We bought this striking son of Lucky Vega for 60,000 guineas late into the first evening of the Tattersalls Book 3 Sale. This makes him eligible for the Tattersalls £200,000 Somerville Auction Stakes in August and the Tattersalls £200,000 October Auction Stakes in October, over six and seven furlongs respectably.

Lucky Vega was a top-class racehorse himself, winning the Phoenix Stakes as a two-year-old before going on to finish runner-up in the Middle Park that same season. As a three-year-old, he was third in the 2,000 Guineas and runner-up in the St James’ Palace at Royal Ascot. His first crop of European two-year-olds have just hit the track here this season. They include the Group placed duo Lam Yai and Senorita Vega. The latter was actually third to Calendar Girl in the Oh So Sharp at Newmarket.

The dam, Strait Power, is a half-sister to the Champion Sprinter Slade Power who won the Diamond Jubilee and July Cup amongst many other top sprint races. Strait Power has had five runners to date, all of which have won. These include the Listed-placed Shepherd’s Way, the progressive sprinter Brummell and most recently, Strait And Narrow who is the two-year-old out of the mare. Strait Power’s dam was six winners from six runners herself and this high percentage of winners to runners is always something we like to see on a pedigree.

Luke Lillingston commented: “As we entered Book 3 at Tattersalls and focused on buying a suitable horse for Eve Johnson Houghton, Sam and I reminded ourselves of what a special group of yearlings we believe we have already assembled to race next year. Discipline in upholding our standards and beliefs, and a good measure of patience were rewarded when we secured this cracker of a colt. Four of his five siblings have won at two. Julie Camacho trained the two best which she described as having excellent temperaments and have improved with age. It took Sam about 30 seconds to achieve perfect photos of him in the dark; I fed him myself last night and he was so chilled. He seems a really cool dude. Everything about him suggests he should be a midsummer and onwards two-year-old, giving us a shot at those two big pots and then carrying on to give everyone lots of fun as a three year old and beyond. ”