'You sometimes forget they're stallions' - meet up-and-coming eventing stars Galileo Dance and Galileo's Secret

Galileo Dance and Galileo's Secret may not have been their sire's leading lights on the racecourse, but the brothers by the late, great Coolmore legend Galileo are carving out interesting new careers through owner Julie Radden's breeding operation. 

Radden is a breeder by trade and has the two in training for eventing careers with four-star event rider Patrick Whelan.

On how she acquired the Galileo pair nearly four years ago, Radden explains: "I breed a few mares myself and the opportunity came up to buy a thoroughbred from Joseph O'Brien in November 2020. He then rang up and asked if I also wanted Galileo Dance's unraced full-brother, Galileo's Secret."

The eight-year-old Galileo Dance, known as Leo, raced five times unsuccessfully for O'Brien on the Flat and in a bumper, while his two-year younger brother was unraced, having been withdrawn from the 2022 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. 

The pair have now settled into life with Radden in County Wexford, showing exceptional temperaments at home and when competing with Whelan, who co-owns Galileo's Secret with Radden.

Galileo's Secret: younger brother to Galileo Dance and budding young event horse along with his stud duties

She says: "I have them both at home with me, they're impeccably mannered and go out in the paddock most days, and then are competed by Patrick Whelan. Galileo Dance is currently with me now, while Galileo's Secret is being competed by Patrick in young event horse classes."

Radden is a passionate advocate of what the thoroughbred can bring to the sport horse world, particularly in eventing, where stamina, scope and the ability to gallop and cover the ground are essential for the cross-country phase.

"They bring in the blood, the scope and certainly the correct muscle mass and hindquarters," she says. "They are also so intelligent and have such quick-thinking brains too." 

On how her Galileo duo are presented to prospective breeders, she adds: "The boys are available at the moment only through AI because they're doing competition work. They're still young too, but if someone came knocking with a thoroughbred mare then I'd have to reconsider."

It was a case of starting slowly and carefully, particularly with Galileo Dance, who had to be reschooled for all elements of the eventing competition – dressage, cross-country and showjumping. 

Breeding took a back seat at first, but the son of the Group 3-placed Danehill Dancer mare Dance Secretary has taken his new life in his stride, winning the Stepping Stones to Success League final and winning or placing in all ten of his event competitions.

Event rider Patrick Whelan and Galileo Dance enjoying themselves across country

Radden says: "When I got Galileo Dance he didn't cover any mares initially as I wanted to see if he had a suitable temperament to event. I'm a great believer that if a stallion can do it, then he can pass it on to his progeny, so the first year we reschooled him and he then went eventing. 

"He then covered four or five mares and I've got a two-year-old by him who has an incredible temperament and has the correct step and conformation. He stood at stud in 2023 and also won the prestigious Croker Cup at the Dublin Horse Show. He did about ten eventing competitions in 2022 and won three of them."

The Galileo duo share the same equable personalities but are somewhat different physically. Galileo Dance is stockier and bay, while his younger brother is rangier and a big chestnut. 

Radden says: "They don't look like Flat-bred horses, they look like half-thoroughbreds. When we go out competing, people can't believe Galileo Dance is a thoroughbred by Galileo as he's quite strong and chunky at 16.1 hands. His brother is chestnut and 17 hands, a bigger stamp of a horse and quite like Secretariat.

"Their temperaments are amazing. Handling them on a day-to-day basis and taking them to shows, you sometimes forget they're stallions, but their trainability to go eventing has just been fantastic. 

"We had a few issues with Leo when we first got him because he'd raced and we had to get him back on his hocks for the canter in eventing; that was easier with the other one as he hadn't raced."

Galileo Dance in his pomp at the Dublin Horse Show last summer

Galileo Dance and Galileo's Secret both went to the Dublin Horse Show last August and neither turned a hair. The former took top honours in the Croker Cup, an in-hand championship for thoroughbred stallions supported by Horse Sport Ireland and judged by French stud owner and journalist Bernard le Courtois and the highly respected horseman, judge and show horse producer Richard Ramsay.

It was an occasion Radden is not likely to forget, with her two horses attracting a huge amount of attention given their lineage and attitudes. 

She says: "It was incredible the number of people who stopped and spoke because they wanted to give their stories of Galileo. They were absolutely in awe of the two stallions and how I'd come to get these two full-brothers at the Dublin Horse Show. 

"There were people from all over the world, including America and Belgium, who wanted to stop and chat when they saw the Galileo name on the stable door. 

"I had to show a two-year-old and left people who didn't know the stallions with them as they wanted to talk about the stallions."

The pair might not have reached the highest echelons of racing, but there is no telling how high they can go in their new careers. 

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