Destiny fulfilled by a divine colt during a sparkling racing career

If you are bred in the imperial purple, trained by a genius, ridden by a great jockey, loaded with all the expectations of privilege and pedigree, it's just as well to show off your potential from the outset, to save wasting everyone's time. Winning by 14 lengths on your debut should do it.

You are Galileo, a son of perennial champion sire Sadler's Wells and of the regal line of Northern Dancer, out of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea, whose prowess as a producer would gain extra lustre with every foal she had. Your trainer is Aidan O'Brien, your jockey is Mick Kinane, your owners have the most powerful bloodstock empire on the planet. The principle of divine right is in play, although in the uncertain world of racing nothing can be taken for granted.

That 14-length canter in the Leopardstown mud at the back-end of October 2000 was Galileo's only appearance at two; that hadn't been the plan. Frequent bouts of coughing had delayed his debut, although it was certainly worth waiting for. O'Brien took his colt home and put him away, but only after offering an indication of the esteem in which he was held at Ballydoyle.