Andrew Caulfield's Pedigree Insights: Gleneagles

QIPCO 2000 GUINEAS S.-G1, £498,750, NMT, 5-2, 3yo, c/f, 8fT, 1:37.55, gd/fm. 
1–GLENEAGLES (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Galileo (Ire) 
     1st Dam: You'resothrilling (GSW-Eng & Ire, $224,243), by Storm Cat 
     2nd Dam: Mariah's Storm, by Rahy 
     3rd Dam: Immense, by Roberto 
O-Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier & Derrick Smith; 
B-You'resothrilling Syndicate (Ire). T-Aidan O'Brien; 
J-Ryan Moore. £282,841. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Ire 
& G1SP-Fr, 7-5-0-1, £554,612. *Full to Marvellous 
(Ire), G1SWIre, $262,720. Werk Nick Rating: B+. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
Click for the Racing Post result, the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. 
In a tomayto-tomahto situation, the word dynasty is pronounced differently on each side of the Atlantic. But however you pronounce it, a pair of dynasties made their presence felt in the first of the year's male Classics in the U.S. and Britain. 

In the GI Kentucky Derby, victory again went to the Fappiano die-nasti, or, to be more precise, to the Unbridled branch. As I pointed out in my notes on American Pharoah on Mar. 17, his sire Pioneerof The Nile finished second in the Kentucky Derby (to Mine That Bird in 2009), and so did his sire Empire Maker (when the clear favorite in 2003). His great-grandsire Unbridled had fared better, accounting for Summer Squall in 1990. 

Unbridled's influence on the Kentucky Derby also extends to the 1990 winner Grindstone, who became the grandsire of Mine That Bird, and the Fappiano branch also gave us Real Quiet, the Derby winner of 1998. American Pharoah is therefore the fifth member of the Fappiano male line to have triumphed in the first leg of the Triple Crown since 1990. Add in two winners of the GI Preakness S. and four of the GI Belmont S. and the Fappiano dynasty has strong claims to being the most powerful force in the Triple Crown events in recent decades. 
 
Earlier in the day, at Newmarket, it had been the turn of the Sadler's Wells din-asty to strengthen its hold on the G1 2,000 Guineas. Rather surprisingly in view of his reputation as a source of stamina, Sadler's Wells sired more winners of the 2,000 Guineas than of the Derby, with Entrepreneur, King of Kings and Refuse To Bend giving him three victories between 1997 and 2003. More recently two of his brilliant mile-and-a-half performers – Galileo and Montjeu – have been responsible for three of the last five winners. 

It is Galileo, though, who has made the biggest impact on this mile Classic in recent years. Victory three days ago went to his highly likeable son Gleneagles, who was passing the winning post in first position for the sixth consecutive time. This extremely well-bred individual displayed an impressive set of gears, without quite matching the stunning impression left by Galileo's other 2,000 Guineas winner. That was the mighty Frankel, who won by six lengths in 2011, having been twice that far in front at one stage. 

But that's not the sum total of Galileo's influence on the first Classic. It was his son New Approach who was responsible for Dawn Approach, the five-length winner in 2013. Then it was the turn of one of Galileo's daughters, Forest Storm, to produce the 2014 winner, in the form of her Dubawi colt Night of Thunder. 

Altogether that means that four of the last five 2,000 Guineas winners have Galileo in either the first or second generation of their pedigrees. This could be considered surprising in view of other aspects of Galileo's career as a racehorse and then as a stallion. The only time Galileo tackled a distance as short as a mile for Aidan O'Brien was on his only appearance at two, when heavy ground meant that it took him 1:48.20 to cover the distance in winning by 14 lengths. 

Timeform's essay on Galileo in Racehorses of 2000 commented that “O'Brien doesn't rule out the Two Thousand Guineas for Galileo. However, given his breeding and the manner in which he finished his race over a testing mile, distances of a mile and a quarter and more are likely to be required to bring out the best in him at three.” 

Sure enough, Galileo spent his second season exclusively over a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. Timeform concluded that the longer distance was his “natural trip,” while admitting that his narrow defeat in the Irish Champion S. showed that he was nearly as effective over a mile and a quarter. 

Since then Galileo's progeny aged three or over have established an average winning distance of 11.1 furlongs. That figure includes two winners of the Irish St Leger and Galileo has also been responsible for winners of the equivalent races in France, Germany and Italy. 

Galileo has demonstrated that he is perfectly capable of siring high-class performers from mares with plenty of stamina in their pedigrees. Unfortunately the widespread prejudice against stamina means that the end product is generally not as saleable as one might hope. Consequently many breeders have been sending Galileo a speedier type of mare, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular. 

