By John Boyce
He may be about to turn 20 in January, but the race to go down in history as the best stallion son of the great Galileo (Ire) is only hotting up and set to continue for many years to come. Numerically speaking, it is the Jim Bolger-trained pair of Teofilo (Ire) and New Approach (Ire)–both Darley stallions and both enjoying good seasons in 2017–that have garnered most stakes winners in the Northern Hemisphere so far.
The sensational Frankel (GB) is hot on the heels of New Approach's tally of 28 black-type winners and is odds-on to become number two by this measure quite soon. With his oldest only three, Frankel's strike rate is among the best ever, with 15.6% of his runners becoming black-type winners. More impressive is his ratio of group winners, which stands at 12.5%. After two years with runners, no stallion–not even his illustrious sire or grandsire–can match this fabulous strike rate. What's more, the average Timeform rating of his best 10 horses (119) is higher than any second-season sire for the past 20 years. So, Frankel looks like the stallion to set the standard for other sons of Galileo and indeed stallions in general to follow.
The Galileo standard setter so far has been Teofilo, who after seven years with Northern Hemisphere runners can boast a world-class 10.3% black-type winners to runners. Moreover, the success of this champion juvenile eclipses that of his runners' siblings, a sure sign that he's a worthy heir to his great sire.
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