HEAVILY FAVORED GALILEAN OVERWHELMS COMPETITION TO TAKE CALIFORNIA CUP DERBY

By Mike Willman —-

GALILEAN
BENOIT PHOTO

HEAVILY FAVORED GALILEAN OVERWHELMS COMPETITION TO TAKE $200,000 CALIFORNIA CUP DERBY BY 4 ½ LENGTHS UNDER PRAT; TRAINED BY HOLLENDORFER, UNCLE MO COLT GETS 1 1/16 MILES IN 1:43.43

ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 18, 2019)—In what figures to be his final start versus state-bred completion for the foreseeable future, heavily favored Galilean made short work of four rivals as he waltzed to a 4 ½ length win in Monday’s $200,000 California Cup Derby at Santa Anita. Ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, the imposing son of Uncle Mo got 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.43.

Also won by 2014 Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome, the Cal Cup Derby is part of the lucrative Golden State Series for California-bred or sired horses.

A reserved third, about a length and a half off of early pacesetter Loud Mouth around the Club House turn, Galilean, who fetched $600,000 at the Barretts April 2-year-old in Training sale, took undisputed command while three-wide a quarter mile from home and won like a colt with the Kentucky Derby on his mind.

A nine length winner of the one mile King Glorious Stakes at Los Alamitos Dec. 16, Galilean, who is out of the El Prado mare Fresia, was off at 1-9 and paid $2.10 across the board.

Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Denise Barker and William Sandbrook, Galilean picked up $110,000 for the win, boosting his earnings to $261,000 from and overall mark of 4-3-1-0.

Longshot Feeling Strong rallied from last to run a big second, finishing 10 lengths in front of Whooping Jay. Off at 27-1, Feeling Strong, with Tiago Pereira up, paid $6.20 and $3.20.

Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, Whooping Jay was off at 26-1 and paid $3.40 to show.
Fractions on the race were 23.95, 47.85, 1:11.60 and 1:36.71.

JOCKEY QUOTES

FLAVIEN PRAT, GALILEAN, WINNER: “It was easy; he was traveling well the whole way. Jerry’s other horse in the race, Loud Mouth, was coming from a sprint so it was either him going to the lead, or me. It was going to be one of us. He broke better than me so I sat off the two leaders and when I went to make a move, he responded well.

“It’s quite exciting because he’s done everything right so far. Like everyone else though, he needs to improve of course, but it’s exciting to win this time of year. He’s a god 3-year-old.

“He relaxed well. In his last race he went to the lead, but today, he had speed to his inside and sat off them and stayed relaxed, was breathing well and made a good move.”

TRAINER QUOTES

JERRY HOLLENDORFER, GALILEAN, WINNER: “You’re always a little anxious coming off a little bit of a layoff, but he did everything perfect, rated perfectly, and you couldn’t for much more than that. We have a whole bunch of options (for his next race). There are a lot of races everywhere for him and we’re nominated everywhere, so we’ll try to make a good decision as to where to run next.

“I don’t think (distance) is an issue. We wanted to take advantage of him being a Cal-bred, take advantage of giving him another race and running here. That’s what we wanted to do and that’s what we did.”

OWNER QUOTES

JEFF LIFSON, WEST POINT THOROUGHBREDS, GALILEAN, WINNER: “We pointed for this after he ran so big winning the Los Al race. I don’t think we necessarily were thinking (on duplicating) what California Chrome did; we just wanted to give him one easy enough for his three-year-old start and then see what happened.
“What was most important to me was that he had clean air in front of him and wasn’t boxed in. That was my biggest fear. In a small field everybody gets to ride our horse to some degree and that’s always a worry. When he had a clean trip down the backstretch I really was more relived.
“Understandably, we have a Hall of Famer (Jerry Hollendorfer) who is calling the shots here and he’s got a great staff as well. My sense is we don’t come back for the San Felipe but that’s just a guess and Jerry’s gonna make the real call there. I think we’ll look for one of those 50-point (Kentucky Derby qualifying) races in March and then maybe come back here in for the Santa Anita Derby or one of those early April races where they have 100 points on the line.
“We have some newbies (owners) on this particular horse which is such a cool thing but the best part about this partnership is they are all wonderful people and have a ton of fun.”

About Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, and is one of North America’s top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation The Stronach Group is one of the world’s largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; Xpressbet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is North America’s premier supplier of virtual online horseracing games, as well as a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.