ARCADIA, Calif. – Galilean has been brought along methodically, his connections taking advantage of his being a California-bred to run him in four straight stakes without having to go against open company. But after recording his third win in four career starts, this time on Monday in the $188,000 California Cup Derby at Santa Anita, Galilean appears ready to see if he can step up and follow in the footsteps of another Cal Cup Derby winner, California Chrome, and find out if he’s good enough to make the Kentucky Derby. Galilean ($2.10) was heavily favored to make easy work of it on Monday and did so, winning as rider Flavien Prat pleased in the 1 1/16-mile race. He coasted home 4 1/2 lengths in front of Feeling Strong, who was 10 clear of third-place Whooping Jay. Irish Heatwave and Loud Mouth completed the five-horse field. Galilean was timed in 1:43.43 for 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track. This was his first start since capturing the King Glorious at Los Alamitos on Dec. 16 in his only prior start going two turns. “I was a little bit anxious coming off a bit of a layoff,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains Galilean for a partnership headed by West Point Thoroughbreds. “He did everything perfect. Rated perfectly. You couldn’t hope for much more than that.” Galilean is a son of the Kentucky-based stallion Uncle Mo, but he was registered as a Cal-bred because his dam, Fresia, a daughter of El Prado, dropped Galilean in this state before being bred back to a California-based stallion. He was purchased as a 2-year-old in training last April at the Barretts sale at Del Mar for $600,000. He did not race until September at Los Alamitos, but was so highly thought of he debuted in a stakes, which he won. He suffered his lone loss in his second start, the Golden State Juvenile at Santa Anita, coming up a neck short while 16 lengths clear of everyone else. He has won by daylight in his two route races, and more distance looks within his reach. “I don’t think it is an issue,” Hollendorfer said. Remaining against Cal-breds until now was by design. “Why not?” Hollendorfer said. “Might as well take advantage of him being a Cal-bred." The next step will be to either run at Santa Anita, in a race such as the San Felipe on March 9, or perhaps ship out of town for races such as the Gotham at Aqueduct on March 9 or the Rebel at Oaklawn on March 16. “There are a lot of races everywhere and we’re nominated everywhere,” Hollendorfer said. Hollendorfer will have plenty of chess pieces to move around. For West Point, he trains Sham Stakes winner Gunmetal Gray – so the assumption is he and Galilean will be kept apart - and he also has the highly regarded Instagrand nearing his return in the San Felipe. At this time of year, figuring out where to slot all those 3-year-olds is a nice problem to have.