Rip Van Winkle Retired The brilliant Rip Van Winkle will miss the Breeders' Cup due to a minor setback and will now retire to stud at Coolmore alongside his phenomenal sire Galileo. Manager Eddie Fitzpatrick said: "It's great to stand a son of Galileo at Coolmore, especially as Rip Van Winkle has the highest Timeform rating of any son of Galileo. "A figure of 134 rates him the equal of his sire and 2lb superior to Galileo's Derby winner New Approach. As well as winning three Group 1s, he was the only horse who made Sea The Stars pull out all the stops when they clashed in the Eclipse Stakes. "He was also precocious enough to win a Group race as a two-year-old before the end of July." Rip Van Winkle's rating also made him Timeform's champion miler of 2009, above Goldikova, owing to a brilliant display in the Sussex Stakes, in which he handed out a two-and-a-half-length defeat to Paco Boy. This performance was followed up in style with a comfortable victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He added a third Group 1 success at York this year when he produced too much finishing speed for Twice Over and Byword in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York. He also remained highly effective over a mile, as he confirmed in the Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. "Rip Van Winkle is a great horse," said jockey Johnny Murtagh. "This lad is special and takes your breath away on the gallops. I thought he would win everything last year. That's why I chose to ride him in the Derby. Coolmore's General Manager Christy Grassick said: "Rip Van Winkle looks guaranteed to work very well with mares that have Danehill or Danzig blood, and he should prove a great asset to the many breeders who can no longer access Galileo's services." Rip Van Winkle also comes from an outstanding female line, which traces to the champion two-year-old Mesopotamia. The consistently successful stallion Halling is another member of this family as is the seven-time champion sire in New Zealand Volksraad.
