WHEN studying journalism and the art of writing good headlines, the class was guided by a lecturer who was very proud of his best headline.

Delighted it was of a racing theme, it stayed to mind: “The world revolves around great Galileo once again,” went the banner after the colt completed the summer treble of Derbys and King George.

Galileo’s influence extends year by year and the list of Group 1-winning mares by him is pretty astounding.

While many are lamenting the demise of the true middle-distance horse, if we are aiming to breed a high-class middle-distance runner, there are only one or two definite ports of call. The predominant Group 1 sires in Europe at a mile-plus are Galileo and Dubawi.

It’s too soon to make judgements on Frankel, while the younger sires Teofilo and Sea The Stars both also represent the Urban Sea line.

On the list of current sires most likely to sire a Group 1 winner, there are more speed sources than stamina, in Invincible Spirit, Dansili, Pivotal, Iffraaj, and now the younger Dark Angel.

In Ruth Quinn’s article on pages A14-15, she notes, “the threat in the gradual decline in the value of the staying horse,” that “breeders, and owners, are more inclined to search for speed.” Other breeding experts have added the narrowness of the gene pool in the European thoroughbred. The Galileo influence is broadening every year.

Top broodmares

Not only have we sons of Galileo now at stud, but top broodmares like Minding’s dam Lillie Langtry (four Galileo foals), Gleneagles’ dam You’resothrilling (USA) (five foals) and Churchill’s dam Meow (three foals) have gone back to Galileo each season.

The main alternative to Galileo or his close relations is to use sires who excelled over shorter distances.

It might not bode well for the future of the staying horse that there are so few alternatives to the outstanding sire of his generation.