By Emma Berry
Ten years ago, after becoming champion sire for the first time in 2008, Galileo (Ire) had to hand over the title to his fellow Coolmore sire Danehill Dancer (Ire). But that was the one and only time the greatest stallion many of us will ever know has had to relinquish that status. In 2019, he claimed his eleventh champion sire title in Britain and Ireland.
On New Year's Day, Galileo turns 22. His sire Sadler's Wells, whose dominance he has already emulated, continued on active duty until the age of 27 and lived in retirement at Coolmore until he was 30. Galileo, who is currently tearing his way towards his father's record of 14 sires' championships, is certainly demonstrating similar longevity. In his routine excellence we must be careful not to take him for granted—we may never see his like again.
In October 2018, Galileo surpassed the number of Group 1 winners set by Sadler's Wells when Magical (Ire) won the QIPCO British Champions Fillies and Mares S. to become his 74th winner at the highest level. A little over a year later that tally stands at 84—equal to the Group 1 winners' record set by Danehill—with Galileo's best horses of 2019 including the winners of the Derby, Irish Derby, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the 1000 Guineas and Champion S. in both England and Ireland, the Moyglare Stud S., St James's Palace S. and Irish St Leger. He was also represented by two Group 1 winners in Australia: Cape Of Good Hope (Ire) and Magic Wand (Ire).
The latter typifies the hardiness Galileo imparts to his offspring, a factor which doubtless helps to set him apart from his peers. The only way in which Magic Wand is not typical of her sire's elite runners is in the fact that she didn't record her first top-flight win until the November of her 4-year-old season. But consider this: following a 3-year-old season which included a fourth-place finish in the Oaks and victory in the G2 Ribblesdale S. as well as two near misses in the Prix Vermeille and Prix de l'Opera from nine starts, her 2019 itinerary started at Gulfsteam Park in January where she was second to Bricks And Mortar (Giant's Causeway) in the GI Pegeasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. From there she went to Dubai, then on to New York, Ascot, the Curragh, back to Ascot. Chicago, Leopardstown, Australia for three starts within a fortnight including her victory in the G1 Mackinnon S. four days after the Melbourne Cup, and then finally to Sha Tin, where she was beaten just a short-head by Win Bright (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) in the G1 Hong Kong Cup. It was a dizzying programme in which Magic Wand finished in the first three in eight of her 12 international races.
Galileo's second Arc winner, Waldgeist (GB), has joined the Ballylinch Stud roster for 2020 but we can hopefully look forward to his Derby-winning sons Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) and Sovereign (Ire) returning this year, as well as the most exciting of his 2019 3-year-old crop, Japan (GB), winner of the G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Grand Prix de Paris. Among his top-class fillies, Magical (Ire) excelled during the 2019 season, winning five races, including the Champion S. in both England and Ireland, and twice finishing runner-up to Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) as well as to Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Prince of Wales's S.
Galileo's 39 black-type winners in Europe in 2019 represented 13.6% of his runners. Of his 98 winners, his top earner was Waldgeist, thanks largely to landing the spoils in Europe's richest race. Waldgeist's earnings, which came in just shy of £3 million, helped to propel Galileo's European progeny earnings to £16,145,540—almost three times that of his nearest pursuer, Dubawi (Ire). His British and Irish earnings of £11,945,529 were amassed largely from 82 individual winners from 191 runners (43%).
With Galileo miles clear in both the European and British and Irish tables, Dubawi ranks second overall in Europe but notably only one of his offspring's six Group 1 wins of the year was recorded in Britain or Ireland, and he comes in at fifth place in that table behind Sea The Stars, fellow Darley sire Shamardal, and Frankel (GB).
Urban Sea's extraordinary influence on the modern-day breed continues to be felt in force, not only through Galileo and his sons and daughters, but also through another son, Sea The Stars, who had his best year yet in 2019. Ten years after he sailed unbeaten through the 2000 Guineas, Derby, Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion S. and the Arc before his subsequent retirement to Gilltown Stud, the son of Cape Cross (Ire) continues to grow in stature as an elite sire. Debate will continue to rage as to the rankings given to the top racehorses around the world, but few can deny that Sea The Stars' top-rated son Crystal Ocean was worthy of the greatest respect following his victory in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. and narrow defeats to Enable and Japan in the King George and Juddmonte International. He is now at Beeches Stud—though he was certainly also worthy of a place on Coolmore's Flat roster—but we can look forward to the extraordinarily consistent stayer Stradivarius (Ire) returning this season. The treble Group 1 winner Star Catcher (GB) was another standout performer for Sea The Stars in 2019 and we are blessed that she too will remain in training with John Gosden.
