Acquisitions

Godolphin have once again been strengthening the ranks of their Darley stallion portfolio with the news that Teofilo, last season's champion 2 year old in Europe and the winter favorite for the 2000 Guineas and Derby, will stand at Darley's Kildangan Stud in Co. Kildare from 2008. Jim Bolger will retain ownership of the horse, but in light of recent purchases of Street Sense and Hard Spun in the US, Admire Moon in Japan and Authorized in Britain, it's clear that Godolphin has decided that enough is enough when it comes to the current dominance that their rivals Coolmore have been enjoying for the past few years.

The other most significant aspect of the deal is the identity of Teofilo's sire - Galileo. Put together with Authorized (by Montjeu), it's clear that Sheikh Mohammed has completed his U-turn with regard to his decision not to purchase any progeny of Coolmore stallions, into which category Galileo, Montjeu and their sire Sadler's Wells all fall.

Meanwhile, Coolmore themselves haven't been standing still. Their three main owners (John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith) have plunged for the impressive unbeaten two year old Myboycharlie. The colt will remain with trainer Tommy Stack for now, but, despite assurances to the contrary, the decision has been taken not to supplement him for the G1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday. This is because he would be coming up against Henrythenavigator, currently the colt who appears to be Coolmore's number one juvenile, and ideally for the new owners these two wouldn't meet until next year's 2000 Guineas at the earliest.

What this has robbed us of is potentially one of the most intriguing two year old matchups of the year so far. The winner of the Pheonix has ended up as one the season's top rated juveniles of their sex in each of the last four years, but we will have to wait a little longer before we see any potential champions clashing this year.