100 individual top-level winners for Galileo as Content lands the Yorkshire Oaks

Galileo reached the magic milestone of siring 100 individual Group/Grade 1 winners when Content won the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday.

The result extends the legacy of a stallion who is remembered as a phenomenon, having been euthanised aged 23 in July 2021 due to a "chronic, non-responsive, debilitating injury to the near-fore foot".

Galileo fans have had to be very patient for the legendary sire's 100th top-level winner to come along, his 99th having arrived in spectacular fashion in the same race last August when he sired the 1-2-3 in the Yorkshire Oaks, with Ribblesdale queen Warm Heart leading home Free Wind and Savethelastdance on the Knavesmire. 

Savethelastdance had taken the count to 98 herself in the Irish Oaks the previous month.

A stellar racehorse trained by Aidan O'Brien for the Coolmore partners and remembered for his Derby wins and titanic battles with Fantastic Light, Galileo's tally got off the ground in 2006 with a member of his first crop, Nightime, landing the Irish 1,000 Guineas. She would become a blue-chip producer for the Weld family as the dam of champion Ghaiyyath. 

There were three more that same year, with Sixties Icon winning the St Leger, Teofilo the National Stakes as well as the Dewhurst, and Red Rocks the Breeders' Cup Turf. 

Galileo passed the Group/Grade 1 winners count of his own sire Sadler's Wells when Magical won the first of her seven top-level races in the 2018 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot, becoming her sire's 74th Group/Grade 1 winner, while Galileo surpassed the old record of 84 set by Danehill in June 2020, when daughter Peaceful won the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Content, who brought up her sire’s 100 under Ryan Moore, was a Group 3 winner at the Curragh over a mile as a juvenile, after which she finished a close fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.

Content and Ryan Moore win the Yorkshire Oaks on ThursdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

That gave rise to hopes she could strike at the top level this season. She was unable to land a blow in either the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches or Coronation Stakes, finishing eighth in both races, but, upped in trip subsequently, had fared better when third behind Bluestocking in the Pretty Polly and especially when runner-up to You Got To Me in the Irish Oaks.

Content's aptitude for middle distances comes despite her being out of crack sprinter Mecca's Angel, the dual Nunthorpe Stakes winner.

Her trainer O'Brien said after Thursday's race: "Galileo was incredible and we all know what he's done. His progeny are so determined and genuine, they don't know when to stop; Content is a typical example." 

Galileo's progeny have netted him more than 200 top-level wins worldwide, a mark he reached when elite stayer Kyprios took the 2022 Irish St Leger. They have been achieved far and wide, from Australia to Hong Kong, North America and South Africa, as well as right across Europe.

His long roll of honour is headed by Frankel, the British and Irish champion sire of 2021 and 2023, as well as European champion sire in 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

Frankel is the only progeny of Galileo to have bettered his sire's peak Racing Post Rating of 132, with a mark of 143. He won all 14 starts and is carrying forward Galileo's legacy at stud for Juddmonte. 

His own son, dual Champion Stakes winner Cracksman, is sire of Ace Impact, who retired unbeaten in 2023 after a six-race campaign that included the Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He stood his first season at Haras de Beaumont this year.

Frankel still has a long way to go to match Galileo's 12 sires' titles, the first of which came in 2008, when he stood for a private fee for the first time. That status remained for the rest of his career and was widely acknowledged to have become the highest for any stallion in the world over many years.

Galileo's other household names include Minding, Australia, Rip Van Winkle, Waldgeist, Nathaniel and Ulysses, among hundreds of black-type horses perpetuating his genes from stud. In 2020, he became the first stallion to supply five winners of the Derby with the triumph of Serpentine at Epsom. He also has five winners of the Oaks.

Galileo's legacy looks set to continue with his best son, Frankel Credit: Edward Whitaker

His broodmare sire record is brilliant, too, with his daughters producing Sottsass, St Mark's Basilica, Auguste Rodin, Saxon Warrior, Night Of Thunder and Snowfall. He is also broodmare sire of this year's standout performer City Of Troy, who has more than made up for his disappointing run in the 2,000 Guineas by winning the Derby, Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International. Galileo has four broodmare sire titles and counting.

There is potential for more names to add themselves to his extensive roll of honour from his final full crop of three-year-olds, which numbered close to 100 and includes some typically regal pedigrees. He had just 13 foals in his 20th and final crop, which are two-year-olds of 2024. 

One of their number topped the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale in April at 1,000,000gns, the colt out of Listed-placed Manderley who was consigned by Roderic Kavanagh's Glending Stables and bought by Godolphin. Subsequently named Royal Officer, he can hopefully improve on his two runs for Charlie Appleby.

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