AND I'M VERY KEEN ON HIM!
"I Think He Could Really Go Places"
Lucky Vega x Be Sassy Colt
A big, strong Lucky Vega colt, hand-picked for PV and a steal at 16,000gns
Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale
Lot: 200
Purchase price | 16,000 gns
Trainer | Eve Johnson Houghton
✅ Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes Eligible
This time we handed the reins to Eve Johnson Houghton and highly respected bloodstock agent, Antony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock. The brief was simple: find us a tough, early cracker who could potentially take us to Royal Ascot.
We gave them a generous £40–50k budget to work with and the green light to find us the horse they wanted.
They came back with this big, strong Lucky Vega colt for just 16,000gns.
We had valued him at more than double what we eventually paid, so we were absolutely delighted when the hammer came down!
“I think he could really go places — and I’m very keen on him!”
Eve Johnson Houghton
Antony and Eve know this sale particularly well. Somerville has become something of a happy hunting ground for the pair and they have developed a real reputation for finding horses here that go on to seriously outperform their price tag.
Their record here speaks for itself.
Chipotle cost 10,000gns. Havana Hurricane cost 9,000gns. Both went on to win the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot.
They were also responsible for buying Ardad Steve for us here last year — our first two-year-old winner of 2026 — alongside plenty of other successful two-year-old purchases.
So when Eve told us she’d found one she really liked at 16,000gns, we were more than happy to listen!
At 16,000gns he sits at the bottom end of the auction bands, giving us some very useful restricted-race options when the time comes to start planning his campaign.
Eve knows the sire particularly well too. Night In Vegas, another son of Lucky Vega in Eve’s yard, is rated 102, Group 2 placed and recently won the £317k Somerville Auction Stakes at Newmarket.
Physically, our colt is exactly the sort we had asked them to find: big, strong and powerful, with a very good walk. He looks every inch an early two-year-old, with Royal Ascot firmly on the radar for 2027.
A Proven Eye for a Good One!
Eve works closely at the sales with Antony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock, one of the most highly respected bloodstock agents in the business.
Antony was every bit as taken with this colt as Eve — particularly with his physical, his walk and, ultimately, the price we managed to get him for..
“He was really handsome, had a bit of scope and walked well. He seemed a bargain price, to be honest, and we were really chuffed to get him.”
Antony Bromley, Highflyer Bloodstock
For us, having both Eve and Antony so keen on the same horse carried plenty of weight. This wasn't a colt they liked because he was 16,000gns — he was the colt they liked, and to be honest 16,000gns is looking like a bit of a steal!
A £200,000+ Target Built In
One of the big attractions of buying at Somerville is the valuable sales-race programme that comes with it.
Our Lucky Vega colt is eligible for the Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes, a six-furlong race in August for graduates of the sale which carries a minimum prize fund of £200,000.
And we don’t have to look far for evidence of just how valuable that opportunity can be.
Night In Vegas — another Lucky Vega trained by Eve — has just won the 2026 renewal, which this year carried a remarkable £317,105.
He is also eligible for the £200,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes, giving Eve another major target later in his two-year-old season.
Stallion Spotlight
Lucky Vega
Lucky Vega was a top-class two-year-old, winning the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes over six furlongs and later finishing second in the Group 1 Middle Park. At three, he was placed in both the 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes.
He has also made a very encouraging start at stud. His first crop put him second among the leading first-season sires, with 42% winners to runners and a strong percentage of stakes performers.
Antony Bromley has been particularly impressed with what he has seen from the sire so far:
“Everything I’ve bought by the stallion has won.”
That confidence carries plenty of weight for us — especially with Night In Vegas already proving what Lucky Vega can produce in Eve’s yard.
Lucky Vega x Be Sassy
PEDIGREE DEEP DIVE
There is rather more depth to the pedigree than the immediate page might first suggest.
His dam, Be Sassy, is an unraced daughter of proven speed influence Starspangledbanner, and this colt is her first foal.
Further back the family is packed with black type.
The third dam produced Listed winner Faustina and Group 3-placed Undaunted Affair, while deeper in the family appear multiple top-level performers, including Thirty Six Red, winner of the Grade 1 Wood Memorial and runner-up in the Belmont Stakes, and Grade 1 winner Corrazona.
Perhaps the most familiar name is Starman — European Champion Older Sprinter and winner of the Group 1 July Cup.
For a colt bought with speed and an early two-year-old campaign firmly in mind, there is plenty in the pedigree to support the plan.
Why Eve?
TRAINER
Eve Johnson Houghton got off to exactly the sort of start we hoped for with Pompey Ventures. Ardad Steve, our first horse with her, became our first two-year-old winner of 2026, and we have really enjoyed our first year in Eve’s yard.
We love Eve’s refreshingly straightforward approach, the way she involves owners and, importantly, the confidence she has in knowing exactly the type of horse she wants.
She has built an enviable reputation for getting the best out of relatively inexpensive horses, and few sales illustrate that better than Somerville.
For this colt in particular, that was a huge plus.
We didn’t ask Eve to find the cheapest horse in the sale. We gave her the budget to buy the one she wanted.
She chose this one.
Eve at the PV Open day held at Manton
A Strong Start
ROCHESTOWN STUD
All of our yearlings will begin their careers with PV Partner Dave Byrne at Rochestown Stud, where they will be broken in and pre-trained before joining their respective trainers towards the end of the year.
It’s a system that has worked really well for us. Dave has excellent facilities at Rochestown and it allows us to keep a very close eye on each horse through those important first few months. It also means we can give owners plenty of regular updates as they progress.
The plan is then for the yearlings to come over towards the end of the year, hopefully in time for another PV Yearling Parade, which proved so popular with owners last year, before they move on to their trainers.
Owners who would like to see their horse before then are also very welcome — we’re happy to arrange visits to Rochestown by request.
