Michael Kinane glanced to his colleague Johnny Murtagh when weighing in after Saturday's Vodafone Epsom Derby and summed up the horse he had just ridden: "Class, just class."
Murtagh understood better than most. Sinndar, after all, was a fine Derby winner last year and matured into a genuine champion. But in Galileo, racing has a new star that could end up breaking every kind of mould imaginable.
Rarely in its 212 year history can the Derby have thrown up a victor who was so easily identifiable as the winner from so far out. From the moment the gates opened and Michael Kinane put the Sadler's Wells colt into the perfect position just off the pace, there never seemed a doubt.
One kick at the two-furlong pole meant there wasn't even a "seems" as the Aidan O'Brien-trained winner showed an astonishing turn of foot that allowed Kinane the luxury of looking around well before the line.
What he saw was Golan, a 2,000 Guineas winner whose stud rights John Magnier felt were worth paying $15 million to buy into only days before, struggling in second, and a double Group One winner in Tobougg back in third. It was a ruthlessly authoritative success that even had the virtue of being expected.
"I have never known Aidan so confident about a horse," declared Magnier, who also had the satisfaction of seeing his champion stallion, Sadler's Wells, finally nail that elusive first Derby success.
"When we stepped him up in his home work he started beating the horses whom he had been working with by 15 to 18 lengths more than he had been before. At the time we thought the other horses must have been wrong. He really is an extraordinary horse," said O'Brien.
The remarkable 31-year-old trainer from Co Wexford is enjoying the sort of season that even his predecessor at Ballydoyle, Vincent O'Brien , would have been proud of.
Galileo is his fifth classic winner of the year, and O'Brien's confirmation yesterday that the colt will probably go next for the Irish Derby, while the filly Imagine will be aimed at the Irish Oaks, means the classic story is far from finished.
But Galileo is set to be the story within the story because this is a unique talent that could take a unique route to greatness.
Not for this latest Ballydoyle champion, the traditional route to Paris in the fall and the Arc de Triomphe, which Sinndar followed so gloriously last year. There won't be the usual concentration on mile and a half races, and Galileo's real test won't even come on grass.
Instead, the focus seems to heading towards a mile warm-up at Ascot in September, followed a crack at America's best on dirt in the Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park on October 27th. It's a global trend that could hold huge significance for the career pattern of Europe's future champions.
A lot will depend on if Galileo can buck the trend, but the suspicion at Epsom on Saturday was that if any horse can do it, this one can.
Kieren Fallon, who had to give up the ride on Golan through suspension, was yesterday still feeling aggrieved at having missed out o n the big day but admitted the runner up would have "needed an outboard motor" to have beaten Galileo.
His replacement Pat Eddery said: "Galileo looks a champion. I followed him all the way round but when he kicked I couldn't go with him." Frankie Dettori arrived late on Tobougg to take third, but even he will be relieved to see Galileo missing from Sandown's Eclipse.
It was that kind of Derby. The 11th Irish-trained winner since the war turned the classic into a procession, set the second fastest time in the race's history and still gave the impression the best is yet to come. Galileo really could turn out to be one of the greats.
