Galileo's Ulysses Battles To Eclipse Victory

With its uphill ascent to the winning line, Sandown is accustomed to tight finales but one of the best of recent times was reserved for Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse as Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) enjoyed the narrowest of verdicts over Barney Roy (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}). Like his mythical namesake, the Niarchos Family's homebred has undergone his own odyssey from also-ran in last year's G1 Epsom Derby to his trainer's record-equalling sixth Eclipse hero and like his five predecessors from Freemason Lodge is an older horse subduing the Classic generation. Having struck too early when third last time in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot June 21, Jim Crowley who had been jocked off Eminent (GB) (Frankel {GB}) earlier this week waited longer this time with the 8-1 shot travelling visibly clear best in the straight. After he had finally been allowed loose on the lead with a furlong remaining, he was joined by Barney Roy and as that 3-year-old built a head of steam the line came in time with the headbob favouring him by a nose as they pulled 3 1/2 lengths clear of Desert Encounter (Ire) (Halling). “It was great to get the ride on him and I'm very grateful to the owners and Sir Michael Stoute,” Crowley said. “We learnt a little about each other last time and it was a real plus riding him there. It was a little bit rough early on but we were away from that and he settled well, whereas he was a bit fresh with me at Ascot. I got a fantastic feeling off him at Ascot and possibly got there a little bit too soon there, so that was on my mind a little bit today.”

Saturday, Sandown, Britain
CORAL-ECLIPSE-G1, £500,000, SAN, 7-8, 3yo/up, 9f 209yT, 2:03.49, g/f.
1–&ULYSSES (IRE), 133, c, 4, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Light Shift (G1SW-Eng & G1SP-Ire, $691,954), by Kingmambo
2nd Dam: Lingerie (GB), by Shirley Heights (GB)
3rd Dam: Northern Trick, by Northern Dancer
O/B-Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd (IRE); T-Sir Michael Stoute; J-Jim Crowley. £283,550. Lifetime Record: 10-4-2-1, $816,903. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Barney Roy (GB), 123, c, 3, Excelebration (Ire)–Alina (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). (30,000gns Wlg '14 TATFOA; £70,000 Ylg '15 DNPRM). O-Godolphin; B-Eliza Park International Pty Ltd (GB); T-Richard Hannon. £107,500.
3–Desert Encounter (Ire), 133, g, 5, Halling–La Chicana (Ire), by Invincible Spirit (Ire). (32,000gns Ylg '13 TAOCT). O-Abdulla Al Mansoori; B-Tally-Ho Stud (IRE); T-David Simcock. £53,800.
Margins: NO, 3HF, 1. Odds: 8.00, 2.25, 50.00.
Also Ran: Cliffs of Moher (Ire), Eminent (Ire), Decorated Knight (GB), Lightning Spear (GB), Salouen (Ire), Taj Mahal (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Cliches are just truths repeated over and over and anybody who has followed European racing since the 1980s accepts as fact that Sir Michael Stoute has an unnatural way with horses he has had the luxury of time with. The owners and breeders he has been linked with down the years have been of the same mentality as the master of Freemason Lodge, with patience the most vital virtue regarding the thoroughbreds in his care. If anything, Ulysses has hit the heights sooner than many from the same long-established powerhouse stable that have eventually scaled them but he was always more precocious than the likes of former Eclipse winners Opera House (GB), Pilsudski (Ire) and Notnowcato (GB). After flashing relative precocity with an eight-length maiden win at Newbury last May, the bay earned himself a tilt at the Derby and was the talk of Epsom but wound up only 12th there.

Like another of the stable's former leading lights Harbinger (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Ulysses returned to garner the G3 Gordon S. over 12 furlongs at Glorious Goodwood in July but hopes that he would build and build from there received a setback when he found the filly Chain of Daisies (GB) (Rail Link {GB}) a short-head further ahead in Windsor's G3 Winter Hill S. at this trip in August. With a bid for the Champion S. shelved, he was taken to Santa Anita for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf in November and managed a fourth placing after a slow start. His 4-year-old debut over this track and trip in the Apr. 28 G3 Gordon Richards S. was marked by a new maturity and with his energy properly channelled he was able to dominate Ballydoyle's Deauville (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by far more than the winning margin of a length suggested. In the Prince of Wales's under Crowley for the first time, he looked to have the measure of his rivals at the furlong pole after delivering his now customary deadly turn of acceleration but he allowed Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) a second chance and duly paid the price.

