Via Galilei

The switch back to front-running tactics paid handsome dividends for Via Galilei, as he ran out an impressive winner of the mile-and-a-half handicap at The Curragh on Sunday. This was Jim Bolger's colt's first win since he landed his maiden at Wexford last August, and he seemed to appreciate being allowed do his own thing in front. On his previous run at Killarney in May, his first since returning from the Spring Carnival in Dubai, he was held up in behind runners, quite possibly in an attempt to help him get the trip of a mile and six, his first attempt at that type of distance, but he didn't really settle. Back over a mile and a half, and allowed stride on from early, he was much more effective. He travelled well into the home straight and then, at the two-furlong pole when Kevin Manning asked him to kick on again, he duly found more, coming home four lengths clear of some useful rivals.

By Galileo, Via Galilei is out of a full-sister to Teofilo's dam Speirbhean. While he doesn't have his cousin's explosive talent, he could prove to be very effective now this season over a mile and a half when allowed adopt a front-runner's role. The handicapper raised him 9lb for this to a mark of 107, but he may be beyond handicaps now anyway. He will be much more likely to be allowed his own way up front anyway in the smaller fields that Listed or Group 3 contests usually attract, and he should be worth following.

28th June 2009

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