The late Danehill Dancer made his presence felt overnight in Ireland siring the dams of both Group I winners on the Curragh program with Helvic Dream winning the Group I Tattersalls Gold Cup and Empress Josephine winning the Group I Irish 1,000 Guineas
Read about Helvic Dream here.
A blue-blooded Galileo filly trained by Aidan O’Brien, Empress Josephine overpowered her stablemate, another blue-blooded Galileo filly in Joan of Arc to win the classic by a short head under Seamie Heffernan.
Empress Josephine was having just her fourth race start and this was her first Black Type success.
“We thought Empress Josephine was lovely the first day and then at Leopardstown all the leaders went too fast over 7f. We then ran her over further in Gowran, a lovely run, but we reckoned the trip may have just caught her out,” said Aidan O’Brien.
“She's able to quicken and she might go for the Coronation Stakes.”
Empress Josephine is a full sister to European Horse of the Year Minding and Group III winner Kissed by Angels being from dual Group I winner Lilly Langtry
She is the 336th stakes-winner worldwide for Galileo and is his 90th Group I winner.
Empress Josephine and Helvic Dream bring the total of Group I winners from mares by Danehill Dancer to an impressive 15, with seven of those Group I winners being by Galileo.
The Galileo nick with Danehill Dancer is hugely successful delivering 24 stakes-winners in total at nearly 25% stakes-winners to runners!
