By John Boyce
It's surely a remarkable feat to sire the first three home in a Group 1 race. But it's been happening relatively frequently in recent years to warrant a closer look: three times in 2016 and on three occasions again in 2017. The latest sire to join this exalted club is Dubawi, who sired the first three home–Bateel, Journey and Left Hand–in the Prix Vermeille this September. Prior to that it was Galileo in the Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot, where Highland Reel defeated subsequent Group 1 winners Decorated Knight and Ulysses. Even earlier this year Australian's newest super sire Snitzel got in on the act, emulating the great Sir Tristram by siring Sires' Produce one-two-three Invader, Summer Passage and Trapeze Artist.
Galileo's high summer feat has given him a clear advantage in this particular race, which is confined to racing in the Northern Hemisphere and Australasia since 1972. Now on a score of six– one ahead of his great sire Sadler's Wells–Galileo deserves to be top of this group if not for his own tally then certainly for the fact that he's managed a clean sweep in perhaps the two races that count most in the European calendar: the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Derby. Remarkably, in the past five years, a one-two-three in a Group 1 has been achieved on nine separate occasions.
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