We don’t usually touch on breeding in this betting-orientated newsletter, but the passing of one of the greatest stallions of all time, Galileo is a sad, significant occasion to be marked.
Coolmore made this announcement on Saturday, “Regretfully our world-renowned Champion Sire Galileo was put to sleep earlier today on humane grounds owing to a chronic, non-responsive, debilitating injury to the left fore foot.”
Galileo sired five Derby winners – New Approach, Australia, Ruler Of The World, Anthony Van Dyck and Serpentine – and as many as 91 individual Group One victors. He passed on potent genetic attributes with 20 of his sons having also sired Group One winners. It’s difficult to value these things accurately but his worth as a stallion was estimated to be around 180 million pounds!
Best of them all was the invincible Frankel, who earned the highest ever Timeform rating of 147, when trained by Sir Henry Cecil. Other outstanding, big- earning, thoroughbreds sired by Galileo include Highland Reel, Found, Magical, Waldgeist, Magic Wand, Cape Blanco, Anthony van Dyck, Minding and Australia.
Aidan o Brien, who trained Galileo to Classic glory in 2001, (which included one of the fastest ever come- home sectionals in the Derby,) and subsequently assigned many of his progeny on lucrative raids to all corners of the racing world, paid his respects, “What made him very special was the attitude that he put into his stock. We’d never seen anything like that. He was a massive horse physically. But the tremendous determination and genuineness he put into all his stock was unique really.”
Quoted on the attheraces.com website, O’Brien recalls: “It was unreal – he won his maiden, the two trials and then the Derby, Irish Derby and King George. He looked different as well going through his races – he didn’t look like any other thoroughbred. He had loads of genuine power. His stock had that as well – and the determination to put their heads out the same way he galloped. He’ll be sorely missed by us all.”
On the day of his passing, Galileo’s son Bolshoi Ballet fittingly took out the Belmont Derby Invitational in New York – a 92nd G1 victory for the great stallion. Galileo’s exceptional legacy for the thoroughbred industry will endure across generations into the future!