West Point Thoroughbreds, Denise Barker, and William Sandbrook’s 3-year-old colt Galilean streaked home to win the $200,000 California Cup Derby by four and one half lengths on Presidents’ Day at Santa Anita Park. The California-bred colt by Uncle Mo out of Fresia is trained by Hall-of-Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and was piloted by Flavien Prat. Galilean’s race record is three wins out of four career starts. His only defeat thus far was a neck loss to another talented Cal-bred, Cruel Intention, in the Golden State Juvenile Stakes back in November.

Galilean post Cal Cup Derby win (photo Benoit)
Galilean tracked the pace, sitting comfortably in third down the backstretch. He challenged for the lead going around the turn, and was handridden down the homestretch, hitting the wire in 1.43:43. West Point’s Jeff Lifson in a post race interview said, “…this is exactly what we hoped for as his first three-year-old start. We wanted him to have a good, clean trip, which he got staying on the outside and we wanted something that would be fairly easy, which I think this was.” As for where Galilean heads next, Jeff explained, “Well that of course is up to our Hall of Fame trainer, but I would expect we might take a shot next month at a Derby prep in the 50 point range and then maybe come back here for the Santa Anita Derby.”
“There are a lot of races everywhere and we’re nominated everywhere,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer when asked where Galilean may go next, and he said he didn’t think stretching out will be an issue for the colt. Hollendorfer gave Galilean high marks. “He did everything perfect. Rated perfectly. You couldn’t hope for much more than that.”
Galilean has been following a stakes path similar to Cal-bred and Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome. Chrome competed in the Golden State Juvenile and then won both the King Glorious Stakes and the California Cup Derby against Cal-breds. After those victories, Chrome ticked off consecutive wins in the San Felipe (G3) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) en route to winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) plus the Preakness Stakes (G1).
West Point’s CEO Terry Finley was understandably pleased with the outcome. “Jerry’s done a great job managing this colt. When we bought him last April at the Barretts sale, the fact that he was a Cal-bred was just icing on the cake. He would’ve fit in any sale. He’s a very special horse, and we wanted him in our program. Now it’s time to take a big step.” said Finley.
Check out the post race interview at Santa Anita with Britny Eurton to learn more about Galilean’s next steps:
See one of Galilean’s owners, William Sandbrook, and what he shared about his experience with this colt.