Champion European Sire Galileo was humanely euthanised on Sunday owing to a chronic, non-responsive, debilitating injury to the left fore foot.
The sire of 91 individual Group One winners, Galileo has had a far-reaching impact on the breed, with no less than 20 of his sons having sired Group One winners, headed by the great Frankel.
Bred in the purple by Sadler’s Wells out of Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m) heroine Urban Sea and unbeaten in his first six starts, Galileo proved an immediate success at stud siring Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Nightime from his first crop.
Appropriately he became the most successful Group One sire of all time when his daughter Peaceful won the same race in June of last year.
“It is a very sad day,” Coolmore’s John Magnier said.
“But we all feel incredibly fortunate to have had Galileo here at Coolmore. I would like to thank the dedicated people who looked after him so well all along the way. He was always a very special horse to us and he was the first Derby winner we had in Ballydoyle in the post M V O’Brien era.
“I would also like to thank Aidan and his team for the brilliant job they did with him. The effect he is having on the breed through his sons and daughters will be a lasting legacy and his phenomenal success really is unprecedented.”
The New Zealand stallion ranks have been bolstered by the addition of Galileo’s triple Group One winning son Circus Maximus, who will stand at Windsor Park Stud, while contemporaries Eminent, Mongolian Falcon, Thunder Down Under and US Navy Flag all feature Galileo in the pedigree.