Lot 1048 Sea The Stars ex Along Came Casey, October Book 2, 2022. ©Tattersalls | Laura Green

Sea The Stars colt from Longview Stud bought by trainer Roger Varian for 700,000gns

Lot 1048: trainer Roger Varian outpoints Michael Donohoe for the Sea The Stars chestnut colt out of Along Came Casey (Oratorio), a Listed winner and three-times Group 3 placed. The April-born colt was sold by Longview Stud.

Longview has sold three millionaire lots in Book 1 over the past four years, including this year’s Lot 530 (Dubawi ex How) for 1,600,000gns, but this is the farm’s best Book 2 result to date.

Varian said: “The stallion can’t do much wrong at the moment, the mare was a stakes winner and has bred a very good one already. We had to dig deep to get him, but we are delighted. He is a late summer type, bred for middle distances at three, but you never know how quickly they will come to hand. He was quite a mature horse, although he is quite a big horse, he is quite well grown. He will have a quiet first half of the season and, hopefully, will come into things from August and September. We will see how we go.

“We saw him two or three times, and watched him closely in the ring, he has a lovely way of going. Time will tell how good he is! I thought he is one of the better horses of the week. We followed the yesterday’s top lot – that horse [Lot 507, by Sea The Stars] , this horse, and a few more this week have that real Book 1 quality.

“He is for an existing client, and I did not realise he would cost as much as that but he is a very nice horse,” added the trainer who was on the phone through the bidding process.

Along Came Casey’s first foal Feliciana De Vega won the Darley Stakes (G3) and was Listed placed.