Galileo

Faugheen · 16-07-2021 2:08pm #1

No thread on this? The new site is horrendous and I couldn't see one or mentioned in the Stallions thread so apologies if I've missed it.

What a legend. Every bit the sire his own one was and will possibly leave an impact as great as his grandsire down the line. Don't think he'll go down as one of the better racehorses (compared to his brother Sea the Stars and son Frankel, for example) but as a stallion he was another level altogether.

Mad to think that the legendary trio are all gone. Saddlers Wells, Urban Sea and now Galileo.

Love reading up on the Northern Dancer line. Just gripping stuff even though I know how the story goes.

Also begs the question of where Coolmore go from here. I think Sottsass has all the makings of a top sire. They have plenty of cover in the sprints with the likes of No Nay Never. Obviously Wootten Bassett is going well too. Churchill and Carravagio having decent first crop seasons also.

tryfix · 17-07-2021 6:48am

He was so good that Coolmore were so starstruck by him that they hadn't even lined up a number 2 that could take over from him as Champion Stallion.

Now they are going to have to have to manage the transition. Even with a few crops still to race, this year Galileo has found himself behind Frankel in the UK and Ireland Stallion list.

It's pretty shocking how Charlie Appleby has managed to turn his 2 Frankel Colts into Derby winners which in Hurricane Lane's case at least has shown a willingness to keep improving that had been absent from most of Frankel's earlier Stock.

The rise of Frankel into a Derby and Oaks winning Sire seriously threatens Coolmore's stranglehold on the Champion Stallion title.

tryfix · 17-07-2021 7:00am

So, what Coolmore Stallion is going to put it up to Frankel as a Sire of 12f Classic horses?

No Nay Never : may eventually do a Danehill and move up from siring sprinter mailers to siring 8-12f G1 winners. We will have to see what happens when his most expensive crops start to race. Does anyone know if Coolmore have been sending him their own potential Classic producing broodmares?

Wootton Basset : has proven himself capable of siring Classic winning middle-distance horses. He's more likely to be getting Galileo mares sent his way than to be getting the bulk of the mares that Galileo himself has being servicing. If he takes off at Coolmore then those mares will come his way.

Ideally Coolmore would just substitute one son of Galileo for the dead sires covering list.

They have any amount of candidates. Which one will it be and will they prove up to the job?

tryfix · 17-07-2021 7:17am

It's too early to tell if Churchill will fill the spot. I haven't been over-impressed with his runners so far. They have been doing better over 7f than 6f so it looks like he will be able to produce 12f winners with ease.

Highland Reel.... Ye never know what could happen if he produces a G1 performer in his first crop but he's not fashionable or fast enough to get a high quality list if mares sent to him.

Gleneagles has been recovering his reputation this year after his first crop of decent juveniles failed to set the world on fire as 3yos. Can't see him getting that big of a promotion.

Although he's not a son of Galileo much has been expected off Caravaggio. He's now in the USA and likely to stay there. His early runners have looked great but few have shown any signs of greatness.

The Galileo job for next year looks like it's going to one of his grandsons.

St Mark's Basilica is a very likely candidate to fill Galileo's shoes in the breeding shed. He will be shiny and new and has proven himself at the highest level at both 2 and 3. He's fast and stays, he was precocious and trained on. He's by an ultra fashionable sire in Siyouni and he also carries the Galileo gene on the Dam side that has already worked with Galileo's galactic book of mares.

tryfix · 17-07-2021 7:39am

If St Mark's Basilica is such a hot shot why couldn't his Guineas winning half brother Magna Grecia do the job. He's basically a slightly less glamorous version of St Mark's Basilica, he was a G1 winning 2yo, he was a Classic winning 3yo too but his form did tail off too soon after his Guineas win. As a son of Invincible Spirit he should make an outstanding sire of juveniles which is half the battle in achieving a high rank as a Stallion.

