Excelebration.
Making his own mark at stud in similarly exceptional fashion, Frankel will ensure the Galileo line lives on as his exploits this year already show thanks to the successes of Adayar, Hurricane Lane and Snow Lantern.
Rip Van Winkle – OR 130
Rip Van Winkle put in four particularly brilliant performances – two in victory and two in defeat – during a career that lasted three seasons until 2010.
A good two-year-old, he improved for time and distance at three – like so many Galileos – but was unfortunate enough to be around in the same era as his sire’s half-brother Sea The Stars.
His narrow defeat to that horse in the Coral-Eclipse was arguably a career-high, but he stepped out of his shadow on his very next start when pummelling Paco Boy in the Sussex Stakes.
He went down on his sword trying to give 8lb to star three-year-old Canford Cliffs in the same race a year later, his four-year-old highlight coming in the Juddmonte International at York.
Nathaniel – OR 128
If Rip Van Winkle was unlucky enough to bump into Sea The Stars, spare a thought for Nathaniel who took on none other than Frankel himself on his racecourse debut.
Luckily for him their paths didn’t cross again until the pair had their swansongs in the 2012 Champion Stakes, Nathaniel third to the wonder horse in a memorable encounter at Ascot.
That track was the scene of Nathaniel’s finest hour in the 2011 King George, while his other top-level success came in the following year’s Coral-Eclipse where he defeated Farhh.
The sire of Enable, Nathaniel is another son of Galileo who has been a success at stud, giving his sire the moniker of stallion of stallions.
Waldgeist – OR 128
Galileo progeny regularly need time and distance before they fulfil their potential and that was certainly the case with Andre Fabre’s Waldgeist.
Having said that he was a Group One winner at two in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, but a tough three-year-old season followed where he was winless in five starts as Fabre tried to discover the key.
Patience was all that was required and four victories at four followed, before his crowning glory came a year later when he denied Enable a historic third win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on his final start.
Australia – OR 127
By the Derby winner Galileo out of the Oaks winner Ouija Board, Australia had Epsom blood coursing through his veins and he didn’t disappoint on his date with destiny on June 7 2014.
His Derby victory was good, but it was only the pre-cursor for better to come, the first of three Group Ones, his watermark success coming thanks to a smooth performance in the Juddmonte International.
The Grey Gatsby was beaten on the Knavesmire, but famously overhauled Australia in the Irish Champion Stakes and thus ensuring Aidan O’Brien’s horse went out with a neck defeat instead of a fourth successive Group One victory.
Ulysses – OR 126
As Australia shows Galileo rarely missed the target when he mated with the best mares and his dalliance with another Oaks winner, Light Shift, produced Ulysses.
He too made Epsom being seemingly bred for the job but could only manage 12th in Harzand’s renewal on what was just his fourth racecourse start.
Unperturbed, the great Sir Michael Stoute lowered his sights and built his confidence up in Group Threes before he finally reached his ceiling at four – with two superb victories at the top level in the Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International.
Cape Blanco – OR 126
It’s easy to forget Cape Blanco was a five-time top-level winner – his first success at Group One level coming in the 2010 Irish Derby on his first go at 1m4f.
An emphatic defeat of stablemate Rip Van Winkle in the same season’s Irish Champion Stakes was a career-best and the reason he’s in this list – a power-packed performance from the front end ensuring he made all to win by five and a half lengths.
His three other highest-level wins came in America at the end of his career, a victory in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont putting the seal on his legacy.
New Approach – OR 126
A five-time Group One winner over various distances, New Approach was an early signal of his sire’s greatness at stud.
Unbeaten in five starts at two including two Group Ones, New Approach lost for the first time in the 2000 Guineas by a nose to Henrythenavigator, but bounced back by becoming the first Derby winner for Galileo.
Jim Bolger retired New Approach at three, but not before he has added two more Group One successes to his name in the Irish Champion Stakes and Champion Stakes.
