Another Group race double for Galileo as Armory and Love shine at Leopardstown

There will be stronger renewals of the Group 3 Japan Racing Association Tyros Stakes than the one run on Thursday evening, but there may not be many more promising winners than Armory, who scooted five lengths clear of his three rivals at Leopardstown.

The son of Galileo readily brushed aside Canford Cliffs' half-brother Toronto and Zarzyni, a Siyouni colt bred by the Aga Khan, while Innervisions, by Dubawi and out of Fiesolana, trailed home last of the quartet.

History tells us Aidan O'Brien tends to aim his better colts at this contest, with Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck having claimed last year's renewal, and subsequent Group 1 winners Churchill, Gleneagles, Zoffany, Cape Blanco and Rip Van Winkle also figuring among the past winners.

Not only does Armory boast the race record of an elite winner in waiting, his profile is underpinned by a pedigree that bears the hallmarks of so many of Galileo's best progeny.

Galileo: the perennial champion sire supplied this 198th Group winner on ThursdayCredit: Patrick McCann

A Coolmore homebred, he is the second foal out of After, who joined the fold after Demi O'Byrne parted with €240,000 at the 2010 Arqana August Yearling Sale. The dam won just once during her own racing career, having landed a Curragh maiden in 2011, but she was a decidedly smart performer nonetheless.

She finished second to Fire Lily in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes at two, and also filled the same position behind that rival in the following year's Ballyogan Stakes, and was also fourth in Beauty Parlour's Poule D'Essai Des Pouliches.

After is by Danehill Dancer, meaning Armory is bred on a replica of the cross responsible for Group 1 winners Alice Springs, Circus Maximus, Minding, Sovereign and The Gurkha. A total of 68 sons and daughters of Galileo out of Danehill Dancer mares have run, with 53 having won for a strike rate of 78 per cent.

After, who is out of the Listed-placed Noahs Ark, is a half-sister to Temps Au Temps, winner of the Listed Prix Herod during his racing days. After has been mated exclusively with Galileo since she joined the Coolmore broodmare band, with her first tryst resulting in the useful two-time winner Bond Street, while she also has a yearling colt and a filly foal by the perennial champion sire.

Armory became the 198th Group winner sired by Galileo, and the 197th arrived just 35 minutes earlier when his daughter Love landed the Group 3 Jockey Club Of Turkey Silver Flash Stakes.

Precious Moments, a first-crop daughter of Gleneagles, was sent off the 2-1 favourite but the master prevailed over the apprentice when Galileo's own daughter stormed three and a quarter lengths clear of Muhaarar's Unforgetable.

Another Coolmore homebred, Love is also bred along tried and tested lines, as she is the seventh foal out of Pikaboo, a daughter of broodmare sire extraordinaire Pivotal. Pikaboo has been mated with Galileo each year since 2014, matings that have produced Munster Oaks winner Flattering and the Stanerra Stakes-winning Peach Tree as well as Love.

Love in splendid isolation in the Jockey Club Of Turkey Silver Flash StakesCredit: Patrick McCann

The dam has produced six winners, most notably Lucky Kristale, the Lucky Story filly sourced for just 22,000gns who went on to win the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and the Lowther Stakes at two.

In turn, Pikaboo is closely related to the Group 2-winning Arabian Gleam and smart sprinter Kimberella. The distinguished Galileo-Pivotal cross has produced 20 winners from 22 runners, including Hermosa, Hydrangea, Magical, Rhododendron and The United States.

It is also worth noting that O'Brien's past winners of the Silver Flash Stakes include subsequent Group 1-winning fillies Happily and Maybe, the latter of whom hit the headlines again last year as the dam of 2,000 Guineas hero Saxon Warrior.

Galileo recorded his third new black type winner of the day in Leopardstown's penultimate race, when South Sea Pearl, a three-year-old closely related half-sister to Toulifaut, won the Listed Kingdom of Bahrain Vinnie Roe Stakes by a comfortable three lengths.

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