Galileo, a global phenomenon with enormous local influence

10 min read
The death of stallion phenomenon Galileo (Ire) on Saturday has been felt around the world in the thoroughbred industry, including in Australia, where he stood for five seasons and has had an undeniable influence as a sire, sire of sires and a broodmare sire.

The son of Sadler's Wells (USA) has been the horse on which Coolmore has further built its remarkable global empire, graduating from a dominant Epsom and Irish Derby-winning Champion to a stallion of unprecedented success and influence, with a record-breaking 92 Group 1 winners and 338 stakes winners across the world.

On Saturday, he was euthanised at Coolmore Stud in Ireland at the age of 23 after battling a chronic, non-responsive, debilitating injury to the left fore foot.

Coolmore Australia Principal, Tom Magnier, currently overseas, paid a simple tribute to Galileo's extraordinary legacy on Twitter.

"The end of an era… Galileo 1998-2021. Thank you to all our team at Coolmore and Ballydoyle for this incredible journey. The horse of a lifetime." - Tom Magnier

"The end of an era… Galileo 1998-2021. Thank you to all our team at Coolmore and Ballydoyle for this incredible journey. The horse of a lifetime… #Perfection #Specialmemories #Galileo."

James Bester, who currently works as a consultant for Coolmore Australia and has been part of the Coolmore team through most of the Galileo era, described the influence of the stallion as unprecedented.

"Where do you start with a horse like that? There has never been one in history like him and there is unlikely to ever be another in my opinion," Bester told TDN AusNZ. "He is the seminal sire, sire of sires and broodmare sire of our times."

Galileo's brilliant racetrack career lasted just 364 days from when he won his maiden for Aidan O'Brien at Leopardstown by 14l in October 2000. He would win his first six starts, claiming the G1 Epsom Derby by 3.5l and G1 Irish Derby by 4l before defeating Fantastic Light (USA) in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot.

It was during his brief but spectacular racing career that the virtues which made him such an amazing stallion became evident, according to Bester.

"There were three things that stood out about him: quality, balance and action. He wasn't an overly big horse, but he was the most perfectly balanced horse to look at. He had extreme quality, a beautiful head and had overall elegance and class," he said.

James Bester and Tom Magnier

"In action, he was pure poetry in motion. To see him coming up the hill winning his Epsom Derby, as dominant as he was that year, his action and his extension up front and the way he floated over the ground, remains in my memory. I haven't seen one come home in a Derby like that.

"Even at a walk, he was just so fluid, and absolutely floated over the ground. That was a real feature of him."

The Australian impact

Galileo shuttled to Australia for five seasons from 2002 until 2006 and had many of his globe-trotting progeny travel to this part of the world to compete in our best races, ensuring he made a significant mark.

He has sired nine individual Group 1 winners in Australia, and 35 stakes winners, including horses bred both here and overseas. Two of those Group 1 winners were Australian-bred in Linton and Niwot, while another, Sousa (NZ), was New Zealand-bred from the sire's time at Coolmore Australia. He also produced two Australian-bred Grade 1 winners in South Africa in Igugu and Mahbooba.

His first crop of 100 from Coolmore Australia, foaled in 2004, would produce six stakes winners, including G1 Sydney Cup winner Niwot. His 2005 crop of 93 foals resulted in two stakes winners, including G1 Spring Champion S. winner Sousa, while he followed that up with three stakes winners from his third crop, which included G1 Stradbroke H. winner Linton, and then seven from his fourth crop, a list that includes the two South African stars mentioned above.

His final crop from Coolmore Australia in 2007 of 111 foals, was his most successful in terms of stakes results, with nine individual stakes winners.

That took him to 27 individual stakes winners and 289 winners from those five Australian crops, while he would add another stakes winner to his Australian-bred list later on through a mare that foaled down in Australia on a Northern Hemisphere covering.

Totals449301285$31,329,997

Table: Galileo's Australian-bred progeny record

Success from aboard

As a truly global stallion, Galileo's Northern Hemisphere progeny also made their mark in Australia and New Zealand. He has had six Australian Group 1 winners from those bred from his time at Coolmore Ireland, all of them either owned by Coolmore or by Lloyd Williams.

Adelaide (Ire), who won the 2014 Cox Plate for Aidan O'Brien, secured the most significant success of those horses, while another star prepared from Ballydoyle, Magic Wand (Ire), won the G1 Mackinnon S.

The United States (Ire) won the G1 Ranvet S. in Williams' navy and white colours for trainer Robert Hickmott, who also prepared both Seville (Ger) and Foundry (Ire) to win editions of the G1 Metropolitan H. for the same ownership.

Cape Of Good Hope (Ire), from the Australian-bred mare Hveger (Danehill {USA}), won a G1 Caulfield S. in the Coolmore navy for Lindsay Park.

They are one of the 17 Northern Hemisphere-bred stakes winners in Australia, while he also had one stakes winner in this category in New Zealand and 17 winners overall. All in all, there have been 61 of Galileo's Northern Hemisphere progeny win in Australia, including Harpo Marx (Ire), who won at Randwick on Saturday.

Bester said of all the qualities that Galileo passed on to his progeny, it was his toughness that shone through.

"It always impressed me, Aidan O'Brien's sense of wonder at the toughness of his progeny. Aidan figured that they were mentally the toughest horses he had anything to do with. They didn't know when to give in. They would take all the work you gave them and that had to make a big difference," he said.

