GALILEO : WORLD NUMBER ONE

Click above to watch Golden Lilac winning the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr1)
(Image : RP - Footage : France 3)

GALILEO (IRE)
Sadler’s Wells (USA) - Urban Sea (USA)

Golden Lilac’s impressive win in Sunday’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches marked Galileo’s 18th Northern Hemisphere-bred individual Group 1/Grade I winner from six crops of 3-year-olds and up - an average of three G1/GI winners per crop. They consist of 12 G1/GI-winning colts, an average of two per crop, and six G1/GI-winning fillies, an average of one per crop. They have won a total of 33 top-level races among them. They include seven winners of English, Irish, or French 3-year-old Classics (not including the G1 Irish St. Leger and G1 Prix Royal-Oak, of which he has had one 4-year-old winner each), including 2011 one-mile Guineas winners Frankel and Golden Lilac - both, as has been noted extensively, out of Danehill mares.

It’s hard to remember now, but at the beginning of 2004 - just seven short years ago – Sadler’s Wells’ stature as a sire of sires looked problematic. In the Wings, Barathea, the surprising North American success El Prado, and maybe Fort Wood in South Africa represented his best form to that time as a sire of sires. It wasn’t certain that Sadler’s Wells was even going to survive as a significant sire line. Montjeu was about to have his first 2-year-olds race (as were, in what turned out to be a critical positive turning point in Coolmore’s fortunes, Giant’s Causeway and Fusaichi Pegasus (two out of three ain’t bad) and, though the Montjeus had created a positive impression from the time they first sold as foals in late 2002, pretty is as pretty does, as we know. Nobody was climbing out on much of a limb.

By the end of 2005, things were looking up considerably for Sadler’s Wells as a sire of sires, thanks to Montjeu’s first crop which included three Classic winners: Motivator, Hurricane Run, and Scorpion. However, Galileo hadn’t yet made much noise; he didn’t have a black-type winner with his first two-year-olds in 2005, and entered 2006 well down in the second five among 2005 freshman sires by progeny earnings.

That was the last time there were any doubts about him, or the Sadler’s Wells sire line. Nightime won the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas in May 2006 and, by the end of the year, he had added two more 3-year-old G1/GI winners - Sixties Icon in the G1 English St. Leger and Red Rocks in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf - and had the unbeaten champion 2-year-old in Europe, Teofilo, from his second crop.

Galileo’s stud fee quadrupled, from its low point of €37,500 in 2005 and 2006 to €150,000 for 2007. It’s been “private” ever since, though estimates consistently put the price of buying a season to breed to him as safely over $200,000 every year since 2008. He’s been leading sire in GB/Ire twice (2008 and 2010), and leading sire of 2-year-olds twice (2007 and 2010). Galileo’s six crops include three European champion juveniles: Teofilo (2006), New Approach (2007), and Frankel (2010). New Approach went on to win the 2008 G1 Epsom Derby, and Galileo has sired two winners of the G1 Irish Derby: Soldier of Fortune (2007) and Cape Blanco (2010). Those three Derby winners, along with Nightime and Sixties Icon from his first crop, and Frankel and Golden Lilac from his current (sixth) crop of sophomores, constitute his seven 3-year-old Classic winners. Besides BC Turf winner Red Rocks, his other top horses include two triple Group 1 winners, the colt Rip Van Winkle and the filly Lush Lashes. He already has four Group 1 winners so far among his current crop of 3-year-olds: besides Frankel and Golden Lilac, this crop also includes 2010 2-year-old Group 1 winners Roderic O’Connor and Misty for Me.

When all is said and done - in spite of all the sire analysis and statistics the likes of myself and many others come up with – it’s the horses we can identify as “household names” that set stud fees and sell seasons. Galileo has sired a string of them: unbeaten champion 2-year-olds Teofilo, New Approach (Derby winner), and Frankel (Guineas winner); Rip Van Winkle, Red Rocks, Cape Blanco, Soldier of Fortune, now Golden Lilac, maybe Roderic O’Connor, plus other 2011 Classic contenders, including Seville (2nd G2 Dante, to G1 Derby favorite Carlton House), Together (2nd G1 English 1000 Guineas), and Galikova (half-sister to Goldikova, won G3 Prix Cleopatre, will meet Golden Lilac next month in the G1 Prix de Diane). Voila: that’s why Galileo is the world’s number one sire.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

SADLER'S WELLS DIES AGE 30

Sadler’s Wells wins the 1984 Coral Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park
(Photo : PA Archive)

SADLER’S WELLS
(Northern Dancer - Fairy Bridge) 

Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer - Fairy Bridge, by Bold Reason), a perennial champion stallion and prodigious sire of sires in Europe, died Tuesday afternoon of natural causes at Coolmore, where he had resided since entering stud in 1985. He was 30 years old.

