Cheltenham 2021 and Sons of Galileo
Last year, I wrote about the deeply concerning rush by National Hunt breeders to use sons of Galileo see http://www.montjeu.com/galileo-groupthink-national-hunt-breeding-and-a-new-heresy/
Herd mentality (or mass insanity) saw around one third of NH mares go to sons of Galileo in 2020 year. Nothing in the interim has changed my view that this is a misguided approach that will do long term damage to the National Hunt breed. NH breeders should look at the Cheltenham 2021 results and start to look for alternatives.
The full listing of runners by Galileo and his sons at Cheltenham 2021 is shown below.
| Horse | Sire | Position | Rnrs | Class | Type |
| OK Corral | Mahler | PU | 16 | Hcp Gr. 3 | Chase |
| Concertista | Nathaniel | 2 | 10 | Grade 1 | Hurdle |
| Cabot Cliffs | Gleneagles | 12 | 22 | Hcp.Gr. 3 | Hurdle |
| Glen Forsa | Mahler | 12 | 19 | Hcp Gr. 3 | Chase |
| Chris’s Dream | Mahler | PU | 9 | Grade 1 | Chase |
| Pont Aval | Soldier of Fortune | 10 | 15 | Grade 2 | Hurdle |
| Bob Mahler | Mahler | BD | 21 | Hcp | Chase |
| Deisa Aba | Mahler | PU | 21 | Hcp | Chase |
| Zanahiyr | Nathaniel | 4 | 8 | Grade 1 | Hurdle |
| Buildmeupbuttercup | Sixties Icon | 24 | 25 | Hcp Gr3 | Hurdle |
| Torygraph | Mahler | 8 | 16 | Grade 1 | Hurdle |
| N’golo | Galileo | 9 | 16 | Grade 1 | Hurdle |
The results are striking for two reasons:
- The lack of runners, sired by sons of Galileo who were actually good enough to run at Cheltenham
- The lack of success of his sons runners. Only Nathaniel could be described as a good NH sire (and he is still a flat sire).
Incidentally, the solution is not to redirect every mare to a son of Monsun instead!