Sea The Stars had a higher strike-rate than his half-brother of 48% winners to runners and earnings in Britain and Ireland of £4,164,792 (£5,685,781, third in Europe).
Any stallion who sires three unbeaten juvenile Group 1 winners can be considered to have had a very good season indeed, and that is the position in which Shamardal found himself in 2019. All three came for his 'home team' Godolphin, with Pinatubo (Ire) the pick of the entire crop of 2017 on all evidence to date, backed up by the French-trained duo of Earthlight (Ire) and Victor Ludorum (Ire). Bewteeen them they plundered the Dewhurst S., National S., Prix Morny, Middle Park S. and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Some haul.
Shamardal was also represented by a Classic winner in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Castle Lady (Ire), as well as the top sprinter of the season, Blue Point (Ire), who has now joined him at Kildangan Stud. The third, fourth and fifth places in the table for Britain and Ireland were really closely contested and his progeny earnings of £3,512,673 (£5,464,482, fourth in Europe) puts Shamardal marginally ahead of Frankel on £3,495,105 (£4,657,665, fifth in Europe).
Since his first runners hit the track in 2017, Frankel has wasted little time in making his presence felt near the top of the table and has been in the top four sires in Britain and Ireland for the last three years, finishing third in 2018 behind his father Galileo and Dubawi. His top earner in 2019 was Juddmonte's unbeaten Logician (GB), who rounded off his season with victory in the St Leger, and the grey looks to be another decent staying prospect for the Gosden stable. Logician was Frankel's second British Classic winner of the season after Oaks winner Anapurna (GB), who was the star of a terrific year for her owner-breeder Meon Valley Stud and later won the G1 Prix de Royallieu.
And so to Dubawi. Just as Aidan O'Brien has a surfeit of Galileo's offspring in his stable, Charlie Appleby finds himself in a similar position with Dubawi. In assessing the merits of the rivals, both trainers are fulsome in their praise of the temperaments of their respective runners. This, as we know, is an attribute every bit as important as athletic ability, and it is seemingly a heritable trait which has enabled Dubawi to become the most sought-after stallion in Britain for some years now. His son Night Of Thunder (Ire) waltzed away with the freshman sires' championship—which will be discussed in greater detail in these pages later this week—and Dubawi has now been joined at Dalham Hall Stud by his top earner in 2019, Too Darn Hot (GB). This member of Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber's first-class family of Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) was the champion 2-year-old of 2018 who was forced to miss the 2000 Guineas with soreness in a splint bone. He returned to the track in the G2 Dante S., finishing second to Telecaster (GB) (New Approach {GB}) in that noted Derby trial, but nine days later a change of tack saw him drop back to a mile for the Irish 2000 Guineas, in which he was second to Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). So high had winter expectations been that a subsequent third-place finish in the G1 St James's Palace S. increased the mutterings as to whether the neat bay colt had 'trained on'. He duly muted such whisperings with back-to-back Group 1 wins in the Prix Jean Prat and Sussex S., but the latter would prove to be his final start when he was found just days later to have incurred a hairline fracture of a hind cannonbone. His early departure to the stallion ranks has not dimmed breeders' enthusiasm for his services this year—neither has his £50,000 service fee—as the 'book full' sign was nominally posted next to his name before the breeding stock sales were even finished.
Old Persian (GB)—bred on the same Singspiel cross as Too Darn Hot and Wuheida (GB)—also kept Dubawi's name in lights outside Europe with wins in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic and GI Northern Dancer Turf S. at Woodbine. Only £1,237 separated Dubawi from Frankel in progeny earnings for Britain and Ireland, and with Coronet (GB) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) each landing major prizes in France and Germany, Dubawi's European earnings came in at £5,703,553.
Dark Angel (Ire) continues to carry the torch for the sprinting division with great credit. In fifth place with earnings of £3,163,581 (£4,041,014, eighth in Europe), his runners were of course headed by the might Battaash (Ire), who broke Dayjur's track record when winning the G1 Nunthorpe S. at York in the summer. His stablemate at Charlie Hills's Lambourn yard is another fast son of Dark Angel, the Stewards' Cup winner Khaadem (Ire).
