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Galileo — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Notable quotes

“Quòd tertio loca à nobis fuit obſeruatum, eſt ipſiuſmet LACTEI Circuli eſſentia, ſeu materies, quam Perſpicilli beneficio adeò ad ſenſum licet intueri, vt & altercationes omnes, quæ per tot ſæcula Philoſophos excrucia runt ab oculata certitudine dirimantur, nosque à verboſis dſputationibus liberemur.”
— What was observed by us in the third place is the nature or matter of the Milky Way itself, which, with the aid of the spyglass, may be observed so well that all the disputes that for so many generations have vexed philosophers are destroyed by visible certainty, and we are liberated from wordy arguments.
“The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.”
— Loose paraphrase of Salviati on Day 3: "For when the sun draws up some vapors here, or warms a plant there, it draws these and warms this as if it had nothing else to do. Even in ripening a bunch of grapes, or perhaps just a single grape, it applies itself so effectively that it could not do more even if the goal of all its affairs were just the ripening of this one grape."
“Well, since paradoxes are at hand, let us see how it might be demonstrated that in a finite continuous extension it is not impossible for infinitely many voids to be found.”
— Salviati, First Day, Stillman Drake translation (1974)
“What has philosophy got to do with measuring anything? It's the mathematicians you have to trust, and they measure the skies like we measure a field.”
— "Matteo" in Concerning the New Star (1606)
“I have been in my bed for five weeks, oppressed with weakness and other infirmities from which my age, seventy four years, permits me not to hope release. Added to this (proh dolor! [O misery!]) the sight of my right eye — that eye whose labors (dare I say it) have had such glorious results — is for ever lost. That of the left, which was and is imperfect, is rendered null by continual weeping.”
— Letter to Élie Diodati (4 July 1637), as translated in The Private Life of Galileo: Compiled primarily from his correspondence and that of his eldest daughter, Sister Maria Celeste (1870) by Mary Allan-Olney, p. 278
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I could not learn something from him.”
— As quoted in The Story of Civilization: The Age of Reason Begins, 1558-1648 (1935) by Will Durant, p. 605

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Background

Galileo was a 16 1⁄2 hh (64.5 inches, 164 cm) bay horse with a narrow white blaze and a white sock on his left hind leg. He was sired by Sadler's Wells out of the mare Urban Sea. His breeders were David Tsui, the owner of Urban Sea, and "Orpendale", a name used by the Coolmore Stud organisation for some of their breeding interests. He was described as a three-year-old as being "one of the most impeccably bred horses in training".

Sadler's Wells won three Group One races in 1984 and went on to sire the winners of over 2,000 races, including more than 130 at Group One/Grade I level. He was the most successful sire in the history of British racing, being the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland a record 14 times. Urban Sea won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1993 and went on to become an outstanding broodmare. Apart from Galileo, she was the dam of the Derby winner Sea the Stars and the Grade I winners Black Sam Bellamy (Tattersalls Gold Cup) and My Typhoon (Diana Stakes), as well as All Too Beautiful (Group race winner, Group One placed) and Melikah (Listed race winner, Group One placed).

Owned by Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor, Galileo was sent into training with Aidan O'Brien, then just starting his tenure at Ballydoyle. Galileo was ridden in all but one of his races by Michael Kinane.

Galileo was known for his relaxed behaviour and even temperament. Noel Stapleton, his long-time handler at Coolmore Stud, called him a creature of habit: "He is a true gentleman, and I think he knows how important he is." O'Brien noted that Galileo "prowled" when asked to walk: "Most horses when you ask them to go forward, up goes the head and they walk up, but he used to walk forward and walk out. His walking stride was so long and there was so much power from his front and back."

He was one of several horses to have borne the name of Galileo. The most notable "other" Galileo was a Polish-bred gelding which won the Grade I RSA Novices' Hurdle at the 2002 Cheltenham Festival.

2001: three-year-old career

Galileo was conditioned for a middle-distance campaign and aimed at Derby trial races in late spring. On his debut, he was 1/3 favourite for the Listed Ballysax Stakes over a mile and a quarter at Leopardstown, which he won "easily" by three and a half lengths. Runner-up Milan went on to win the St Leger and finish second in the Breeders' Cup Turf, while the third-placed Vinnie Roe won four consecutive Irish St. Legers. O'Brien was satisfied with the performance, especially as he believed the colt was some way from peak fitness: ("[my horses]... are as big as bulls") and likely to improve.

Galileo was stepped up in class for the Group Three Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown in May. The odds-on favourite, he was ridden for the first and only time by Seamie Heffernan, as Kinane was riding Milan in the Group One Prix Lupin on the same day. Galileo beat the John Oxx-trained Exaltation by one and a half lengths. Although Heffernan put Galileo under pressure before going clear, the colt's Derby odds were cut from 8–1 to 5–1.

At Epsom, Galileo started 11/4 joint-favourite with 2,000 Guineas winner Golan. The 2001 Epsom Derby field was strong, with Tobougg, the previous year's champion two-year-old, and the winners of most of the major Derby trials, including Mr Combustible (Chester Vase), Dilshaan (Dante Stakes) and Perfect Sunday (Lingfield Derby Trial), all taking part. Two furlongs from the finish, Galileo moved past Mr Combustible and quickly went clear to record an "impressive" three and a half length victory over Golan, Tobougg and Mr Combustible. Following the race, Timeform assigned a figure of 130 to Galileo, making him, in their opinion, the best Derby winner for ten years. Kinane was reported to have called Galileo the best horse he had ridden: "There is no weakness to him... He is a dream to ride." It was the first Derby winner for O'Brien and the first Derby winner Sadler's Wells had sired.