"He might not have been the sire most adaptable to Australian conditions but he nonetheless left a lot of good horses in Australia and his horses were able to come from the Northern Hemisphere and win Group 1 races here." - James Bester

"He might not have been the sire most adaptable to Australian conditions but he nonetheless left a lot of good horses in Australia and his horses were able to come from the Northern Hemisphere and win Group 1 races here," he said.

Totals291710$375,527

Table: Galileo's sire record in New Zealand

Sire sons carry the torch

Galileo's legacy is also extremely strong in Australia through his sire sons, including Adelaide, who has already proven a Group 1 producer from his Coolmore Australia base, through his G1 Flight S.-winning daughter Funstar.

A global star on the racetrack, Highland Reel (Ire) has produced two strong crops to date from Swettenham Stud, while Galileo's four-time Group 1-winning son Churchill (Ire) returns for his fourth season at Coolmore Australia in 2021, with high expectations of his first crop hitting Australian racetracks in the new racing season.

One of his most successful sons, Teofilo (Ire), shuttled to Darley Australia in six separate seasons and had great success, producing five Group 1 winners in Kermadec (NZ), Palentino, Sonntag, Happy Clapper and Humidor (NZ), with the first two now embarking on stallion careers of their own.

From the Northern Hemisphere, Teofilo has also sired two G1 Melbourne Cup winners in Cross Counter (GB) and Twilight Payment (Ire).

Another son of Galileo making his considerable mark in Australia from the other side of the world is Frankel (GB), his unbeaten star on the track who is enhancing the sireline's dynasty from his base at Juddmonte. Frankel now has three individual Australian Group 1 winners in Australian Oaks and Vinery Stud S. winner Hungry Heart and G1 JJ Atkins S. winner Converge, who are both Australian-bred, as well as G1 Metropolitan H. winner Mirage Dancer (GB).

"It’s surely Frankel that carries his torch as a sire son, all around the world. Frankel is successful in every country in the world," Bester said.

"It’s fitting that his best racehorse, if not the best racehorse in history, could be the one to carry the torch for him.

"But there are many up and comers yet to come. We can't forget his son Churchill, who was probably his most precocious 2-year-old. A Champion 2-year-old, then a dual Classic Guineas winner, who has started his stud career in very promising fashion this year in the Northern Hemisphere. In my mind, Churchill is the one who can carry the torch in Australia because of his speed and physique."

An insight into Galileo's influence in the stallion ranks in this part of the world is that a search of Arion revealed 15 stallions carrying his blood on an Australian stallion roster in 2021, while there are six in New Zealand, including his son Circus Maximus (Ire), who makes his debut at Windsor Park Stud.

Windsor Park previously stood the late Rip Van Winkle (Ire). Galileo's most influential son to stand in New Zealand, from where he produced 17 stakes winners, highlighted by Group 1-winning pair Te Akau Shark (NZ) and Jennifer Eccles (NZ).

Totals469294359$48,376,782

Table: Galileo's overall sire record in Australia

A damsire of major influence

Galileo also continues to have an extraordinary impact as a broodmare sire in Australia, where his daughters have produced nine Group 1 winners and 35 stakes winners, as well as in New Zealand, where they have had five stakes winners, including Group 1-winning pair Hall Of Fame (NZ) and Age Of Fire.

The most notable of his Australian Group 1 winners as a damsire is the now Arrowfield Stud stallion The Autumn Sun, with the son of a Redoute's Choice a five-time winner at the elite level and another pin-up horse for the crossing of the blood of the Galileo-Danehill (USA) lines.

"If you look at his daughters and what they have done at stud, producing the likes of The Autumn Sun, Tofane, Unforgotten, Victoria Derby winner Warning and VRC Oaks winner Personal, these are Group 1 winners at the very highest level that his daughters have left in Australia," Bester said.

"When you go around the world, and you look at horses from his daughters like Magna Grecia and Saxon Warrior, U S Navy Flag and Ghaiyyath, all of whom stand at stud in the Southern Hemisphere."

"When you go around the world, and you look at horses from his (Galileo) daughters like Magna Grecia and Saxon Warrior, U S Navy Flag and Ghaiyyath, all of whom stand at stud in the Southern Hemisphere." - James Bester

With seven Australian stakes winners as a broodmare sire this year, including dual Group 1 winner Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), Galileo sits 11th in the Australian broodmare sire rankings.

Totals598373359$54,430,152

Table: Galileo's Broodmare sire record in Australia

The secret to an enduring legacy

One of the secrets to that amazing legacy is the way Galileo's bloodlines have mixed so well with the premier bloodlines elsewhere in the world.

In terms of his own progeny, there have been 57 individual stakes winners globally out of mares by Danehill, 24 out of mares by Danehill Dancer (Ire), 22 by Darshaan (GB) and 15 by Storm Cat (USA).

Fastnet Rock | Standing at Coolmore

As a broodmare sire, his daughters have nicked particularly well with Fastnet Rock, with 21 stakes winners, while there are a further 11 stakes winners for him as a damsire by War Front (USA).

"The way he crossed, in particularly with the Danehill line, is another of his legacies," Bester said.

"That gave us the likes of Teofilo and Frankel, two of his most successful sires sons. It was the same with sons of Danehill, like Exceed And Excel and Danehill Dancer, that he combined so well with.

"It’s been very fortuitous for us in Australia that our dominant sireline, being Danehill, has mixed so well with Galileo." - James Bester

"It’s been very fortuitous for us in Australia that our dominant sireline, being Danehill, has mixed so well with Galileo."

Galileo
Coolmore
Tom Magnier
James Bester
Danehill
Frankel
Teofilo