Patrick Mullins, son and assistant to his father, Willie, spoke at length after their latest success in the Grand National in April about the champion jumps trainer’s insatiable need to keep pressing on. The stable’s steady expansion into the top staying handicaps on the Flat continued on Saturday as Ethical Diamond, the 5-1 favourite, came home an impressive two-and-a-half-length winner of the Ebor, Europe’s richest Flat handicap.
The simple fact seems to be that there is now such a wealth of equine talent in Mullins’s County Carlow yard that it would be a waste to direct it solely towards the winter code. He is, after all, the reigning champion over jumps in Ireland – where he has been unchallenged for nearly two decades – and Britain, since 2024.
The Flat can also prove educational for a horse such as Ethical Diamond who, Mullins admitted, had been something of a puzzle since arriving in the yard in late 2023. “We’ve just been trying to find the right tactics that suit him, it’s taken me 18 months to do that and now he’s won at Royal Ascot [in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes in June] and the Ebor,” Mullins said. “Now that we have a way to ride him, he’d probably win a nice race over hurdles, I think tactics have been the making of him.
“Winning races on the Flat like this gives me exactly the same buzz as winning big races over jumps, for sure. To come here and win races like this, it’s why you do the game.”
Ripon 1.30 Dream More 2.05 Chale Chalo 2.40 Memphis Rose 3.15 Al Shaham 3.50 Leadenhall 4.23 Thornaby Pearl (nap) 4.58 Sassy Glory 5.33 Star Start
Epsom Downs 1.35 Count Otto 2.10 Ghost Mode 2.45 Bell Shot 3.20 Gordon Grey 3.55 Soul Dance (nb) 4.28 Kitaro Kich 5.03 Silver Trumpet
Southwell 1.45 Ophelia Grace 2.15 New York Minute 2.50 Jack Daniel 3.25 Breakdancer 4.00 Sheikh Raj 4.33 Zabeel Road 5.08 Willolarupi 5.38 Toota
Chepstow 1.53 Ten Sixty Six 2.28 Redditizio 3.03 Ajrad 3.38 Star Of Mali 4.13 Darkened Edge 4.48 Kurimu 5.23 Waistcoat
Cartmel 2.20 Dignam 2.55 Star Legend 3.30 Imperial Data 4.05 Sea The Clouds 4.43 River Of Joy 5.18 Rory’s Story
The Melbourne Cup – a race where Mullins has come up agonisingly short in the past – is not an option for Ethical Diamond after treatment for an injury earlier in his career, but the gelding still has valuable targets under both codes.
“He won’t go to Melbourne as he won’t pass the vets in Australia, so we wiped that off straight away,” Mullins said. “He’s got a screw in his leg from an old injury and that is a straight no-no from them.
“I don’t know if he’s an Irish Cesarewitch horse or we let him run in an Irish Leger, we’ll have to see but I’d definitely like to move him up in grade to a Group Two or a Group Three at some stage.”
Earlier, Andrew Balding completed a double worth nearly £500,000 as Tarriance (5-1) edged out Many Men (9-2 fav) in the Melrose Handicap before Never So Brave, a recruit to the yard after Sir Michael Stoute’s retirement at the end of 2024, took the first running of the City Of York Stakes as a Group One event.
Rosallion, who had looked to be an unlucky loser behind Qirat, the shock 150-1 winner, in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood last time, was the even-money favourite for the City Of York, but raced wide and could not pick up the leaders over the furlong shorter trip as Never So Brave took over at the furlong pole and stayed on well to the line.
Goodwood 1.50 Linwood (nap) 2.25 Jennifer Jane 3.00 Alaskan Gold 3.35 Make Me King (nb) 4.10 Ancient Egypt 4.45 Forever Penywern 5.20 Kitty Foyle
Beverley 2.05 Light Speed 2.40 Emeralds Pride 3.10 Chairmanfourtimes 3.45 Danrana 4.20 This Years Love 4.55 Dr Rio
Yarmouth 2.10 Prince Hector 2.45 Explosion 3.20 Rocking Ends 3.55 Gorgeous Mr George 4.30 Papa Cocktail 5.05 Rusheen Boy
Never So Brave was racing in handicap company two months ago, albeit at Royal Ascot where he put up an exceptional performance to win the Buckingham Palace Stakes under 9st 12lb, but is now confirmed as a Group One horse and could step back up to a mile for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day at Ascot in October.
In Ireland, Aidan O’Brien extended his remarkable domination of the Futurity Stakes at the Curragh as the odds-on chance Constitution River gave the trainer his 18th victory in the Group Two contest.
O’Brien’s previous winners of the race include subsequent Classic winners Giant’s Causeway, Hawk Wing, Gleneagles and Henri Matisse. Constitution River, who was cut to 14-1 for next year’s 2,000 Guineas by Paddy Power, is now likely to head to the Group One National Stakes at the Curragh next month.
