As Tony Morris remarked in his October column in Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, it’s not hard to see Galileo laying down a serious challenge to the record 14 champion sire titles set by his sire Sadler’s Wells.
The offspring of the great stallion was highly sought after in the sales ring right from the beginning of his stud career and that is echoed today by Galileo, his progeny regularly commanding an almost reverential hush as they are paraded before the auctioneer.
One of his daughters topped the Arqana August Sale at €1.7 million and it is the fillies which are holding sway again at Tattersalls this week. After two days of Book 1 trade, a Galileo three-parts sister to Derby winner Pour Moi is in pole position, having been sold to Paul Makin for 800,000gns, while a full-sister to Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Nightime has been added to the Niarchos family’s bloodstock portfolio to the tune of 700,000gns.
With 14 sons and daughters of Galileo having already changed hands, the aggregate for his stock stands just shy of 5 million gns, the average and median hovering close together on 351,214gns and 325,000gns respectively.
Another 12 Galileo yearlings come under the spotlight on the final day of Book 1, including the sale’s predicted top lot, out of the 20-year-old Irish River mare Brigid, whose daughter by Sadler’s Wells, a full-sister to Henrythenavigator’s dam Sequoyah, topped the 2007 sale at 2.5 million gns.
With another ten individual Group 1 winners to his name in 2011, Galileo is certain to dominate both the racing and breeding headlines for years to come.