Legend of Galileo grows after weekend at Epsom

The legend of Galileo grew even more last Saturday in the Epsom Derby (G1) in England. Six of the 13 starters were sired by the 2001 Derby winner and most of the others were his sons or grandsons. Usually, the most competition for a top sire comes from their own sons, but Galileo has withstood the likes of Frankel, New Approach, and Australia to maintain his spot at the top. In Saturday's renewal, the hot favorite was Sir Dragonet, a son of Camelot, that looked sensational when winning the Chester Vase (G3) in only his second career start; and here he was 23 days later trying to win the "Blue Riband of Turf." He drew post 13 and raced wide throughout with Ryan Moore. Coming out of Tattenham Corner and heading uphill to the finish, there was a wall of horses across the track and Seamie Heffernan had no room with Anthony Van Dyck. Heffernan, who has ridden the likes of Highland Reel for Aidan O'Brien, patiently waited for room to develop and resisted the temptation to go outside. When the four leaders stayed in the middle of the track, Heffernan made his commitment to the inside and had Anthony Van Dyck in full stride. The winner of the Derby Trial at Lingfield three weeks earlier when ridden by Ryan Moore was plenty fit for the race to the wire and surged to a half-length win as the fourth choice in the wagering. The place photo was impossibly close as Madhmoon was a nose ahead of Japan, who was a short head in front of Broome, himself a short head in front of Sir Dragonet. The final tally showed five of the top six trained by Aidan O'Brien and two of the top three sired by Galileo. Galileo's best son at stud is Frankel, but he did not have a classic winner in his first three crops to race. Frankel's offspring have not had his brilliance but seem to have even more stamina so they seem to be more like Galileo than Frankel himself. Finally, in Friday's Epsom Oaks (G1), Frankel sired his first classic winner when Frankie Dettori gave Anapurna a brilliant ride to hold off Pink Dogwood. Willing to sacrifice getting bottled up on the inside, he saved ground with her and it looked like it was a fatal mistake when Ryan Moore produced Pink Dogwood on the outside. Dettori found room for Anapurna and the race was on in the Oaks. We've seen this match many times and you rarely see Ryan Moore get outfinished heading to the wire, but here was Frankie coming back on the inside to prevail by a neck. It was the typical training job from John Gosden as she began her career with two races on synthetic tracks, had a win in her turf debut and was fit and ready for the Oaks. Being out of a dam by Montjeu, she is truly bred to run all day. Not that there was a track bias in Friday and Saturday's races at Epsom, but in the Coronation Cup (G1), run at the same distance as the Oaks and Derby, Andrea Atzeni came up the inside aboard Defoe to win by a half-length over O'Brien/Moore/Galileo's Kew Gardens. I know that a lot of the riders say they do not want to draw inside for fear of having traffic, but all three Group 1s going the classic distance were won by riders that saved ground.   (c) Alan Wright-focusonracing.com