Galileo: the Hardest of Acts to Follow Cont
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FRIDAY, 1 JANUARY 2021 GALILEO: THE HARDEST OF MOMENT OF 2020: EUROPEAN SUCCESS AT THE BREEDERS= CUP By Kelsey Riley ACTS TO FOLLOW In Moment of 2020, the staff of TDN Europe reflect on their favourite moments in racing for the year. The Breeders= Cup is always a meeting that I particularly enjoy; it is a time when my keen interests in both European and American racing come together. The Breeders= Cup always involves some incredible clashes of the continents, and it is the most international meeting when you consider participation and the gravity that both sides place on it. The 2020 Breeders= Cup at Keeneland included a remarkably strong European presence, with seven of the 13 trainers that sent horses across the Atlantic having their first runners at the meeting. After eight months of relative isolation in Lexington, where I am based, it was fantastic to get out to Keeneland in the mornings ahead the Breeders= Cup and catch up with some of these connections, all of whom were excited and enthusiastic about the opportunity. There were a few promising performances on the FridayBI=m Perennially leading sire Galileo | Coolmore thinking of Ubettabelieveit (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) blowing the break in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and then riding the rail under a By Emma Berry sterling ride from young jockey Rowan Scott to get up for third; In a temporarily upside-down world, a comforting air of a remarkable effort from both horse and rider. Cont. p5 normality can be found in a perusal of the end-of-year stallion tables. To Benjamin Franklin's certainties of death and taxes, in this smaller world we can add just about the only sure thing in racing and bloodstock: Galileo (Ire) is champion sire. Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to the King of Tipperary is the fact that, even at his home at Coolmore, the operation which naturally has free-flowing access to the supersire via some of the best mares on the planet, the hunt is still on for his rightful heir. It may be too much to expect that a son will be able to continue the line with a show of such dominance, as Galileo did for his own sire Sadler's Wells, and he in turn for Northern Dancer. Galileo certainly has some very good sire sons out there--not least his greatest achievement, Frankel (GB), and the former champion 2-year-old Teofilo (Ire)-- but he once again remains way out in front of allcomers after Tarnawa | Racingfotos.com another record-breaking year. Galileo officially turns 23 on New Year's Day and he has now IN TDN AMERICA TODAY been champion sire in Britain and Ireland for more than half of FLETCHER JONE’S UNUSUAL RACING LEGACY his life. After the most unsettling year in living memory, when Sid Fernando pens a brief racing history of owner/breeder the Guineas, Oaks and Derby were all delayed, Galileo once Fletcher Jones. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN again left his increasingly imposing mark on the season's America. Classics. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 6 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • 01 JANUARY 2021 G1 Juddmonte International, following his front-running romp in the relocated G1 Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup. And Ghaiyyath is of course out of Galileo's first Classic winner, Nightime (Ire) and thus bred on the same cross as his Kildangan Stud mate Night Of Thunder (Ire), who has made an eye-catching start to his own stallion career. Dubawi posted 13 stakes winners in Britain and Ireland in 2020 to take second in the table, and with 23 stakes winners overall in Europe, he was third in the European championship behind Siyouni (Fr), who was responsible for Arc winner Sottsass (Fr) and is the champion sire in France. We'll be looking at the French and German tables in greater depth in Sunday's edition Dubawi | Darley of TDN. Dark Angel (Ire) and Kodiac (GB), representing different Galileo: The Hardest of Acts to Follow Cont. from p1 branches of Ireland's O'Callaghan family at Yeomanstown Stud His daughter Love (Ire) won the 1000 Guineas before posting and Tally-Ho Stud respectively, are both hugely reliable sources arguably the most impressive performance by a 3-year-old all of winners and they were the only two stallions to notch in season when going on to land the Oaks. Between those two excess of 150 winners, with Kodiac on 155 and Dark Angel on races, her stablemate Peaceful (Ire) had pushed Galileo into new 152. record-breaking territory when becoming his 85th individual The latter finished ahead overall in the table, with his 11 Group 1 winner in the Irish 1000 Guineas, thereby wresting the stakes winners headed by the