All-time Derby record still in sight for the mighty Galileo

It was around 2010 that we began to get a true sense of how well Galileo worked with quicker mares when given the chance.

By that stage, he had six crops running for him and was well into 'private' territory as his stud career took flight. His first crop had contained the first three home in the St Leger led by Sixties Icon, the product of an Oaks winner in Love Divine. Another first-crop star, Allegretto, was out of an accomplished stayer in Alleluia.

Yet at the same time, in the presence of Nightime and Red Rocks, there was an inkling that faster mares were also suiting him far more effectively than had ever been the case with his own sire Sadler's Wells. Both were out of Listed winners over a mile or shorter and while Nightime, Galileo's first Group 1 winner, wound up as a Classic-winning miler, Galileo's stamina was a key element to Red Rocks, who followed up his third-place effort in the St Leger by winning the Breeders' Cup Turf over 1m4f at Churchill Downs.