GALILEO’S GOING FOR GOLD AGAIN
GALILEO GOLD goes into the Irish 2,000 Guineas with trainer Hugo Palmer oozing confidence after it was finally decided to stick to mile races for the rest of the season with his Classic-winning colt.
The Frankie Dettori-ridden winner of the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket was yesterday scratched from the mile-and-a-half Investec Derby at Epsom on June 4.
After today’s race, Palmer hopes to follow a programme of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, Prix Jacques Le Marois and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Galileo Gold faces seven rivals at the Curragh, four trained by Aidan O’Brien including Newmarket fourth Air Vice Marshal and Air Force Blue, who was odds-on favourite but only beat one home.
Palmer said: ‘The lovely thing about Galileo Gold is that he has not produced a moment’s worry in a long time. He has always had a remarkable constitution and has done nothing to affect my belief in him.
‘You write off any of Aidan’s horses at your peril — and he has brought back the likes of Roderic O’Connor and Power to win this race after disappointing at Newmarket — but if Galileo Gold runs the same race as in the Guineas, the others have to pick up their game to beat him.’ Doubts remain about Air Force Blue’s stamina but O’Brien has removed the tongue tie he used on the colt at Newmarket and also changed his training regime. He said: ‘We might see a different horse today.’ SIR Michael Stoute’s Midterm is also out of the Derby with a stress fracture in his pelvis.