This article is courtest of Racing.com, written by James Tzaferis 19/04/2024
What started as a search for the next Russian Camelot has unearthed one of Victoria's most-exciting middle-distance mares for bloodstock agents Rob Roulston and Mark Player.
The pair sourced and race progressive grey Sea What I See, who shoots for a fifth-consecutive win in Saturday's 2000-metre benchmark 78 handicap at Mornington.
Her purchase for 140,000 guineas - approximately $270,000 - at the 2021 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale came months after Russian Camelot's retirement from the track after a brief-but-brilliant racing career that yielded two Group 1 wins, with Roulston and Player assembling a group of friends to race a colt who could hopefully track a similar path.
But after coming up short on a selection of colts at several sales throughout Ireland and the UK, the decision was made to change tack and instead find a filly.
The filly in question was Lot 888 in Book 2 of the popular Newmarket sale and offered by Watership Down Stud.
By the sire of champions Baaed, Stradivarius and Australian Cup hero Fifty Stars, Sea What I See is the third foal out of the Stakes-winning Smart Strike mare Real Smart.
Roulston said he and Player were immediately drawn to the filly's pedigree.
"Danny O'Brien had just had a bit of luck with Russian Camelot, so we got a group of friends together and thought we'd try buying a yearling over there (UK)," Roulston said.
"We thought we'd concentrate on colts, so we started at the Goffs Horses in Training Sale where we bid on three or four but got blown away.
"Then we went to Tattersalls Book 1 and picked three or four colts there, but that same thing happened and we got blown away in the ring.
"We got to Book 2 and we thought it might be time to try on a filly.
"It was during COVID, so we couldn't actually attend the sale, so a lot of the work was done on photos and videos.
"Both Mark and I love Sea The Stars, having both seen him in our trips overseas - he's a beautiful horse and he was obviously a champion.
"She (Sea What I See) was a very good-looking yearling and she had that big, loose, swinging walk that you like to see.
"She looked very athletic."
"We had a guy over there, Mark Richards, who used to work for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and both Mark and I knew him pretty well, so he did all the legwork for us on the ground with inspections and vetting.
"We decided to have a go at her and she was actually passed in after we bid to 150,000 (guineas). We went back after the sale and offered them 140,000 (guineas) and we got her, so it was a very good result."
Roulston's eye for quality racehorses has been honed over several decades and he's been involved with the purchase of Melbourne Cup winner Americain, gun sprinter-turned-top sire Magnus and Puissance De Lune.
But participating in an auction form the other side of the world due to COVID provided its own unique set of challenges and both Roulston and Player were forced to rely on photos and videos, as well as some assistance form a trusted contact on the ground at Newmarket.
"It's definitely harder because photos and videos are not the same as seeing the horse live in the flesh," he said.
"Some photo well and others don't and you don't always get a true idea about the size of a horse.
"Videos are better because they give you a pretty good guide about the horse's movement.
"Fortunately, we trusted Mark Richards who used to do a bit of buying for the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
"Between Mark, the vet, the video and the photos, we got a pretty good idea of what she was like.
"We knew she was the third foal out of the mare - the first was by Frankel and the second was by Lope De Vega and neither of them had raced at that stage.
"If you check the records now, you can see that both of them were pretty average on the track.
"We obviously didn't know that at the time and thought that the mare having foals out of two great stallions was potentially something that might add value to our horse."
O'Brien's success with Russian Camelot - the eye-catching entire had only recently landed the Underwood Stakes several months after winning the SA Derby - was fresh in Roulston's mind and the decision was made that the filly would be trained by the Melbourne Cup-winning horseman.
Her progression has been slow, but Roulston and his crew have been patient.
Sea What I See managed only one start in each of her first two racing campaigns and was unplaced in both.
But this autumn she's progressed from a first-up win in a 1300-metre maiden at Bendigo to a dominant victory in the Grand Handicap over 2000m at Flemington in her most recent start.
Roulston has little doubt she'll furnish into a quality mile-and-a-half horse in time, although he respects O'Brien's decision to keep her at 2000m for now.
Next month's Listed Centaurea Stakes (2000m) in Adelaide remains an option if Sea What I See wins again on Saturday, while the G2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) shapes as a perfect target in the spring.
She is rated the $1.90 Sportsbet favourite in Saturday's race, in which she'll be partnered by Jamie Mott for the first time.
"She's taken time, but we knew she probably would," he said.
"She's no Russian Camelot, who was winning a Derby as a three-year-old, because she was never that mature.
"Early on she was wanting to overdo things quite a bit but she's learning to settle now, although I don't think she's the finished article just yet.
"Blake Shinn, who has been riding her, thinks she's still got a bit to learn but he thinks she's got a lot of natural ability.
"She's just going through her grades, but I suppose the way she's doing it is the exciting thing.
"She seems to have that really sharp turn of foot that only good horses have.
"There's no doubt I think she'll get 2400m eventually - she's by Sea The Stars out of a mare that won a Group race over 2200m - but for now keeping her to the 2000m is best for her education.
"To me, she probably doesn't look like a real two-mile, staying horse.
"I think she'll be a lot better next preparation and I think Danny does too.
"Danny's in charge and we leave it to him, but I think he's got something like the Matriarch Stakes in mind for her longer term."
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