Galileo brings 21st successive sires' title to Coolmore

Galileo finished 2010 as a runaway winner of the British and Irish sires’ championship with prize money earnings of nearly £4.8 million. Described by Bill Oppenheim in the TDN on January 5, 2011, as "the best stallion in the world", Galileo - who also took the title in 2008 - was winning a 21st consecutive championship for Coolmore sires. Galileo’s major flagbearers in 2010 included Rip Van Winkle (5h Galileo-Looking Back, by Stravinsky), the brilliant winner of the G1 Juddmonte International at York who joins the Coolmore roster for 2011, and Cape Blanco (4c Galileo-Laurel’s Delight, by Presidium), who took the G1 Irish Champion Stakes and G1 Irish Derby. He has a superb team of three-year-olds heading into 2011, including the 2010 champion juvenile Frankel (3c Galileo-Kind, by Danehill), winner of the G1 Dewhurst Stakes. Other G1-winning Classic contenders include the Aidan O’Brien-trained Roderic O’Connor (3c Galileo-Secret Garden, by Danehill), who captured the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud, while Misty For Me (3f Galileo-Butterfly Cove, by Storm Cat) landed the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. Other major European winners included Sans Frontieres (4c Galileo-Llia, by Shirley Heights), who took the G1 Irish St Leger, and Lily Of The Valley (3f Galileo-Pennegale, by Pennekamp), successful in the G1 Prix de l’Opera.