Then there's the third Coolmore owned Guineas winning grandson of Galileo, Saxon Warrior. Another G1 winning 2yo and classic winning 3yo out an outstanding daughter of Galileo. The fact that he's by Japan's Galileo Deep Impact is a huge positive in his potential to produce the goods at the highest level as a stallion. He suffered about by being at the same stallion farm as Galileo so he's started off without having a brilliant book of mares sent his way. He should do well as a stallion but will have to work his way up to the top job. One to watch in the future.

The Arc winner Sottsass is yet another stellar grandson of Galileo by flavour of the month Siyouni and out of a blue hen producer in Starlet's Sister. He has the 10f 1/2f French Derby win to showcase his speed but off a low enough starting fee he has plenty to prove regarding his ability to produce top juveniles who can turn into classic winners. bother who would have to make it the hard way.

tryfix · 17-07-2021 7:49am

Why should Coolmore risk their best broodmares with all the potentially brilliant Stallions when they have the proven Camelot and Australia ready to roll.

I think myself that Australia deserves a promotion as does Camelot. Both stallions are well liked by trainers. My preference would be for Australia but Camelot could be stellar if he got a book of stellar mares.

In Coolmore's case O think that they should split Galileo's boom of mares into 3 , with a third going to each of St Mark's Basilica, Australia and Camelot.

And please Coolmore stop sending do many good Galileo mares to War Front. The results might look okay but there's a dearth of Top Stallion prospects coming from the practice.

Faugheen · 17-07-2021 11:14am

Always love your posts on these matters, tryfix.

The mares didn't even enter my mind to be honest. Incredible that he was such a top-tier broodmare sire as well.

tryfix · 17-07-2021 2:39pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117623574#Comment_117623574

Thanks Faugheen, sorry about the spelling mistakes, there doesn't seem to be an Edit function to allow me sort them out .

Galileo has left pure gold behind him. The beauty of having one of his mares is that many of the ones who were useless in the track are doing well with their foals.

chinguetti · 18-07-2021 10:03am

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117623037#Comment_117623037

I think that splitting the mares up between the stallions is the way to go but whether they'll do that is anyone guess. Coolmore seemed not to have thought about what would happen before Wotton Bassett's stock would be racing and have a few years of down time before they rise again. All Galileo's mares do give them options thought. Also thought it was strange how in the last few months that there was comments that Galileo was winding down coming out and then they had ITV/RTE in doing features on him. Looking past, it seemed like he was going to be retired from duties before the injury.

tryfix · 19-07-2021 10:20pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117626818#Comment_117626818

In fairness to them Coolmore would have had and still have Galileo's stock coming on line until the time that Wootton Bassett's first Coolmore conceived crop hit the track.

If they were expecting Galileo to retire it would explain the big ticket purchase of Wootton Basset. However that purchase was a great money making venture for Coolmore because they knew they could fill him at a huge stud fee and that his stock would keep rising as his more expensively bred crops came on line. I'd imagine that they can send a load of Galileo mares to him at very little cost to Coolmore themselves.

He wasn't bought to take over Galileo's broodmare list which consists of perhaps dozens of multi-million pound broodmare purchases that were bought to specifically complement Galileo's ability to get high class middle-distance horses out of fast mares.

Given the lack of effort that Coolmore have put into the stud careers of recent Derby Winners like Ruler Of The World. Maybe they would prefer to have less stayers coming through. They have so many G1 winning staying colts that they can do nothing with the vast majority of them bar giving them a lower rank in Coolmore's roster. They have a conveyor belt of NH Stallions coming out of Ballydoyle.

If they weren't so tied in with the UK pattern races then they maybe Irish racing would head in the direction of French racing. More speed, more prestige to 10f races with the 12f races being auditions for the Arc which is of itself more far more glamorous than it is breed defining.

Coolmore may need a Shamardal type stallion or two in the near future.

Galileo

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