Will we still be recalling this year's Flat season in 2047? With City Of Troy and friends around, I certainly hope so

The Coolmore team’s determination to aim their current superstar City Of Troy at the Breeders’ Cup Classic on dirt has made me quite misty-eyed recalling one of the greatest seasons in modern Flat racing, 2001.

It was the year of Fantastic Light, Sakhee and of course Galileo, who this week posthumously passed the milestone of siring his 100th Group and Grade 1 winner. 

A brilliant dual Derby winner who defeated the five-year-old Fantastic Light in the King George, Galileo – like City Of Troy – was earmarked for the Classic from the middle of summer, with little thought given to the Arc or the Breeders’ Cup Turf.