top-class sprinter Battaash (Ire), title from Danehill, the stallion with whom he has shown such an who was faultless in his three starts in 2020, landing the G1 affinity. Coolmore Nunthorpe S. for the second year in a row having Further records were to follow. The Derby of 2020 was a started out with victory in the G1 King's Stand S. He also won memorable one, perhaps not for the right reason, but the Goodwood's G2 King George S. for the fourth time, beating tearaway winner Serpentine (Ire) meant Galileo went clear as subsequent Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint heroine Glass Slippers the most successful Derby sire of all time, his five winners (GB). putting him ahead of Sir Peter Teazle, Waxy, Cyllene, Blandford, Kodiac enjoyed a memorable Royal Ascot in the juvenile and his erstwhile stud-mate Montjeu (Ire). division as the sire of Campanelle (Ire) and Nando Parrado (GB), With over ,5 million in progeny earnings for 2020--more than but leading the charge for him in Berkshire was the G1 Diamond double the tally of his nearest pursuer Dubawi (Ire)--Galileo duly Jubilee S. winner Hello Youmzain (Fr), who has now become the claimed his 12th sires' championship in Britain and Ireland, and first son of Kodiac to retire to stud in France. Cont. p3 he is the European champion, with almost ,6.4 million in earnings, ,777,199 of which was accrued by his top earner, the mighty mare Magical (Ire). It is worth noting that this tally is significantly lower than last year's haul of just over ,16 million owing to drastic prize-money cuts during a Covid-affected racing season. Galileo was also a long way clear by number of black-type winners: 27 in Britain and Ireland, and 32 in total across Europe, which was almost 11% of his runners. Dubawi Provides World Beater Darley's admirable Dubawi (Ire) is used to playing understudy to Galileo but he is a fantastically successful stallion in his own right, and clearly the best in Britain. With an increasing array of promising young sire sons, he is also responsible for the top-rated horse in in the world in 2020: Ghaiyyath (Ire). In his 5-year-old season Ghaiyyath had Enable (GB) and Magical (Ire) behind him respectively when winning the G1 Coral-Eclipse and Dark Angel | Yeomanstown Stud TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 6 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • 01 JANUARY 2021 A Champions Day To Savour The redoubtable veteran of the British stallion ranks is Cheveley Park Stud's Pivotal (GB), whose range is such that he was runner-up to Galileo in the broodmare sires' table and provided the French champion sire, his son Siyouni. In his own right he was responsible for a British Champions Day Group 1 Senior Vice President double via Glen Shiel (GB) and Addeybb (Ire), the latter having Gary King also won two Group 1 races in Australia back in the spring while Twitter: @garykingTDN European racing was on lockdown. [email protected] Pivotal had only 79 individual runners in Britain and Ireland in + 1.732.320.0975 2020--less than half of most of the sires around him in the top 10 list, but he can still more than hold his own and was fifth International Editor overall. Kelsey Riley Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry Twitter: @collingsberry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen Twitter: @AlaynaCullen [email protected] Contributing Editors Lope de Vega | Ballylinch Stud Alan Carasso Christina Bossinakis Cafe Racing Ballylinch Stud's Lope De Vega (Ire) is a stallion whose Sean Cronin popularity stretches across continents and, while his Tom Frary GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Aunt Pearl (Ire) [email protected] doesn't count towards his local earnings, he had a Group 1 winner on Irish turf in Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Lucky Vega Irish Correspondent (Ire). That runner's stablemate Cadillac (Ire), winner of the G2 Daithi Harvey KPMG Champions Juvenile S. for Jessica Harrington, looks Regular Columnists another exciting prospect for the 2021 season. Chris McGrath | John Berry | Kevin Blake One of the stand-out older fillies of 2020 was Sheikh Hamdan's Amy Lynam | Melissa Steele Nazeef (GB), winner of the G1 Falmouth S. and G1 Sun Chariot S. on each of Newmarket's tracks. She was also the headline act for her sire, the Irish National Stud's Invincible Spirit (Ire), now 24 and joining his half-brother Kodiac on the leaderboard at number seven. He too was represented by a Grade I winner in America when 4-year-old Digital Age (Ire) landed the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs for Chad Brown. Cont. p4 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 4 OF 6 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • 01 JANUARY 2021 Galileo: The Hardest of Acts to Follow Cont.