Coolmore manager Christy Grassick said, “He was undoubtedly the best sire Europe has ever seen, and through his sons Galileo, Montjeu, High Chaparral and Yeats, along with grandsons Hurricane Run and Rip Van Winkle, he has left a wonderful legacy at Coolmore, and his influence looks set to continue for many years to come. We all feel privileged to have been involved with such a special horse.”

Sadler’s Wells captured both of his starts at two, including the G2 Beresford Stakes, but was overshadowed by the brilliance of stablemate and fellow Northern Dancer scion El Gran Senor (brother to Summerhill’s multiple champion sire Northern Guest), who ended 1983 as the champion 2-year-old in England and Ireland. At three, Sadler’s Wells won the G2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes before earning Classic glory in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas. He followed with a runner-up finish in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, splitting future top sires Darshaan (GB) and Rainbow Quest.

The blaze-faced bay established himself as one of the toughest members of his generation thereafter, winning the G1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes and G1 Irish Champion Stakes, as well as finishing second in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. Northern Dancer, represented by dual Classic winner El Gran Senor (2000 Guineas and Irish Derby) as well as Epsom Derby hero Secreto in addition to Sadler’s Wells, set record earnings figures in Britain and Ireland in 1984, becoming the first stallion to pass the GBP1-million mark (the previous best was GBP559,999).

“He was a hell of a good racehorse,” former jockey Pat Eddery told PA Sport. “I won the Eclipse and the Irish Champion on him, and also finished second in the King George. He was a very tough horse with a great pedigree. He probably was the best sire of them all.”

Rated at 132 by Timeform, Sadler’s Wells entered stud in 1985 at Coolmore as one of the most desirable stallion prospects in years, with El Gran Senor and Secreto heading across the Atlantic, and his 3/4-brother Nureyev (Northern Dancer - Special) departing France for Kentucky after one breeding season. Expectations were understandably high for Sadler’s Wells with his initial Ir125,000gns stud fee, but the robust bay managed to exceed even the highest hopes. The tone for his stud career was set when a pair of colts from his first crop - Prince of Dance (GB) and Scenic (Ire) - deadheated for victory in the 1988 G1 Dewhurst Stakes. They were joined by Old Vic (GB), who doubled up in the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club and G1 Irish Derby; and In the Wings (GB), who captured the 1990 G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

These early successes kept breeders clamoring for his services, and Sadler’s Wells continued to deliver while covering big books of well-bred mares. The services of his Classic-winning sons Galileo (Ire) and Montjeu (Ire) are in high demand. Another son, El Prado (Ire), led the U.S. sire list in 2002, and is responsible for MGISW Medaglia d’Oro, who has gotten off to a tremendous start at stud.

“It’s the end of an era,” Robert Sangster’s son Ben told PA Sport. “It is the most phenomenal record for any horse to be champion sire 14 times - a record that is likely to remain unequalled. His legacy will live on through his sons and daughters and their sons and daughters.”

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

RIP VAN WINKLE SWOOPS IN JUDDMONTE INTERNATIONAL

Click above to watch
Rip Van Winkle winning the Juddmonte International Stakes (Gr1)
(Photo : Bleacher Report / Footage: Racing UK)

JUDDMONTE INTERNATIONAL STAKES (Gr1)
York, 17 August 2010

The drama came late in yesterday’s Juddmonte International Stakes (Gr1), with Rip Van Winkle (Ire) (Galileo) swooping on the sponsor’s pair of Twice Over (GB) (Observatory) and Byword (GB) (Peintre Celebre) in the shade of the post in a pulsating renewal of the York feature.

Sent off the 7-4 favorite on the back of a second in Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes (Gr1) last time out on 28 July, Susan Magnier’s four-year-old was game in the chase as Twice Over finally got the better of Byword in the final furlong, with Johnny Murtagh delivering the knock-out blow in the final two strides. A half-length separated the first two, with 3/4 of a length back to Byword. “I love this horse,” Murtagh said. “He didn’t show his true worth in last year’s Guineas and Derby, but he showed when he won his two Group 1’s last year what a champion he was. He didn’t run his race in America, but I think he’s a great horse, and he comes through anything and always seems to pull it out when it matters.”

Rip Van Winkle was always held in the highest esteem at Ballydoyle, and the natural speed and ability he displayed from his early days on the gallops helped him garner Leopardstown’s Tyros Stakes (Gr3) and run an eye-catching race just out of the placings in the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr1) during his juvenile campaign.