In the Irish Derby at The Curragh, three weeks later, Galileo was 4/11 favourite, with Golan and Exaltation the only other horses starting at less than 20/1. Although eased down in the closing stages, the colt won by four lengths from the Derby Italiano winner Morshdi, with Golan another four lengths back in third. Kinane, who was winning his first Irish Derby in seventeen attempts, said that he was always in "complete control", while Morshdi's jockey, Philip Robinson, described the winner as "a freak".

Galileo was then tested against older horses in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot in July. The betting suggested a match between Galileo (1/2 favourite) and the Godolphin five-year-old Fantastic Light (7–2), who had won Group One races in four different countries. Such were the reputations of these two horses that the third choice in the betting, the French Derby winner Anabaa Blue, started at 18/1. Kinane took Galileo to the lead two furlongs out, but Frankie Dettori challenged hard on Fantastic Light as Galileo won by two lengths.

Galileo returned to Leopardstown in September for a much-anticipated Irish Champion Stakes against Fantastic Light again, this time over the shorter distance of one and a quarter miles. O'Brien's Ice Dancer was to act as pacemaker and ensure a stamina test. The plan failed, as the rest of the riders ignored Ice Dancer, who went ten lengths clear before stopping abruptly in the straight. Fantastic Light and Galileo raced side by side, with the former winning by a head. The race has been described as one of the most exciting and memorable in the modern history of the sport. O'Brien praised the winner but felt that he himself had "messed up" tactically.

For his final race, Galileo was sent to Belmont Park for the Breeders' Cup Classic. He would be racing on dirt for the first time, although he was prepared by exercising on the artificial surface at Southwell. In the Classic, Galileo finished sixth of the fourteen runners behind Tiznow.

"With the benefit of hindsight", O'Brien later recalled, "it was an unrealistic target to ask him to do that after having such a tough season and racing against the older horses, but it was the belief that was in him, the belief that everyone had in him, that we thought it could be possible that it could happen. I remember when he came in, he was after trying so hard he was almost crying. He was so genuine."

Galileo's retirement was announced immediately after the race.

Stud career

Galileo was retired to stand as a stallion for the Coolmore Stud. He originally operated as a "shuttle" stallion, standing at Coolmore's main farm at Fethard, County Tipperary Ireland during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season and moving to its Australian branch in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season. However, since 2006, he stood exclusively in Ireland.

Galileo earned his first title as the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 2008 thanks to his first Derby winner New Approach. He regained the title in 2010 when Frankel made his debut, and repeated in 2011 through 2020 inclusive. Since 2008, his stud fee was privately negotiated, but in 2018 he was reputed to be the most expensive stallion in the world. For breeders who were not associates of Coolmore Stud, the fee had "long been north of €400,000" and was suggested to be as high as €600,000. At the height of his stud career, Galileo generated an estimated €40 million per year in stud fees for Coolmore.

At the time of his death on 10 July 2021, he had sired 338 stakes winners, 228 of which were group winners. In August 2018, Sizzling gave Galileo his 328th European group race win as a sire, taking him past the record previously held by his own sire Sadler's Wells.

On 9 November 2019, Magic Wand became his 84th individual Group/Grade One winner, putting him level with Danehill for the most such winners sired. He broke this record when Peaceful won the Irish 1000 Guineas in June 2020. On the same day he died, Bolshoi Ballet became his 92nd G1 winner. In 2022, Magical Lagoon became his 95th G1 winner by taking the Irish Oaks.

Proud and Regal is 97th G1 winner of it

In 2019, Anthony Van Dyck became his fourth Epsom Derby winner (with New Approach, Ruler of the World, and Australia). This tied him with Cyllene, Waxy, Sir Peter Teazle, Blandford and Montjeu for the number of Derby winners sired. He broke this record when Serpentine won the Derby in 2020. After Minding's victory in the 2016 1000 Guineas, Galileo had become the sire of winners of all five British Classics. In the 2016 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he sired the top three finishers (Found, Highland Reel and Order of St George). In the 2019 Derby, he was the sire, grandsire or great-grandsire of all runners but Sir Dragonet, who was related to Urban Sea through his full sister All Too Beautiful. In 2020, he was the sire of the Love, winner of the 1000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks and the Darley Yorkshire Oaks.

In September 2008, Galileo underwent surgery for colic.

In early 2021, Galileo injured his left forefoot and underwent another surgery. He failed to respond to treatment and was euthanized on 10 July. When announcing the death, John Magnier of Coolmore commented, ""The effect he is having on the breed through his sons and daughters will be a lasting legacy, and his phenomenal success really is unprecedented."

O'Brien noted that as a sire Galileo was notable for passing his own determination down to his offspring. "You would train a lot of horses," he said, "different types of horses who all have different traits, but very few of them, in fact none of them, put that mental trait into their horses the way Galileo did. What he put into their minds, that genuineness, was out of this world."