The four-time Major winner has singled out, and when quizzed who if he had the chance to ‘trade places’ with, champion Irish racehorse, Galileo.
Galileo, and foaled in March 1998, is now retired and a very active sire.
But in a racing career of just one year from October 2000 to October 2001 Galileo contested eight races winning six and finishing second and sixth in the other two.
The racehorse is best known for winning the Epsom Derby, Irish Derby Stakes and the King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2001 and for his rivalry with the Godolpin champion Fantastic Light.
And since his retirement, the 64.5 inch high Galileo has become one of the leading sires in the world and is the sire of multiple champion including Frankel, New Approach, Australia and Minding.
In 2008, the Coolmore Stud owned Galileo was commanding in 2008 a reported Euro 225,000 fee while his stud fee three years ago was set at Euro 350,000 and by October 2014 he had sired 176 stakes winners.
And as of July this year, Galileo had sired 67 individual Group One or Grade One winners worldwide.
McIlroy visited Coolmore Stud some years ago and meeting Galileo certainly left an impression when asked by NoLayingUp.com who he would love to trade places with.
“A couple of years ago I went to a famous horse stud name ‘Coolmore Stud’ where they breed some of the best race horses in the world,” he said.
“Their biggest stallion is a horse called Galileo.
“I wouldn’t mind would mind trading places with him for a week.
“He now has a pretty good life and he’s loving it. That is the one guy or specimen that came to mind.
“The human version would be maybe DiCaprio, I don’t know.
“So, I don’t know how many mares Galileo covers a day but literally people would pay $ 500,000 grand a ‘go’ to have to have a racehorse by Galileo. It is unbelievable money out of this.
“Clearly, Galileo doesn’t make any money but the Magner Family who own Coolmore Stud … is just unbelievable the number of race horses, stallions and mares that go through there is unbelievable.”
