Mullins hopes Ethical Diamond conquers U.S. again

That old line about luck being the residue of good design might as well fall on deaf ears with Ethical Diamond’s trainer Willie Mullins.

“You need a bit of luck in everything,” Mullins said Friday. “As the guy said, ‘The more I practice, the luckier I get.’ Who was that? Gary Player, wasn’t it?”

It was, but it also could be Mullins. He will watch from Ireland on Saturday when Ethical Diamond makes his first U.S. start since that 27-1 shocker last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar. The 6-year-old gelding is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line for the Grade 2, $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational, a 1 1/2-mile race over a little more than one lap of the rolling course at Kentucky Downs.

Fair odds from Ed DeRosa for Kentucky Turf Cup.

“After winning at Del Mar last year, I was keeping an eye on the American calendar,” Mullins said in a telephone interview with Horse Racing Nation. “We had enough going between Dubai (in March) and back to Europe. It was nice to have a win at Leopardstown (last month). Then the next obvious option, prize-money-wise, track-wise and ground was Kentucky Downs. That’s where it led. We’d been planning to come back to America all year. I thought there might be one or two other opportunities, but we decided to stay at home until this race and hopefully run well enough to come back for the Breeders’ Cup.”

Call it more of a hope this year than the lark it was last year. Mullins was on his way to look after Absurde’s eighth-place run in the Melbourne Cup (G1), which fell 2 1/2 days after the Breeders’ Cup. On the way to Australia, he took a chance with a quick stop in San Diego. He entered Ethical Diamond, a flat racer in good weather and a steeplechaser in the winter, in the $5 million Turf. He was hoping for a small piece of the purse pie.

“I thought why not?” Mullins said at the time. “We’re not going to try to win it. We’ll come over here to finish five or six, hopefully.”

Damned if Ethical Diamond didn’t win the thing.

Bolder expectations followed. They kept H O S Syndicate’s gelding by Awtaad away from the hurdles this year, but he finished only fifth in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) and ninth in the Hardwicke (G2) at Royal Ascot. Fate turned its screws some more when Dylan Browne McMonagle, who rode Ethical Diamond at Del Mar, was hurt in a racing accident in late August.

Again, luck found Ethical Diamond, and so did Ryan Moore. Europe’s leading jockey already had been paired with the horse Aug. 6 for a rallying win by a head as the even-money favorite in the 1 1/2-mile Ballyroan (G3) at Leopardstown.

Since Moore already was committed to riding likely favorite Causeway for trainer Aidan O’Brien on Saturday in the $3 million Nashville Derby (G2), guess who was open for Ethical Diamond?

“Ryan became available,” said Mullins, who also gave a leg up to Moore when Ethical Diamond won the 2025 Duke of Edinburgh handicap at Royal Ascot. “He’s won on him a couple of times. That’s a huge asset to have Ryan Moore on your side, so we’re going in hopeful.”

Tactical adjustments have colored Ethical Diamond’s 2026 campaign. Daniel Tudhope rode him near the back of the six-horse field at Dubai, and Browne McMonagle did much the same at Royal Ascot. Those flat, off-the-board finishes differed from Del Mar, where Ethical Diamond began his winning move earlier, before making the final turn for home.

“He was good going to Dubai, but I had a new jockey and we set out our tactics, which didn’t work on the day,” Mullins said. “That was my fault. I was afraid to change tactics, but I think the horse has learned a lot since we’ve certainly learned a bit. We’re not afraid to try different tactics now than what we used to do.”

Mullins stopped short of divulging what might be up his team’s sleeves this weekend. He said he would leave it to Moore to strategize a trip against Burnham Square, the U.S.-based Arlington Million (G1) winner who carries a four-race winning streak into the Kentucky Turf Cup. Trained by Ian Wilkes, the 4-year-old Liam’s Map colt franked his switch from dirt to grass last summer when he carried 13-1 odds and lost by a head in the Nashville Derby.

“I wouldn’t even look at the other runners,” said Mullins, 70, whose 19 Irish National Hunt championships put him on a very short list of Europe’s greatest jumps trainers. “I leave that to my jockey. I just get the horse ready for the race. Ryan will know more about the runners and how the other riders might ride than I would, so I don’t want to interfere with him.”

Ethical Diamond will share top weight in the Kentucky Turf Cup. He and Burnham Square were assigned 126 pounds each, two to four more than the other eight horses in the field. But this is a horse who has carried as much as 168 in hurdles races and raced with 135 last month. The only other time he carried so little for a flat race was in the Breeders’ Cup.

“I would have thought a heavier weight would suit my horse,” Mullins said. “He’s a fine, strong horse. But there we are. The (135 pounds last month) didn’t do him any harm.”

Ethical Diamond, who has earned more than $3.5 million between flat and jumps races, arrived in the U.S. early this week. He trained at Churchill Downs before getting in a trailer for the two-hour ride to the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Assistant trainer T.J. Comerford and exercise rider Sean Cleary made the trip with him. Most of the Heffernan family, which runs H O S Syndicate, also flew to Kentucky. Mullins and his familiar fedora might be conspicuous in absence, but he has been there and done that.

“The last time I was there was in (April) 1990, when the Dueling Grounds opened up their first race meeting,” Mullins said. “My father (Paddy Mullins)’s mare won the big jump race on the day. Grabel was her name. It was called after (movie star) Betty Grable, but someone got the spelling wrong, which is always a lucky thing with a racehorse.”

Other than flying Ethical Diamond home to Ireland no matter what happens this weekend, Mullins said there was no firm plan for the eight weeks leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

“We’ll just run the race and then see where we come, but he’ll come home,” Mullins said. “I wouldn’t dream of leaving him there, no. But let’s see how we get on. Let’s worry about what’s going to happen after the race afterwards.”

Mullins has no Melbourne Cup hopefuls this year, although he hopes to have at least one in 2027 in order to take part in the race and be a spectator at the Rugby World Cup across Australia during the southern-hemisphere spring.

“It’s very quiet on my international stage this year,” he said, knowing full well he has the one horse who might yet make some noise for him in Kentucky. Twice.