Point Of Law gives Frankel the Melbourne Cup sire honour that eluded Galileo

With his 11th Melbourne Cup starter, Frankel, the unbeaten star on the track and champion stallion off it, has achieved something his own sire Galileo has been unable to do in 39 previous opportunities.

Frankel’s talented son Point Of Law became his fifth individual Australian Group 1 winner on Tuesday. That has been achieved off just 145 runners, of which 25 have been stakes winners.

Frankel’s Cup record before Tuesday was a series of near misses. Finche ran in three consecutive Cups and finished fourth, seventh and ninth. Rostropovich was fifth in 2018 and 24th the following year.

The 2019 Cup saw Master Of Reality cross the line second but be relegated to fourth on protest, while Mirage Dancer ran 14th that year, and Master Of Reality was 15th in 2020.

Soulcombe came closest in 2023, finishing second, 2.25 lengths behind Without A Fight after missing the start. Meydaan was 10th last year from barrier 22. Point Of Law was Frankel’s only runner this year, and he made the tally one win and one second from 11 starts.

Point Of Law is Frankel’s fifth Australian Group 1 winner. The imported Mirage Dancer won the 2020 Metropolitan. In 2021, the Yulong-bred Hungry Heart won the Vinery Stud Stakes and Australian Oaks, and Converge, whose dam Conversely was imported in foal, took the J J Atkins. Sir Delius, bought for 1.3 million guineas, won the 2025 Underwood and Turnbull Stakes and this year’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

By virtue of their bloodlines, Frankel and Galileo will often be compared. It is usually a comparison which unfairly diminishes the son over the sire, but in terms of Melbourne Cup history, it shows Frankel in a positive light.

Galileo’s direct progeny recorded three seconds and two thirds from their 39 Cup starts. Purple Moon and Mahler ran second and third in 2007, Johannes Vermeer was second in 2017, Il Paradiso took third in 2019 and Tiger Moth was runner-up in 2020.

His wider Australian staying record was strong. Five of his progeny won Group 1 races over 2400 metres or further from 58 runners at that level and distance, and Land Legend’s Might And Power win last month was the 11th Australian Group 1 race win by a Galileo. Galileo shuttled to Coolmore Australia from 2002 to 2006, and among his 434 runners from those crops were 27 stakes winners and five Group 1 winners.

Galileo’s male line had won the Cup before Point Of Law. Cross Counter, the 2018 winner, is by his son Teofilo. Without A Fight in 2023 and Half Yours last year are also Galileo descendants, with Half Yours a great-grandson through St Jean. His daughters have contributed as well: last year’s runner-up Goodie Two Shoes and third-placed Middle Earth are both out of Galileo mares.

A broader comparison between Frankel and Galileo’s global records at the same point of their stud careers shows how closely the Juddmonte-based son is tracking his previously Coolmore-based sire.

Frankel recently celebrated his 200th stakes winner from just 1151 runners, while at the same point Galileo had 205 from 1647 (the extra runners a legacy of shuttling to Australia).

Frankel has more Group winners – 132 to 130 – than Galileo at the same point of their careers, while they are tied when it comes to Group 1 winners at 30 apiece.   

It is hard to believe that Frankel is on track to match Galileo, with his 389 stakes winners, 263 Group winners and 105 Group 1 winners.  

In Australia, Galileo leads the way from Frankel with 47 stakes winners (to 25), 37 Group winners (to 18) and 11 Group 1 winners (to five), but he has had 596 Australian runners compared to Frankel’s 145.

Point Of Law also carries another prodigious bloodline, that of the legendary Japanese sire Deep Impact, his damsire. Two years ago, Warp Speed, also out of a Deep Impact mare, ran a narrow second to Knight’s Choice in the Melbourne Cup.

Deep Impact has only ever had one runner in his own right before, Chevalier Rose, who ran 23rd last year.