If you've had reason to chat to Stephen Hillen at the sales you will know that he's an agent who is measured to the point of coming across as though he has ice running through his veins.Had he and his wife Becky been at Epsom on Saturday to watch the horse they bred win the Derby they may have felt pretty icy, too, but sensibly they were watching from afar in the warmer climes of Mallorca. To the suggestion that he doesn't let himself get carried away by too much, Hillen, who breeds under the name Framont Ltd, responds emphatically. “No, we were very excited,” he says. ” We definitely got carried away with that. It's surreal really.”In the coming weeks, the reality of being a Derby-winning breeder will sink in, and who knows what may be in store for Christmas Day as the season progresses. Hillen, a self-confessed “believer” in the winner's sire Camelot, says, “Let's hope he can win the Irish Derby and then go on and prove to be a really tough horse.“I think he may, you know, because I know the ground may have deteriorated, but in the following two races – I think, weight for age is 13 pounds at this time of year, and the time was nearly two seconds faster than the [1m4f Northern Dancer] handicap – so even if it did deteriorate, the clock says it's good.”For so many at Epsom on Saturday, the howling wind and squally rain made it a memorable day for all the wrong reasons, but Christmas Day, in the vanguard from the off on the flanks of his pace-setting stable-mate Action (Frankel), handled everything the track, the weather and the crowds had to throw at him.“It was an easy watch. He was never in any danger really,” Hillen says. “I feel for them at Epsom, because they made a great effort. But the rain didn't bother him, he definitely copes with [the ground]. The mother loved fast ground actually but I don't think he's ever run on fast ground, so we just don't know.”Unsold when put through the ring as a foal and a yearling, Christmas Day's dam Beauly (Sea The Stars), who was bred by the partnership of New England Stud, Mount Coote Stud and Paddy Barrett, was eventually breezed by Jim McCartan of Gaybrook Lodge Stud. It was at the Craven Sale that Hillen initially got involved when buying her for 115,000gns for Ronnie Bartlett.The owner's colours are more commonly seen on National Hunt stars such as Simonsig, Galvin and Banbridge, but Beauly won on her debut for Bartlett at Wolverhampton in the February of her three-year-old season. She added some Listed-placed black type to her page when finishing second to Abingdon in the Lord Weinstock Memorial Stakes at Newbury that June and returned to Tattersalls to the December Sales with a rating of 98.“Ronnie's not a breeder, so he decided to sell her, and that's when I bought her again,” says Hillen, who sent Beauly to his old friend Brendan Walsh to be trained in America.“She won a Listed race there, and then she ran really well in the Flower Bowl, she only got beaten a length and a half to be fourth in a Grade 1. We bred her to Quality Road and then tried to sell her, and we didn't, luckily.”Lucky indeed. Twice she was offered, first at Fasig-Tipton in 2017 then at Keeneland 12 months later, by then carrying the Quality Road foal who would become known as Missed The Cut. The winner of the Golden Gates Handicap on his first season racing for George Boughey, Missed The Cut would go on to win the Listed Churchill Stakes before being sold to race in America where he has won three Grade 3 contests for John Sadler and most recently finished runner-up in the Mr Steele Stakes for Bobby Dibona on May 16.“He's a very good horse,” says Hillen who has “about 20” broodmares spread between Ireland, France and America. Derby-winning breeder Stephen Hillen | Tattersalls Of Beauly, who now surely takes pride of place in the broodmare band as the dam of a Derby winner, he says, “She had a tremendous amount of ability and it was just a matter of channelling it. She wasn't easy, but it's amazing, because [Christmas Day] has got a tremendous temperament.“Jamie Spencer is a friend of mine and said to me that he could see why he won, because he was the only horse that wasn't sweating at the start. I suppose that's what the great test is, isn't it?”There is no doubt that even at a rain-sodden Epsom there is still plenty to try a young horse's nerves, from the noise of the fairground and concerts on the Hill, to umbrellas being blown around inside and outside the parade ring. Christmas Day kept a cool head throughout. With some speedier elements further back in his dam's family which has done so well for the McCreerys of Stowell Hill Stud, Christmas Day's immediate pedigree does rather shout 'Derby'. His sire won the 2012 running and is by Montjeu, who exerted tremendous influence over the race in his relatively short time at stud, being responsible for four winners – Motivator, Authorized, Pour Moi and Camelot – within eight years. He is also the paternal grandsire of Wings Of Eagles. Then there's Beauly's sire Sea The Stars, who won the Derby in 2009 and is the sire of Harzand (and Oaks winner Taghrooda), as well as this year's runner-up Maltese Cross, whose pedigree is something of a mirror image of Christmas Day's with Camelot featuring as his broodmare sire.Hillen says, “I love the stallion. I think that year [2022] I bred five to Camelot and the following year, I bred four. The median rating for his three-year-olds is exceptional and they take a big jump from two to three. He's definitely an elite stallion and a lot of breeders can afford to breed to him.”Hillen was certainly rewarded for his belief in the stallion with the sale of Christmas Day as a yearling at Tattersalls October Book 1 for 450,000gns to Jamie McCalmont on behalf of Coolmore. The following week, he was on the other end of the deal when buying a Camelot filly from Car Colston Hall Stud for 50,000gns at Book 2. From the family of Reckless Abandon and now named Della Pace, she picked up black type on Sunday at Goodwood in Becky Hillen's colours when finishing a close third in the Agnes Keyser Fillies' Stakes. “Christmas Day is a tremendous horse,” the breeder says. “He's got a lovely head. It's really hard to breed a horse that looks like that. He was always a bullseye as a foal and a yearling.”Of his method of stallion selection, he adds, “I just think that I'm trying to breed a good horse, number one. I don't like breeding to those stallions that cover a huge amount of mares, but I do end up doing it.“I've bred some mares this year to Starman because I thought he was very good value and he's probably going to cover a lot of mares. But I believe he can get you a horse that's not just a sprinter.”For Beauly, Hillen has returned to a trusted formula and she is back in foal to Camelot having had no foal this year. Her yearling is a colt by Wootton Bassett. Most breeders would shuffle off this mortal coil extremely content if they had managed to produce a Derby winner, but Hillen has another aim involving the Classic on his wishlist.“I'd really love to buy a Derby winner,” he says, agent's hat firmly back on. “I'll just have to try harder at that game, but I probably don't have the clients at the minute. So we'll just have to try and buy one ourselves at a reasonable price.”For the man who unearthed 12-time Group 1 winner and £9.8m earner Via Sistina as a yearling for 5,000gns, that may not prove to be too difficult a task. The post The ‘Bullseye’ Youngster Who Hit The Biggest Target: Stephen Hillen on Christmas Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.