This is a story about young friends: some who have become a little less young, but who have kept themselves from growing too old, too soon, by supporting and mentoring the next generation. Poignantly, however, it starts with a man who was himself cruelly denied his share in that gratifying, repeating cycle among horses and horsemen.Because it was his lamented friend Alex Scott who, hearing that Luke Lillingston was off to New York, made an introduction that proved critical to his career.“This was, what, 38 years ago now,” Lillingston recalls. “I went to work for George Harris, a brilliant bloodstock agent specializing in nominations, who did the Storm Bird deal. And Alex, who was a wonderful man and very kind to me, said, 'Do you know Lincoln Collins?' I said, 'No.' And he said, 'Well, you need to. He's a great old friend of mine. We grew up together, rode against each other, and you must meet him.' George had his office right in the middle of Manhattan, and I was as green as grass, staring up at all those skyscrapers. And the first week, Lincoln came and took me out for lunch—and we became great mates very quickly.”A couple of years later, in 1990, Collins moved to Kentucky and started his agency, Kern, named for his parents' farm on the Isle of Wight.“I didn't think quite as hard about naming my business, Lillingston Bloodstock, when I moved back to London in 1991,” Lillingston says wryly. “But in fairly quick time, we formed what we've always known as the Kern-Lillingston Association. While I describe him to people as my partner, we've never been in an actual partnership. But we have been doing business together ever since.”With time, they too became seasoned professionals, responding to the way the business changed over the decades. And when they, in turn, became mentors to aspiring agents of the next generation, they doubtless offered much the same kind of model as Harris had once provided Lillingston.Joe Miller joined Collins; and then, in 2018, a young Englishman named Charlie Dee came to the office at Mount Coote Stud to learn the ropes with Lillingston. Just 23, Dee had completed the celebrated Irish National Stud diploma, and then the BHA graduate scheme. And now Lillingston, with his wealth of experience and connections, literally opened up new horizons.Charlie Dee with Luke Lillingston | Sarah Farnsworth“Luke sent me on trips to Australia and Hong Kong and America,” recalls Dee. “I spent a week in Lexington with Joe and Lincoln, got to know them both. And then Joe gave me the chance to buy a couple of fillies from Europe for a big client of his in California, Tim Cohen of Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal. Luckily, one of the first we bought together was Quatroelle (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}). She won a Listed race as a 2-year-old and then came back from an injury to win the GII Buena Vista Stakes as a 4-year-old and ran second in a Grade I on her final start. So it was a great start to the relationship.”Miller and Dee have never gone so far as the kind of semi-formal alliance connecting their respective mentors.“But there is definitely an extra level of trust,” Dee explains. “Which is, I think, appreciated on both sides. Certainly from my perspective, being a relatively young agent, I've always been very grateful for Joe's guidance. He's very strict in terms of his criteria, when he wants a horse-in-training, and he doesn't deviate from those. He always has the client's interests at heart, so it's been a great learning experience to work with him.”Heading into the winter of 2024, one of Miller's most cherished clients–the Knelman family's Farfellow Farm–asked them to look out for a European filly with stakes potential. Dee could not find anything suitable in the Tattersalls December Sale, but suggested a private approach for a 3-year-old filly who had recently joined James Tate and caught his eye running close up in a couple of middle-ranking handicaps. She was by Lope De Vega (Ire), whose daughter Fuente Ovejuna (GB) had been recruited for Farfellow in 2021 and placed at Grade II level before being sold on for $400,000 at the 2024 Keeneland November Sale. This filly, Expensive Queen (Ire), looked just the job for playing up those winnings.“As a 2-year-old [with Kevin Ryan] she had won on debut, on firm ground, which was great from an American perspective,” Dee explains. “Then she'd run well in her stakes race and finished second in a competitive nursery. She'd lost her way at the beginning of her 3-year-old career, but moved to James Tate and I don't think he'd had too long to get to grips with her. When horses come to Newmarket, it can take time to adjust. But I'm big into speed figures and she'd run two pretty encouraging numbers, the kind that mark them down as Listed class.”The clincher, when Miller came to town for the sales, was when they went to inspect the filly in the flesh.