Crowley was keen to switch off early as Taj Mahal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) took control of the pace and he was in the right place on the outside when the scrimmaging that badly affected Cliffs of Moher (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) took place towards the front. Keeping dead aim on that 7-4 favourite and Barney Roy throughout, he was tanking as the latter's rider James Doyle began to make his move with Ryan Moore struggling to get Cliffs of Moher in a challenging position. Hard on the steel as the furlong marker loomed, Ulysses was shaken up to initially swamp Barney Roy and it was only inside the last 50 yards that his year-younger opponent significantly narrowed the gap to force the photo. When it was unveiled, it showed less than a nostril's width had eventually separated the duo.

Stoute, who is now level with the legendary Alec Taylor, Jr., is pondering a step back up to a mile and a half with Ulysses. “Opera House was pretty close, but not as close as that,” he said. “I felt he was holding on, but I wasn't at a good angle for the line. He's been to Santa Anita and Goodwood and is very adaptable. He's only run one bad race, but he had litigation in the Derby as he was rolled over twice in that. He's very consistent and can go back up to a mile and a half, as he is not as keen this year. Kevin Bradshaw rides him every day and has done a wonderful job with this horse, as has my head girl Sarah Denniff so it has been good teamwork. Let's go home now and see how he is in 10 days' time.”

Connections of Barney Roy can take much from the slender defeat and jockey James Doyle believes he is capable of better. “It was a messy race early and we were on top of each other a bit,” he said. “Ryan [Moore] got hampered down on the inside, but this track isn't ideal for young horses. We actually had a lovely run round. He was a little bit green on the track, but he turned into the straight nicely and I thought we'd win. Ulysses jumped on us quick and I thought we were definitely beat and then he's rallied back in the last 50 yards. In another stride I think we'd have got there, but full credit to him, he's run a stormer.” Trainer Richard Hannon added, “He is good horse and he is getting better. We are delighted, he has run a super race. He was just shade unlucky. I'm very proud of him and the team, it was a good effort. He is a brave horse and he is only a baby. He will be a very good middle-distance horse for this year and next year. He is in a lot of good races. He has come back from Ascot–he had a hard race there but he has still come out and run his race here.”

It has been a stellar year for Niarchos breeding, with Ulysses's relative Cloth of Stars (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) winning the G1 Prix Ganay, G2 Prix d'Harcourt and G3 Prix Exbury and the homebred filly Senga (Blame) capturing the G1 Prix de Diane. By winning this timeless classic of a race, Ulysses was going two places better than his dam's G1SW half-sister Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector) who found Giant's Causeway and Kalanisi (Ire) too good in the millennium year. The dam Light Shift is of course the 2007 Epsom Oaks heroine, while her half-brothers include the sire Limnos (Jpn) who was successful in the G2 Prix Foy and G2 Prix Jean de Chaudenay and Hyades (Aldebaran) who was second in the 2010 GI Charles Whittingham Memorial H. Her useful half-sister Burning Sunset (GB) (Caerleon) went on to produce the G2 Prix d'Harcourt scorer and G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup runner-up Smoking Sun (Smart Strike) and she was also responsible for the G3 Prix d'Aumale runner-up Ikat (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}). She in turn gave the Niarchos Family another cherished gift in the multiple grade I-winning champion Main Sequence (Aldebaran), while another half-sibling of Light Shift, the modest performer Strawberry Fledge (Kingmambo), is the dam of the aforementioned Cloth of Stars. Unfortunately, Ulysses is the last foal out of the Northern Trick descendant Light Shift, who had only one other foal make the track in the former Sir Henry Cecil-trained Bath handicap winner Dr Yes (Fr) (Dansili {GB}).