The mighty Galileo (IRE) no longer needs introduction as a stallion and he looks to have sired another star filly in French 1,000 Guineas winner Golden Lilac (IRE).  The winner is another successful example of the Galileo-Danehill cross which worked to such stunning effect with Frankel. So far 10 of the 38 runners bred on this cross have won at stakes level.  It was a great afternoon at Longchamp for Irish bred and foaled horses with the winner of the French 2000 Guineas Tin Horse (IRE) also foaled in Ireland. Peintre Celebre, a stallion mate of Galileo at Coolmore Stud sired Prairie Star, the winner of the Group 2 Prix Hocquart while Irish National Stud stallion Verglas was responsible for Verglacial (IRE), the winner of the Prix Andre Carrus.

There was a thrilling finish to the Group 3 Prix De Saint-Georges and it was dominated by British trained runners; however both the winner Inxile (IRE) and runner up Captain Dunne (IRE) were bred in Ireland. Only a nose separated the first two and Inxile, trained by sprint king Dandy Nicholls was winning his first Group race having scored six times previously at Listed level. Inxile, by Fayruz, was bred by Denis and Teresa Bergin and is a half brother to another prolific Group race winning sprinter Tax Free who is also his stable-mate. Like Tax Free, Inxile was also bought as a foal in Goffs, Bobby O’Ryan signing the docket at €30,000. Captain Dunne, a son of Ballyhane Stud’s Captain Rio was an unlucky loser as he was in front almost everywhere except the finishing line.

The progeny of first season sire Dark Angel continue to impress on the racecourse and the Morristown Lattin Stallion currently leads the freshman sire table with 7 individual winners of 10 races from 19 runners. The Group 1 winning juvenile has been very ably represented by unbeaten three time winner Lily’s Angel, and promising maiden winners Tough As Nails and Gabrial. Other stallions who have made a good start include Coolmore’s Excellent Art and Rathbarry’s Moss Vale. Both have sired 2 winners from only 6 and 4 runners respectively.