Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost too much.
Thus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow expressed the feelings of joy and youthful exuberance in his poem “A Day of Sunshine,” and the unbeaten 2-year-old colt named Henry Longfellow caught a ray of sunshine and certainly showed his own enthusiasm for racing with a comfortable victory by two lengths in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh on Aug. 19. A month earlier, the bay son of Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) had won his debut over the same seven-furlong trip.
The colt's sire, Dubawi, is arguably the best sire in Europe not closely related to Galileo, and the top stallion at Dalham Hall stands for an advertised fee of 350,000 pounds. Dubawi is credited with 260 stakes winners, including 169 who won at the group level.
He has numerous sons already at stud, many quite early in their careers, and the best of them so far is Night of Thunder. Winner of the 2,000 Guineas during his racing career, Night of Thunder has proven such an outstanding young sire from his first racers in 2019 that his stud fee has risen to 100,000 euros. His best racers include leading European sprinter Highfield Princess.
Night of Thunder is out of a mare by Galileo, and Henry Longfellow is likewise.
Whereas Night of Thunder's dam, Forest Storm, won a maiden on debut from six starts, the dam of Henry Longfellow is something far different. The latter is a son of Minding, one of the very best daughters of Galileo and one of the best racemares of recent decades.
A winner in nine of her 13 starts, Minding won seven G1 races: 1,000 Guineas, Oaks, Nassau, Pretty Polly, Fillies Mile, Moyglare Stud Stakes, and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. She is a full-sister to Tuesday, winner of the G1 Oaks and the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and to Empress Josephine, winner of the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas.
The dam of these three classic winners is Lillie Langtry (Danehill Dancer), winner of the G1 Coronation Stakes and other good races. So she was a natural match for Galileo, and the pairing worked brilliantly.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.In addition to being the broodmare sire of the winner of the Futurity, Galileo is keeping up appearances. On the same day as the Futurity, Aspray won the G2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga, and she is also out of a quality Galileo mare.
In addition to the successes of his daughters' produce, Galileo is getting on quite well through his sons, especially his best son Frankel, who had the winners of the Prix de la Nonette (Jannah Rose) and Geoffrey Freer (Arrest), and Frankel's best son to date, two-time Champion Stakes winner Cracksman, is the sire of the unbeaten Ace Impact. From the first crop by Cracksman, Ace Impact has an international story.
The strong bay was foaled in Ireland, where his dam (Absolutly Me) had been sent for a covering to Gleneagles. Then the mare, with Ace Impact at side, returned to Barbara Moser and William Thareau's Haras de Long Champ in Normandy, France, where the colt was raised. Ace Impact's breeders are Waltraut and Karl Spanner, from Germany, and they sold their colt by Cracksman at the Arqana August yearling sale for 75,000 euros to trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, buying for owner Serge Stempniak.
Unraced at two, Ace Impact came around nicely over the winter and began his career with a pair of victories in the provinces of France. The colt then won the Prix de Suresnes and the Prix du Jockey Club, both at Chantilly. Not long after the colt's course record victory in the Prix du Jockey Club, Haras du Beaumont acquired a half-interest in Ace Impact for racing and breeding, and he will go to stud in France after racing for the Arc de Triomphe in October.
Then on Aug. 15 in France at Deauville, Ace Impact won the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano. Now unbeaten in five races, Ace Impact is the favorite for the Arc and may have another race before then, probably in the G1 Irish Champion, according to comments from his trainer.
Second at Deauville was Al Riffa (Wooton Bassett), trained by former leading jockey Joseph O'Brien. Winner of the G1 National Stakes at the Curragh last season, Al Riffa is also out of a Galileo mare.
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