Owning or breeding an Epsom Derby winner is perhaps the pinnacle of horse racing on the flat, and the good news for any multi-millionaires out there is that things are getting easier. The last fifteen years has seen a concentration in the number of sires producing winners.
In the fifteen years from 1990 to 2004 the winners of the Derby were sired by 14 different horses, but in the last fifteen years this has reduced to just 8 (a 43% drop). Similarly, the variety of grandsires has reduced from 10 to 7.
The two horses most responsible for this trend are Galileo and Montjeu with four winners each (and who knows how many winners Montjeu would have sired had he not tragically died in 2012).
These two brothers are just the latest part of a Derby Dynasty that goes back to their father Saddler’s Wells, and their grandfather, the most influential sire of them all Northern Dancer. In the last fifteen years Saddler’s Wells has been the grandsire of more than half of Derby winners while Northern Dancer appears in the pedigree of all but one winner.
However for all their appearance in winning pedigrees, neither of these great stallions dominated as sires in the way Galileo and Montjeu have done recently – Saddler’s Wells had two winning sons (Galileo! And High Chaparral) while Northern Dancer had three in the 70’s and 80’s (Nijinsky, The Minstrel and Secreto).
The question that remains is why, or how, did Montjeu and Galileo manage to become such a dominant force in a way their father and grandfather never did?
At one level is the point that Coolmore, the owners of Galileo and Montjeu, invest heavily in helping their sires produce Derby winners. They spend a lot of money to secure top juveniles that continue the family line, and spare no expense in getting them trained by the best around. Their love of the Derby, as much as their love of the breeding business, also ensures their vast resources are concentrated towards the race.
Coolmore started by selecting horses from a great Derby sire in Northern Dancer, and by controlling the breeding, produced Montjeu and Galileo. They are the product of selective breeding from a horse with all the attributes of a derby winner, and a group of owners with a specific goal in mind – the winning post at Epsom.
But even with all this, winning the Derby isn’t solved by throwing money at the problem and there are still a lot of rich owners and talented trainers out there – not to mention amazing horses with blue blood coursing through their veins.
Why this dynasty is so good at passing on the Derby winning genes remains a mix of breeders’ intelligence, experience, intuition and good luck – the exact mix of which remains uncertain.
It is this element of mystery in breeding and racing that makes it so compelling and provides the possibility that a new champion can always be waiting in the wings.
At the minute Galileo is at the top of the pack, but the history of the thoroughbred is one of evolution. It will be interesting to see if another comes to dominate the Derby or if we return to a broader spread of sires from a broader range of families.
Will the dynasty continue in 2020?
As for this year’s renewal, a victory for the favourite English King would see a new sire added to the list, although Camelot is a son of Montjeu. However second favourite Kameko adds a new dimension with his American sire Kitten’s Joy (although go back far enough and you will find Saddler’s Wells and Northern Dancer).
After that comes the Galileo army, with the next three in the betting (Russian Emperor, Mogul and Vatican City) all being sons of Galileo.
Sport.dat 