'I was shaking' - Ethical Diamond's first trainer left thunderstruck after backing Breeders' Cup star

As Ethical Diamond dazzled at Del Mar to give Willie Mullins his first Breeders’ Cup success, the man who has known the five-year-old since he was a foal, Michael O’Meara, was sitting thunderstruck.

“I was shaking when I watched it,” said the trainer. “I backed the horse during the week. I knew he would give a genuine run, and the way Willie Mullins said during the week that he would be riding him for luck gave me confidence, too. If there was a good pace in the race, I knew it would suit him, but I didn’t think he would do it the way he did.”

Bred by William Kennedy and running in the colours of his wife Emma during his early career, Ethical Diamond improved with each of his three runs for O'Meara, which included a breakthrough victory when upped in trip at Limerick in June 2023 before being bought for 320,000gns and sent to Mullins.

“Nobody could have imagined that [he'd win at the Breeders' Cup], but we did think he was good,” said O'Meara. “We gave him a bit of an education before he won his maiden, and he got in as a wildcard to the Newmarket sale, and that’s when I actually called Willie Mullins to say we had one going over. The rest is history.”

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Ethical Diamond, who has twice run at the Cheltenham Festival, has flourished since returning to the Flat, winning at Royal Ascot and landing the Ebor before his Del Mar success. On whether he regrets selling the son of Awtaad, O'Meara added: "I have no regrets. You don’t refuse good money when it’s offered. 

"He’s with the master of the game, and they have the staff and the facilities and everything like that to make those things happen. We actually have a full brother of his going to the November sales in a few weeks so it’s great that way, too.”

Read these next:

A year in the life of Ethical Diamond: how he went from 15th in a handicap hurdle to Breeders' Cup glory 

'I just couldn't believe it' - Willie Mullins conquers Del Mar as Ethical Diamond breaks course record in stunning Breeders' Cup Turf upset 

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