“She's a beautiful filly,” Dee says. “Conformation-wise, they have to be pretty correct and really strong behind to cope with training on the dirt. And another thing that was huge, when we went to watch her train, was seeing how she behaved in the morning. Because she obviously had a great temperament, and they do need to be relatively relaxed and tractable, to go to America. It can be quite chaotic training on a racetrack, they spend a lot of time in their stalls, and five days out of six they're going pretty slow.”Kip Knelman gave the green light, and the rest is history. This time last year, Expensive Queen made a winning debut for Brendan Walsh in a Keeneland allowance but needed a lay-off after a first attempt in deeper waters. This time round, she is unbeaten in three starts, including a first stakes win at the Fair Grounds and then a dead-heat in the GI Jenny Wiley Stakes back at Keeneland earlier this month.“Obviously could never have imagined that she would improve as much as she has,” Dee admits. “She's lucky to be with Brendan, who's an amazing trainer on any surface but does so well with turf horses. And she's just thrived for the training environment in America. What she's done is just a dream scenario, to be honest.Luke Lillingston at the 2022 Keeneland November Sale | Keeneland“She was really tough the other day. She didn't get a perfect passage, and Luis Saez did really well to find a gap and get her up on the line. It was very exciting and I will 100 percent take a dead heat for my first Group 1 winner. Unfortunately Joe had to be at OBS but he tells me the whole Knelman family was at Keeneland and had an amazing day. Obviously I'm just super grateful to Joe for putting the deal together with them.”But his first debt, naturally, remains to Lillingston. After a three-year apprenticeship in County Limerick, Dee set up shop in London and is duly within reach of any prospects shortlisted in Britain. The principal focus of his work remains the horses-in-training market, with clients in Australia and Hong Kong also in mind, but Dee has lately opened up new horizons working with his great pal Oli Rix, who has made an eye-catching start to his training career.“Oli and I lived together at Oxford Brookes and he was my best man,” Dee says. “So I've been working with him at the yearling and 2-year-old sales, and put some clients together with him. So my business has changed a bit since he started training. And it might continue to do so, as Oli keeps going forward, which he's sure to do, being so switched on.“It's so much fun, we're living a bit of a dream together at the moment. We talk nearly every day about various ideas and issues and, being so comfortable in each other's company, we can just be honest with each other. I'm really proud of how he's doing, and hopefully he has some nice horses to run over the next few weeks.”Such are the generational cycles that renew among horsemen: Rix and Dee have both been able to draw on the expertise of Rix's father, a renowned tipster; and of course there is constant recourse to the counsel of Lillingston himself.“I'm so grateful to be working with him,” Dee says. “He just has so much knowledge and experience, and he's great to bounce ideas off. He's so well respected by everyone in the industry. If we're ever trying to get a particularly big deal over the line, or maybe there's a tricky situation over a horse we're trying to make an offer on, trainers will always pick up the phone to Luke, which is maybe not always the case for other agents. The reputation he's built up over the years is just a huge asset to us.“Luke and Lincoln have both been really supportive, in encouraging Joe and I to work together. Luke doesn't always have the same freedom to travel, because he's so busy at Mount Coote, but he's super supportive of me going out to meet people and try to grow our client base. This year, for instance, I spent a week in Santa Anita and a weekend in Miami, just trying to meet the younger, up-and-coming trainers, spending time around the barns and introducing myself while the racing was quiet here.”Lillingston, for his part, finds the turning of the generational wheel hugely gratifying.“This has given me real satisfaction, because of the continuity of the association [with Collins],” he says. “While we're not as closely linked as in the old days, we still very much work together as and when. And this time our collaboration has produced a Keeneland Grade I winner, and those are very hard to come by. It would be rare enough to do that with a filly who was rated 80. But what makes it feel unique is that longstanding, transatlantic relationship. It gives me huge pleasure that it carries on, and long may it continue.”The post Queen Looking Anything But Expensive appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.