Galileo's fingerprints on another Group 1 as Enable claims Coral-Eclipse

Enable will steal the headlines, and rightfully so after the all-conquering daughter of Nathaniel emulated her sire when landing her eighth top-flight event in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse.

The Juddmonte homebred - who is out of the Sadler's Wells mare Concentric, and therefore inbred 3x2 to the great son of Northern Dancer - has been a flag bearer of the highest calibre for her sire, whose stud record boasts two other Group 1 winners in Channel and God Given.

Saturday's result not only reaffirmed the brilliance of Enable, but provided the latest example of Galileo's deep-running influence over top-end races at a mile and beyond.

Galileo and Coolmore stallion man Tony O'MearaCredit: Patrick McCann

The Coolmore kingmaker is, of course, the grandsire of Enable through Newsells Park Stud's Nathaniel, and is also the sire of Saturday's runner-up Magical and the grandsire of the third-placed Regal Reality, a first-crop son of Cheveley Park Stud resident Intello.

Moreover, the Coral-Eclipse is the 17th Group 1 race run over a distance of a mile or further in Britain and Ireland in 2019, and is the 11th contest in which Galileo has featured in the first two generations of the winner's pedigree.

GALILEO'S IMPACT IN GROUP 1 RACES IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN 2019

2,000 GUINEAS - damsire of Magna Grecia
1,000 GUINEAS - sire of Hermosa
TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP - sire of Magical
IRISH 1,000 GUINEAS - sire of Hermosa
OAKS - grandsire of Anapurna
DERBY - sire of Anthony Van Dyck
ST JAMES'S PALACE STAKES - sire of Circus Maximus
CORONATION STAKES - damsire of Watch Me
PRETTY POLLY STAKES - grandsire of Iridessa
IRISH DERBY - sire of Sovereign
CORAL-ECLIPSE - grandsire of Enable

It is also notable that Galileo's dam, the blue hen Urban Sea, is proving an even more ubiquitous presence in middle-distance Group 1s this year, as two of the races which have evaded Galileo this season went the way of the progeny of her other Derby winning son, Sea The Stars.

Galileo's Group 1-winning daughter Magical was sent off a warm favourite for the Prince Of Wales's Stakes, but she had to give best to the likeable Crystal Ocean, who made a well-deserved top-level breakthrough.

Sea The Stars and Ray Moore at the Aga Khan's Gilltown StudCredit: Patrick McCann

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained five-year-old was the first of three winners for Sea The Stars at Royal Ascot, a list that features arguably his most recognisable offspring in Stradivarius, who retained his Gold Cup crown, and the Ribblesdale Stakes scorer Star Catcher.

The four British and Irish Group 1 contests won by horses with pedigrees free of Galileo and/or Urban Sea are the Lockinge Stakes (won by Tamayuz's son Mustashry), the Coronation Cup (Defoe, by Dalakhani), the Queen Anne Stakes (Lord Glitters, by Whipper) and the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Phoenix Of Spain, by Lope De Vega).

It has been a similar story in France in 2019 too, with Galileo appearing in the immediate generations of the winners of three of the country's eight Group 1 races this year.

He is the grandsire of the aforementioned Channel, a daughter of Nathaniel, and is also the damsire of impressive Prix du Jockey Club scorer Sottsass, while Prix Ganay hero Waldgeist is a son of Galileo.

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