The half-brothers Kodiac (GB) and Invincible Spirit (Ire) finished seventh and eighth in Britain and Ireland and, with 166 winners, Kodiac was the numerical leader across Europe. His two Group 1 winners came in the form of Fairyland (Ire), who built on her juvenile success for owner-breeder Evie Stockwell to win the G1 Flying Five S. on Irish Champions Weekend, while Hello Youmzain (Fr) won the Haydock Sprint Cup.
Invincible Spirit meanwhile was represented by the 2000 Guineas winner and new Coolmore sire Magna Grecia (Ire), as well as the dependable Invincible Army (Ire), who increased his tally of career group wins to four and retired to Yeomanstown Stud.
When one thinks of Nathaniel (Ire) it is likely that the first horse to spring to mind will always be Enable. But the Newsells Park Stud resident is far from one-dimensional and his daughter Channel (Ire) became his second Classic winner in the Prix de Diane, while Dashing Willoughby (GB) won the G2 Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot. Finishing ninth in Britain and Ireland, Nathaniel was seventh overall in Europe.
A sire who remains popular in both hemipsheres, Lope De Vega (Ire) completes the top ten stallions in Britain and Ireland. He had a further breakthrough in 2019 with his first Classic winner, Phoenix Of Spain, winner of the Irish 2000 Guineas and now a new resident at the Irish National Stud. The G1 Prix d'Ispahan winner Zabeel Prince (Ire) was another A-lister for Lope De Vega, and Duke Of Hazzard (Ire) rounded off his season with three straight stakes wins, culminating in the G2 Celebration Mile.
The Coolmore duo of Camelot (GB) and Zoffany (Ire) finished just outside the top ten, while Ballyhane Stud's Dandy Man (Ire) continues to be a reliable winner-producer with 90 to his credit in 2019. The fatal injury in training to his 1000 Guineas runner-up Lady Kaya (Ire) was one of the low points of the season.
No Nay Never and Kingman (GB) have only just been represented by their second crop of runners but they each already have a son at Coolmore. The July Cup winner Ten Sovereigns is the standout of No Nay Never's first crop, while the same can be said of G2 Coventry S. winner Arizona (Ire) from his second crop. The previous year's Coventry winner Calyx (GB) is Kingman's first sire son. No Nay Never was 15th in the table for Britain and Ireland with Kingman in 19th. However, the latter took higher order in the overall European championship, in which he was 14th, his runners headed by his first Classic winner Persian King (Ire).
An honourable mention must go to Kingman's fellow Banstead Manor Stud resident Bated Breath (GB), who had a terrific year, especially in high summer when he was represented by three Royal Ascot winners—Daahyeh (GB), Space Traveller (GB) and Biometric (GB). His stakes winners helped him to 15th place in Britain and Ireland.
France
Galileo's European dominance also delivered him the top spot in France but not far behind his monetary tally and the leader of the French domestic sires was the Aga Khan Studs' Siyouni (Fr). In fact the two stallions combined in the production of the Prix du Jockey Club winner Sottsass (Fr), Siyouni's son out of Ecurie des Monceaux's star broodmare Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He remains in training for this year, but two of Siyouni's sons, City Light (Fr) and Le Brivido (Fr) are new to stud in France and Britain, while his brilliant daughter Laurens (Fr) bowed out with another Group 1 win in the Prix Rothschild.
Le Havre (Ire) had group winners in America, Japan and Britain as well as his home country, and it was his daughter Villa Marina who became his fourth Group 1 winner in the Prix de l'Opera, giving him a third-place finish in the French table.
Kendargent sired the highest number of winners in France—78 to Siyouni's 73 and Le Havre's 70—to end the year in fourth with treble group winner Skalleti (Fr) his leading light.
Germany
With Galileo leading the way in Britain, Ireland and France, it fell to another representative of the Sadler's Wells line, Soldier Hollow (GB), to claim the top spot in Germany, which has been his home throughout his racing and stud career.
The son of In The Wings (GB) has just turned 20 and his reputation in Germany is in direct contrast to his diminutive stature. His 51 winners and five stakes winners put him in pole position ahead of Areion (Ger), the sire of G3 Preis der Winterfavoriten and G2 Gran Criterium winner Rubaiyat (Fr).
Scalo (GB) ended the year in third place having provided the 2019 Deutsches Derby winner Laccario (Ger) for the season's leading breeder in Germany, Gestut Hof Ittlingen, who also bred Scalo and his sire Lando (Ger). Scalo has stood his stallion career to date in France, but has joined the National Hunt ranks in Britain this year at Yorton Farm.
In the coming week we will review the leading first-season sires and broodmare sires of 2019.
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