Sea What I See (IRE) will make her stakes debut in Saturday's Listed Thomas Farms Centaurea Stakes (2019m) at Morphettville. This will be her sixth start of preparation, and nothing has come close to her.
The 4-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars debuted with a fifth in a 3-year-old maiden over 1443m at Geelong last May. Off the scene for 18 weeks, she finished seventh of ten over 1400m at Sandown Hillside, and it was back to the paddock.
When Sea What I See reappeared at Bendigo on February 11, it seemed a light had been turned on, and it was not unexpected.
Starting a short-priced favourite, the Danny O'Brien-trained mare hacked up by nearly four lengths. The punter's pal started a short-priced favourite in all five starts this campaign and won them all.
Racing for a large syndicate that includes Rob Roulston and Mark Player, See What I See was purchased from the Watership Down Stud draft at the 2021 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
While neither Player nor Roulston was at the sale, they engaged the former HKJC Executive Manager of the International Sale, Mark Richards, to do the inspections. After the grey filly left the ring unsold, he negotiated a price of 140,000 guineas.
The price was close to the fee Sea The Stars commanded when covering the Grade III winning Smart Strike mare Real Smart (USA), whose dam, granddam and great granddam were all stakes performers.
Like Sea The Stars' champion son Stradivarius, Sea What I See and her dam Real Smart and granddam Rose Diamond were bred by Bjorn Nielsen.
Nielsen gave Real Smart every chance to succeed. Her first foal was the Frankel filly Primi Ordinis, whose best result in five stars for Ed Walker was a third at Windsor and was subsequently sold for 8,000 gns.
Sea What I See was her second foal, and her third foal, Rogue State (Lope de Vega), has not been seen since finishing third at her two outings on the all-weather at Southwell and Chelmsford.
Real Smart is a daughter of the Group III Prestige stakes runner-up Rose Diamond (Daylami), who had a couple of starts in the US for Patrick Biancone, with her best finish a fourth in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita.
Darley purchased Rose Diamond for 650,000 guineas when consigned by Nielsen's Kiltinan Stud to Tattersalls in 2012 and sold her for 75,000 guineas in 2020.
Rose Diamond was the only foal of the top-class sprinter Tante Rose. The daughter of former Widden shuttler won four stakes races highlighted by the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock at her career finale.
Bjorn Nielsen bought Tante Rose's dam My Branch at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2002. The daughter of Distant Relative was a 2-time stakes-winner and placed in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas and Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes.
In addition to Tante Rose, she is the dam of the Sweet Solario Stakes winner Bay Tree and stakes-placed Melodramatic and Rosie's Posy, the dam of dual Grade 1 winner Dubawi Heights and Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (2,000 Guineas) and Group 1 Prix de la Foret winner Make Believe, who stands at Ballylinch Stud.
Milburn Creek Stud's John Muir will have a more than passing interest in the career of Sea What I See. Milburn Creek and Bommer Bloodstock purchased Brave Lass (USA) for 85,000 guineas at Tattersalls in 2021.
The unraced daughter of Medaglia d'Oro (USA) is out of Tante Rose's half-sister Bold Lass, also by Sea The Stars.
Brave Lass (USA) had her first foal last spring, a colt by Pinatubo (IRE) and was covered by St Mark's Basilica (FR).
