Proud And Regal reminds us there's more to come from Galileo's last crops

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Here, he reflects on a Group 1 one-two for Galileo, a feat that is naturally becoming rarer but is all the more welcome because of it. Subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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The Criterium International at Saint-Cloud on Saturday felt like a blast from the recent past, with Galileo supplying the first two home, Proud And Regal and Espionage.

There's no doubt that the late Coolmore phenomenon is still making his presence felt in elite racing, as illustrated this season by the brilliant stayer Kyprios and the Epsom and Curragh Oaks winners Tuesday and Magical Lagoon, but the rate at which top-notch performers by him are emerging does seem to have slowed somewhat.

Galileo is on course to finish fourth in this year’s British and Irish sire championship, his lowest position since 2009, which adds to the impression that he is a little past the peak of his powers as a sire in his own right. Indeed, it has been hard to escape the feeling in recent months that a new hierarchy has formed around Dubawi, Frankel and Sea The Stars.

However, with Proud And Regal – his first two-year-old Group 1 winner since Shale in September 2020 – Galileo has served notice that his progeny are far from yesterday’s news.

The chestnut colt, bred by Coolmore out of Fillies’ Mile and Falmouth Stakes heroine Simply Perfect, was praised by trainer Donnacha O’Brien for being tough and genuine, and he is available at around 25-1 for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby. Those odds don't seem unreasonable.

So, what else might Galileo have up his sleeve with his final few crops?

Proud And Regal is so far the only black-type winner among the 102 two-year-olds in the sire’s third-last crop. That’s a much lower tally than when Galileo was in his pomp, but there are bound to be many more to come; don’t forget Tuesday was only a once-raced runner-up heading into her Classic season this year.

Among the unexposed Galileo two-year-olds who could easily become stakes winners in time are the Aidan O’Brien-trained Delightful, the full-sister to Tuesday and fellow Classic winners Minding and Empress Josephine who won a Leopardstown nursery in good fashion on Saturday, and Foniska, a filly out of Bocca Baciata in the care of Jessica Harrington. She had Delightful two lengths back in second when successful in a Thurles maiden earlier in the month.

Foniska (left) and Delightful: among the promising Galileo two-year-oldsCredit: Patrick McCann

Artistic Star, a Ralph Beckett-trained full-brother to Princess Royal Stakes winner Forbearance out of Australian Group 1 winner Nechita, and Peking Opera, a colt closely related to champion two-year-old Air Force Blue stabled at Ballydoyle, have also been eye-catching maiden winners for the sire in recent weeks.

Not forgetting Espionage, a son of Ribblesdale Stakes winner Even Song who went down by only a head to Proud And Regal on Saturday, or Salt Lake City, a son of Queen Mary Stakes scorer Heartache who wasn’t disgraced in fifth in the Vertem Futurity, either. Both Aidan O’Brien-trained colts could have more in the locker for next year.

There are countless other winners and placed performers, plus beautifully bred unraced horses in Galileo’s juvenile crop. Among those who hold entries to make their debuts this week are the Ballydoyle fillies Jackie Oh (out of Jacqueline Quest), Red Carpet (out of Quiet Reflection), Tender Kiss (out of Marsha) and Warm Heart (out of Sea Siren).

Galileo has 93 yearlings – you can take it as read that all will be in possession of outstanding pedigrees, but one in particular worth mentioning is the filly out of Alpha Centauri already named Earth – and then, sadly, just 12 foals in his 20th and final crop.

We have to accept that there is likely to be some degree of decline in the overall quality of Galileo's last few crops, conceived when he was in his early 20s. That didn't make him a Methuselah by thoroughbred standards, but studies have shown there is a pattern of general deterioration in stallions' output in their advanced years.

All the same, I do wonder whether the market has slightly overreacted to that eventuality in recent weeks. The average price paid for Galileo’s penultimate yearlings in Europe fell by 32 per cent from those in his third-last crop, to 327,156gns, while the median dropped by the same amount to 275,000gns.

The 725,000gns given by Jill Lamb for the full-brother to Arc victor Waldgeist at Tattersalls this month was the lowest annual top price for one of Galileo’s yearlings since the recession-hit year of 2009, when the late Sir Robert Ogden paid 650,000gns for a full-brother to Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Nightime.

The full-brother to Waldgeist bought by Jill Lamb for 725,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

There just didn't seem to be the packed sales rings and hushed silences that used to attend the appearance of a Galileo yearling up until recently. That’s understandable up to a point, but all had pages saturated in black type, and surely Galileo a little past his prime is still better than many sires at the pinnacle of their careers?

It will be fascinating to see whether some of the cheaper yearlings by the sire, such as the half-brother to Tiggy Wiggy who made €82,000 and the colt out of Just Pretending who cost 57,000gns – both bought by Mark and Charlie Johnston, who else? – turn out to be bargains.

Those keeping the faith with Galileo’s last few generations can draw comfort from the fact that his sire Sadler’s Wells delivered stakes winners Concentric (dam of a certain Enable), Ezima (dam of one Taghrooda), Liscanna, Measure Tempo, Mores Wells and Royal And Regal, as well as Oaks third All My Loving and Arc third Sagara, from his own 19th crop numbering 118.

Sadler’s Wells’ 20th crop of 127 foals included Pattern winners Changing Skies, Curtain Call, Doctor Fremantle, Front House, Gagnoa, Listen, Prospect Wells, Psalm and Listed scorers Hindu Kush, Honoria, Pouvoir Absolu and Sail, while his 21st, 22nd and 23rd crops – which Galileo didn’t reach – contained the likes of Black Bear Island, Bullet Train, Fantasia, Saddler’s Rock and Tactic.

Yes, as Galileo’s 97th individual Group 1 winner Proud And Regal has reminded us, there’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle. The century is on.

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Pedigree pick

Liberty faces a stiff task on debut in the six-furlong novice stakes at Leicester on Monday (1.50), with quite a few of her rivals – in particular Belinda Bell, Girl Magic and Sassy Belle – being in possession of bits and pieces of useful form, but she does have a useful pedigree in her favour.

The daughter of Starspangledbanner is the first foal out of the Listed-placed Nathaniel mare Crystal Hope, a half-sister to Listed winner Crystal Pegasus from the family of top-class siblings Crystal Ocean, Crystal Capella and Hillstar.

She cost 42,000gns from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and represents Jane Chapple-Hyam, a trainer who often gets a few nice backend two-year-old winners.

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