He was racing in exactly the same rhythm to what he would do normally.” ![]() Yet jockey William Buick said afterwards, “It all kind of went to plan. He produced just the seventh best RPR of his career, fully 9lbs below York. Ghaiyyath, too, is generally reckoned to have been below par. Racing Post Ratings, for instance, have it as only the 12th best effort of her career. Heffernan was right, of course, as the video shows, but ironically the handicappers have it down as her worst performance of the year, even though it looked for all the world like a lifetime high. But the Ballydoyle team have been consistent in their insistence that she is better than ever this year, and jockey Seamie Heffernan decided before Saturday’s race that different tactics - racing at Ghaiyyath’s quarters and not allowing him all his own way up front - might give her a better chance of showing that. Magical had had a fine 2020 too, two easy G1 wins in Ireland (taking her overall tally to six) before that runner-up slot at York. ![]() He has certainly been impressive in three G1 victories this year, and the 130 came from his powerful three-length win (over Magical and other classy G1 performers) in the Juddmonte International at York last month. Indeed, the latest Longines World’s Best Racehorse figures have him on 130 - 4lbs clear of any other runner anywhere in the world - and he is probably destined to remain in the top spot when the Longines titles are handed out early in the new year, even if he does nothing else of note. In much the same way, Ghaiyyath has become regarded as the world’s outstanding performer in most quarters. Galileo's Group/Graded wins by years since 2011 Dubawi, courtesy largely of a superior strike rate (see the IV column in the stats), had taken control of the classification in recent times, but Galileo has kept plugging away, and the momentum started to shift his way in the last couple of months. In a way, the superb duel at Leopardstown between Magical and the Godolphin 5-year-old (whose dam, Nightime, is a Classic-winning daughter of Galileo) was emblematic of the situation with their two sires in the rarified air at the top of the standings, well beyond the reach of all other current stallions. Dubawi had to make do with just one Group winner last week - Indigo Girl in the G2 May Hill at Doncaster for George Strawbridge, John Gosden and Frankie Dettori - but he has plenty of ammunition for an autumn fightback, headed by beaten Irish Champion favourite Ghaiyyath, who is certainly not finished for the season. Yet this a battle with plenty of life left in it. He had already reclaimed top spot in the turf-only standings, and is now 13 points clear in that particular classification. It all adds up to a nine-point gain, enough to edge Galileo one ahead of Dubawi. Shale and Mogul are new G1 scorers, meaning this sire extraordinaire, already the world record holder, now has 88 individual Group and Grade 1 winners to his name.Īnd you can add to that the G2 Prix Foy win of Anthony Van Dyck at ParisLongchamp and the G3 victory of Tiger Moth at Leopardstown, plus the G1 efforts of Peaceful (second in the Matron at Leopardstown), Armory (third to Magical) and Wembley (second in the National Stakes at the Curragh). He has been clawing his way closer to Dubawi since the European season got properly underway in June, and last weekend it was just like the Galileo of old as his progeny mopped up 40 percent of the ten G1s run in Europe, Magical taking the Irish Champion for Aidan O’Brien, Shale the Moyglare Stud Stakes for son Donnacha, Search For A Song the Irish St Leger for Dermot Weld and Mogul the Grand Prix de Paris for Aidan. Suggestions that his powers are on the wane are clearly wide of the mark at the moment, however. At one time earlier this campaign, he had fallen more than 20 points adrift of his Godolphin rival. The Coolmore titan had been top of the pile for much of the existence of the rankings, but he lost the top spot to Dubawi two years ago and has been struggling to keep up ever since. With six Group winners last weekend, four at the top level, it’s small wonder that Galileo has regained his status this week as the world’s number one stallion on TRC Global Rankings. Magical (Seamie Heffernan) gets the better of Ghaiyyath after a thrilling duel in the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday.
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