As Sea the Stars (Ire) was flashing his boundless talent at Newmarket and Epsom, Rip Van Winkle was lurking behind, and it was the Tsui goliath who was again in control in their first major face-off in Sandown’s Eclipse in July. Despite fine efforts in defeat, Rip Van Winkle’s well-documented foot problems cast a lengthy shadow and arose again at the 11th hour prior to his first top-level success in the Sussex last July. He backed up that imperious performance with another Group 1 in Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in September, but was notably below-par when trailing behind Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr1) at Santa Anita in November. All reports prior to his comeback in Royal Ascot’s Queen Anne Stakes (Gr1) suggested a lack of fireworks, and that was the case as he faded out of contention to be sixth there on 15 June, but in making Canford Cliffs (Ire) stretch in the latest renewal of the Sussex, he had signaled a return to the big league.

Keen at York early off the steady-building tempo, the bay eventually settled in a wide sixth and was on the heels of Byword as his rider Maxime Guyon tried to steal a march in early stretch. Rip Van Winkle seemed flat-footed as Tom Queally and Twice Over appeared a bigger threat to Byword, he needed time to find his stride, but, when the surge came, it was enough to deny the gallant runner-up a hard-earned victory. “Aidan had a plan to take it a bit slower with him this year and there are a lot of big races coming up at the end of the year, so we want to have him fresh and well,” Murtagh explained. “I probably went too fast on him at Ascot and I was very happy with him last time, but today my one worry was the pace of the race, and he overcame it. He’s such a brilliant mover and covers so much ground that over a mile you can use that to kill horses, but no horse can keep running that hard and fast all season, so it was nice to give him a little chance today. He only had to run for a furlong and a half, so I think he’ll improve again as he was still a bit rusty today. When they kick, he doesn’t have instant acceleration, but when he gets into top gear he hits the line really well and was always going to get there. I was trying to give him as easy a race as possible to win and not punish him, but he stuck his head down and battled really well.” Aidan O’Brien added, “They didn’t go very fast and we were just getting him to relax and switched off today - that was the important thing. He seems in a real good place now and on an upward curve.”

Connections are looking at a return to a mile for a repeat bid in Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr1) on 25 September, followed by a tilt at either the BC Mile or Classic, both at Churchill on 6 November.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

GOLDIKOVA : GRADE 1 WIN NUMBER NINE IN QUEEN ANNE

Click above to watch
Goldikova winning the 2010 Queen Anne Stakes (Gr1)
(Photo and Footage : Euro Sport)

QUEEN ANNE STAKES (Gr1)
Royal Ascot, 15 June 2010

Goldikova made it Grade 1 win number nine today when securing victory in the GBP250,000 Queen Anne Stakes (G1) over a mile on the opening day of Royal Ascot 2010.

After two years in the limelight, it is hard to believe that Goldikova could have been in any rival’s shadow. But in Zarkava, she had a formidable foe during her three-year-old campaign. Following two defeats by Zarkava in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1) and the Prix de Diane (G1), Goldikova was to emerge as a force in her own right with the two going their separate ways thereafter. Wins in the Prix Rothschild (G1) at Deauville and Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1) presaged a first Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) triumph that year and at four she annexed the Rothschild and BC Mile again and added the Falmouth Stakes (G1) and the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) to her tally for good measure. Going an extended nine furlongs in the Prix d’Ispahan (G1) at Longchamp last time on 23 May, Goldikova showed the same magic and achieved the same result when warding off Byword as the pair pulled a country mile clear of the remainder. 

Always traveling with gusto behind the positively ridden Calming Influence and Rip Van Winkle throughout the early stages of the 2010 Queen Anne Stakes today, the bay quickly had the measure of the latter as she glided to the fore at the quarter pole.

It looked as if she would turn the contest into a cakewalk with Paco Boy and Richard Hughes still hemmed in at the rear, but that impression was short-lived when her chief rival was eventually freed with a furlong to race and her margin was being eroded late as Paco Boy found wings wide of the rail.

Despite the runner-up’s huge chasing effort, Goldikova was able to stick her head out against the fence and hold her lead without Olivier Peslier being overly hard on her.

“I felt she was at her best today and she showed it,” trainer Freddy Head added. “We had a perfect run. Now we are going to go to Deauville and run in the Prix Rothschild (G1) and Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) on 1 August and 15 August.”

This win leaves Goldikova one short of the record of 10 victories at the highest level by Miesque, whom Freddie Head partnered, and while comparisons are inevitable, the trainer of the new French sensation was not showing any favoritism.

“It is unfair to compare the two, as they are quite different,” he added. “Miesque was a brilliant two-year-old and three-year-old, whereas Goldikova took a bit more time in coming, but I think she is tougher and stays better than Miesque, and is easier to ride.”