In addition to exerting a strong influence on the 2,000 Guineas, he has also landed the Irish version with Roderic O'Connor and Magician, plus the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas with Nightime, Misty For Me and Marvellous and the G1 French 1,000 Guineas with Golden Lilac. 

Of his various Guineas winners, Frankel, Roderic O'Connor and Golden Lilac are out of daughters of the sprinter Danehill, while Magician's broodmare sire is Danehill's fast son Mozart. 

Three of the others–Misty For Me and the siblings Marvellous and Gleneagles–are all out of daughters of Storm Cat. That leaves Nightime, and even she has a second dam by Bluebird, who shared the same sire, Storm Bird, as Storm Cat. This adds up to very interesting news for any American breeders who have used, or are considering using, one of the growing number of Galileo stallions based in the U.S. 

Interestingly the three Group 1-winning sons of Galileo in Kentucky–Frankel's brother Noble Mission, Magician and Red Rocks–are all out of fast mares, which should be a considerable help in siring progeny suited to America's speed-obsessed industry. Extra speed in their mates would no doubt also be beneficial, but fortunately there is plenty of that available. With a bit of luck, Galileo could make a similar impact in the U.S. to that exerted by Sadler's Wells through his champion sire descendants El Prado and Kitten's Joy. 

To get back to the Galileo/Storm Cat combination, I believe it has 38 representatives aged three or over, so it has done remarkably well to produce three Classic winners plus Global View (GIII Generous S. and GII American Turf S.), Misty For Me's sister Twirl (a listed winner who was second in two Group 3s) and Aloft (runner-up in last year's G1 Racing Post Trophy). 

The cross has another half dozen or so 2-year-olds bidding to add to its achievements this year. One of them is a chestnut sister to Marvellous and Gleneagles which has significantly been named Coolmore. There is also a yearling brother. Another significant name–Ballydoyle–has been given to the 2-year-old sister to Misty For Me and Twirl. Typique could be another name to remember, as this filly's dam is Denebola, a G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner out of a top-notch sister to Machiavellian. 

Of course the dam of Gleneagles and Marvellous wasn't just any old Storm Cat mare. She is You'resothrilling, a daughter of that high-class American mare Mariah's Storm. It is strange to think that, when John Magnier paid a sale-topping $2.6 million for Mariah's Storm at Keeneland in 1996, he explained that this Grade II-winning daughter of Rahy had been bought principally as a mate for new stallion Cigar. 

When Cigar proved infertile, another route was required. The Storm Cat colt she was carrying at the time of her purchase must have impressed as an individual, as the mare was returned to Storm Cat in 1997 and 1998 and ended up producing seven foals to the Overbrook champion. Needless to say, the first Storm Cat colt was none other than Giant's Causeway, who has done so well as a stallion. 

None of Giant's Causeway's younger siblings came close to matching his achievements, which stood at six Group 1 victories, but his brothers Freud and Tumblebrutus developed into Grade I sires and You'resothrilling could hardly have made a better start to her broodmare career. 

You'resothrilling showed the precocity and speed that was largely absent from Galileo's first season. A Group 3 winner over six furlongs in June, she then landed the G2 Cherry Hinton S. in July. With a bit more luck she might also have won the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot. Although she was off the course for more than a year between two and three, she was beaten little more than a length when she returned to action in the G1 Matron S. over a mile. 

Mariah's Storm won 10 of her 16 starts, with nine furlongs proving her most rewarding distance. Mariah's Storm has also spent the twilight of her broodmare career visiting Galileo, producing fillies by him in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The first of them, Hanky Panky, was third at Group 3 level over six furlongs. 

Before leaving the topic of Galileo and Storm Cat/Giant's Causeway, it is worth pointing out that the best American runner with a dam by Galileo is Lea, who is by Giant's Causeway's son First Samurai. Last year's GI Donn H. winner certainly wasn't disgraced when third in the G1 Dubai World Cup, beaten little more than a length by second-placed California Chrome. Although his good early efforts came on turf, Lea is clearly very much at home on dirt. 
Incidentally, Lea's dam Greenery has a 2015 filly by War Front, who was also represented by an $800,000 short yearling out of Galileo's daughter Up at Keeneland in January. Up was again in foal to War Front when she made $2.2 million at the same sale, and War Front was also the covering sire when Galileo's daughter Aloof topped last year's Keeneland November sale at $3.9 million. The 2013 Fasig-Tipton November sale was also topped by a Galileo mare in foal to War Front, with Betterbetterbetter (carrying a filly) making $5.2 million. 

Bearing in mind Galileo's tremendous results with Danzig blood in Europe, sending Galileo mares to War Front could be another highly effective strategy–and one which could again produce some American dirt runners.