ROGER Varian is a man who is rarely out of the news, and all for good reason. This young man is establishing a reputation for himself as one of the best trainers in Britain and he is expanding his operation at a great rate. His list of big race successes is already eye-catching, but a recent success demonstrates his skill as well as any.

He won the Listed Prix Petite Etoile this week at Deauville with Dawn Of Hope. This three-year-old daughter of Mastercraftsman had a lot going for herself, apart from any blacktype on the racecourse. The prizemoney for the victory was nice to get, but the blacktype earned will be been much more valuable.

Racing for Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar, the filly was bought at the yearling sale in Goffs for €220,000 by Tony Nerses, the owners’ representative and a man with a great eye for a horse. Bred by Joe Higgins when he had Gerrardstown House Stud, she was sold through Robert Byrne’s Platinum Bloodstock and it was probably a fair bet that Nerses would swoop for her.

Two years earlier he gave 70,000gns for her Dalakhani half-brother Ayrad and he is a dual listed winner and multiple group-placed. This pair of stakes winners are out of Sweet Firebird and she can boast of having five winners to date, all of her runners. She also has a two-year-old filly, Myakka Park, by Lawman, a yearling colt by Iffraaj and a filly foal by Exceed And Excel. The latter was catalogued at Goffs last month but her absence from the ring was now possibly a blessing.

Sweet Firebird was bought for 270,000gns for Higgins by Brian Grassick and the blue-blood was a daughter of Sadler’s Wells and a half-sister to the champion sprinter Stravinsky. While she was not in the same league herself, she was a winner and placed in listed and group races when trained by Dermot Weld. Her first progeny to sell was the Pivotal filly But Beautiful and she earned back her dam’s investment when selling for 320,000gns.

Stravinsky won the July Cup and the Nunthorpe Stakes and was rated the best sprinter in Europe as a three-year-old. He was a son of Nureyev, while Sweet Firebird’s own-brother Moscow Ballet was a talented runner and won a listed race in England and was Grade 1 placed in the Secretariat Stakes in the USA. They are all out of Fire The Groom, the Blushing Groom mare who won the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes and seven other races.

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news