Galilee (horse)

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Galilee, was one of the most successful racehorses in Australia. By Alcimedes from the mare Galston, he was purchased (and later trained) by champion trainer Bart Cummings for £3,780 in New Zealand. Galilee was the first and is still the only horse to win the Caulfield, Melbourne and Sydney Cups in one season. Galilee was owned by an Adelaide builder, Max Bailey and his wife, who also raced Ziema, who ran second in the 1965 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

In the Sydney Cup he carried 9 stone 7 pounds (60.5kg) to victory and won the race easily by six lengths, whilst in the Melbourne Cup he decisively defeated his stablemate Light Fingers, who won the cup the previous year. The champion racehorse also easily won such races as the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Toorak Handicap and the C.B. Fisher Plate, in which he defeated champion middle distance horse Tobin Bronze. Bart Cummings has often referred to Galilee as the best horse he has trained and it was not until Saintly, who won the Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup double in 1996, came along were comparisons made.

Galilee has been described as a Mercedes-Benz racing in a field of Holdens. He had the ability to race away from a field with ease.

[edit] Race Record

36 starts - 18 wins, 6 seconds, 4 thirds

Prizemoney - A$169,970

[edit] Major Wins

Galilee won the following major races:

• 1966 VATC Toorak Handicap
• 1966 VATC Caulfield Cup
• 1966 VRC Melbourne Cup
• 1966 VRC Fisher Plate
• 1967 VRC Queens Plate
• 1967 VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes
• 1967 AJC Autumn Stakes
• 1967 AJC Sydney Cup
• 1968 VATC Memsie Stakes
• 1968 VRC Turnbull Stakes