The Group One Irish Derby at the Curragh on June 29 represented a hat trick not often seen. The first three finishers, Sovereign, Anthony Van Dyck and Norway, were all sons of the magnificent Galileo, Coolmore’s king. All trained by Aidan O’Brien. All owned by the triumvirate of Magnier/Smith/Tabor. The only differences in the three, apart from very minor differences in pedigree, is that O’Brien couldn’t clone a single jockey to ride all three, and so was dependent on various riders to claim the Irish Derby as his own, as he has done six times before.

The pedigree of Sovereign is a beauty, as he is out of the Danehill Dancer mare Devoted to you, and both Danehill Dancer and his sire, Danehill himself, present fabulous nicks with Galileo. Galileo’s AEI with all mares is a remarkable 3.14, well above the standard of excellence of one, which is considered superior. Anthony Van Dyck, the second-place finisher, is out of the Exceed and Excel mare Believe ‘n’ Succeed. Exceed and Excel is by Danehill as well, and Galileo’s Average Earning Index with Exceed and Excel mares is a whopping 18.21, almost stratospherically unheard of. It should also be noted that Anthony Van Dyck’s second dam, Arctic Drift, is by Gone West out of the Storm Cat mare November Snow, which adds two doses of Secretariat (and his dam, Somethingroyal), and a mirroring of the Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector cross offered as well in Galileo himself. Third place finisher Norway is out of the Kingmambo mare Love me True, providing that Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector twinning as well, plus the tail female family of A.P. Indy, and a 7.22 AEI. These are remarkable statistics, even for the great Galileo.

An examination of the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers, however, cements this monopoly that Galileo seems to have on Irish racing, more like an iron fist of a hold. Madhmoon finished fourth, and he is a great-grandson of Galileo. Guaranteed was fifth, and is also a grandson of Galileo. Broome, sixth, another O’Brien trainee, is a grandson of Galileo, while Il Paradiso, seventh, trained by O’Brien, is a son of Galileo himself, out of a Danehill Dancer dam, with a second dam by Black Tie Affair, a son of Miswaki. Galileo is, of course, out of the great Miswaki mare Urban Sea.

I’m not a math person—far from it—but sometimes numbers don’t lie. And certainly pedigrees don’t lie. Galileo’s achievements as a sire cannot be underestimated. He is the greatest sire of our time, without doubt, and no North American-based stallion can come close to his achievements, nor to those of the entire Coolmore group.

-- Roberta Smoodin