Trainer Richard Hannon was far from dejected after the effort of Paco Boy. “He lost absolutely nothing in defeat - he has that one kick and one burst of speed and has to be ridden like that,” said Hannon. “Richard (Hughes) has given him a super ride, and Goldikova is probably the best racemare we’ve ever seen. It was probably the best race of the meeting, and he’s been beaten a head, so we’re very proud of him. Richard said he thought he had her, but she kept finding a little bit, and that will be proven in the next race when we take her on again.”

RACE RESULT

#	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	GOLDIKOVA	Olivier Peslier	Freddy Head
2	PACO BOY	Richard Hughs	Richard Hannon
3	DREAM EATER	Jimmy Fortune	Andrew Balding
4	ZACINTO	Ryan Moore	Sir Michael Stoute
5	DALGHAR	Christophe Lemaire	Alain Royer-Dupre
6	RIP VAN WINKLE	Johnny Murtagh	Aidan O’Brien
7	OUQBA	Richard Hills	Barry Hills
8	CAT JUNIOR	Frankie Dettori	Brian Meehan
9	CALMING INFLUENCE	Ahmed Ajtebi	Mahmood Al Zarooni

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

ROYAL ASCOT 2010

The Royal Procession at Royal Ascot
(Photo : The Mirror) 

ROYAL ASCOT
15 JUNE 2010 - 19 JUNE 2010

Racing’s greatest festival is Royal Ascot. The Melbourne Cup may stop a nation for a day, but the Royal Meeting stops the world for a week. That’s the truth about this phenomenal celebration of pomp, ceremony and the classiest exhibition of Thoroughbred endeavour, anywhere.

Fans of our sport are indebted to Queen Anne who transformed the naked heathland at Windsor Castle into the arena for England’s most famous sporting tradition in 1711. Since then more money, more pride, more pedigree and more champagne has been splurged on the outcome of the events of these four days than on any other sporting action anywhere.

It takes a special kind of animal to make the “cut” for Royal Ascot, let alone win there, and many of those that have distinguished themselves have long since graduated into racing and breeding’s Hall of Fame. The breed-shapers, from Hyperion to Ribot, Sadler’s Wells to Danehill, they all passed Ascot’s way, and who knows what this year’s events, commencing today, might hold?

THE FIRST DAY’S SPORT

Highlights of the first day always include the mid-summer “European Guineas”, the St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr1), which brings together the English Guineas winner, Makfi, the hero of the Irish version, Canford Cliffs, and the French horse Siyouni. Then there is the internationally contested (especially by a flotilla of Aussies), King’s Stand Stakes (Gr1) over five furlongs, which brings together some of the swiftest horses in the world, (JJ The Jet Plane excluded this year,) Borderlescott, Equiano and Kingsgate Native for the home contingent, while the David Hayes-trained Nicconi and Hussonet’s Grade One winning son, Gold Trail do duty for Australia. 

Somehow, the respective 2010 Guineas winners in England, Ireland and France do not possess the same allure as you might expect of these races, so the St James’s Palace has an especially open look to it for this renewal. You can’t say that though, for the Kings Stand where the Europeans field the usual suspects (some of them looking decidedly long in the tooth these days), but the Australians have once again mounted a serious offensive. Their record in this race over the past couple of years suggests that this could be Australia’s day, which will help our friends from down under to get over the pasting they took at the hands of Germany on Sunday evening in Durban.

The Queen Anne Stakes (Gr1) traditionally brings together the best older milers, and in some respects, it could be dubbed the world championship of milers, so good have its outcomes been in the past. At least this one has lived up to its billing, as it matches last year’s three year old champion miler, Rip Van Winkle, the explosively in-form Paco Boy and the eight time Grade One winning filly, Goldikova. If you miss the other two, make sure you’re in front of your telly when this one comes up.

LE COUP D’OR : 
NO YEATS THIS YEAR, BUT THERE’S STILL ANGUS GOLD OUT THERE

The most famous race, and the headliner at this celebrated meeting, is the Gold Cup, a marathon contest over 2,5miles. For the past four seasons, Summerhill resident sire, Solskjaer’s half-brother, Yeats has dominated the event, and has the distinction of being the only horse in the 200 year history of the race to have won it on four consecutive occasions. He won’t be there for the race this year, and it looks like a sub-par gathering of stayers. Nonetheless, we have gold in a different form in the shape of Sheikh Hamdan’s worldwide racing manager, Angus Gold.

One of our favourite parables flowing from Ascot is now two years old, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II invited Angus to join the Royal Parade. We all know the Queen’s golden coach, and anyone who’s watched Tellytrack in recent years, will know what the Royal procession looks like. Having passed the grandstand the coach proceeds up the shute to the paddock. Once there, the Royal party alights, and proceeds to the Royal Box. On this occasion, as the party departed the paddock, one Aussie wag at the rail enquired: “Hey mate, who’s that bird with Angus Gold?” He obviously wasn’t a Royalist.