DEL MAR, Calif. – Until Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar, Ethical Diamond had never started in a seven-figure race and had never run in a graded stakes that did not involve hurdles. His trainer, Willie Mullins, had never had a Breeders’ Cup runner but is famous for his domination of British and Irish jump racing. Ethical Diamond’s jockey, Ireland-based Dylan McMonagle, was winless in nine mounts in the United States since 2023. It made sense that Ethical Diamond was a 27-1 outsider in a field of 14 in the BC Turf. Then, Ethical Diamond defied logic through the final three furlongs. Racing wide, Ethical Diamond unleashed a sharp rally that carried him from 10th with a quarter-mile remaining to a surprise win by 1 1/4 lengths. A 5-year-old gelding, Ethical Diamond ($57.40) caught Rebel’s Romance, who won the 2022 and 2024 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf and nearly earned a record third win on Saturday. Ethical Diamond, fourth in the Grade 3 County Hurdle Handicap at the famous Cheltenham festival for jumpers in Britain in March, and seventh in the Grade 2 Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr in April, played the spoiler. He was 13th on the backstretch. The style of the win left the 70-year-old Mullins stunned, along with McMonagle’s tactics to keep Ethical Diamond well off the inside. “Dylan wasn’t panicking,” Mullins said. “He rides with such confidence. He passed one, he passed two. I thought, 'This fella still hasn’t budged on this horse.' He came five wide on the bend. I thought, ‘Is he going to use up his petrol just coming wide?' ” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. McMonagle told Mullins after the race that he positioned Ethical Diamond on the outside because his mount had so much energy. “When he came into the straight, the speed he was going compared to the front ones, I thought, 'This is on,' ” Mullins said. “The next thing, when he hit the front, I rarely celebrate before the line, [but] I think I was celebrating a furlong out. That is very unlike me, but it’s very unlike me to have a winner at the Breeders’ Cup.” Ethical Diamond ran 1 1/2 miles in course-record time of 2:25.45, getting a 106 Beyer Speed Figure. The previous mark of 2:25.90 was set by Yibir in the 2021 BC Turf. Rebel’s Romance (2-1) closed from fifth in the final furlong to reach contention. He finished three-quarters of a length in front of 17-1 El Cordobes. Rebel’s Romance and El Cordobes are owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Charlie Appleby. Rebel’s Romance was second best on Saturday, in Appleby’s opinion. “The winner shot past us,” Appleby said. “The winner quickened past us and kept quickening.” Rebel’s Romance won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct on Sept. 27. El Cordobes was third in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 9 in his American debut. The remaining order of finish in the BC Turf was Amiloc, Gold Phoenix, Minnie Hauk, Redistricting, Rebel Red, Tawny Port, Hill Road, Goliath, Wimbledon Hawkeye, Silawi, and Rashabar. Minnie Hauk, second by a head in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris on Oct. 5, was beaten 4 3/4 lengths as the 3-2 favorite. Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, Minnie Hauk was seventh early and second on the turn before leading briefly in the stretch. She was not a factor in the final furlong. “They just went very fast and she just got trapped out a little bit,” trainer Aidan O’Brien said. Ethical Diamond, an Irish-bred by the Cape Cross stallion Atwaad, has won 5 of 15 starts and earned $3,121,001. He races for the Heffernan family’s HOS syndicate. Ethical Diamond has won once in seven career starts in hurdle races, a two-mile maiden race by 10 lengths at Punchestown Racecourse in Ireland in February. He began his career with three starts on the flat in 2023 for trainer Michael O’Meara before he was sent to Mullins at the end of that year with the goal of switching to hurdles. Ethical Diamond lost three hurdle races before Mullins put him back in flat races. Ethical Diamond was fourth of 19 in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot in June 2024 as the 9-5 favorite. Last winter and spring, Ethical Diamond started in four races over hurdles. Ethical Diamond returned to flat races in the summer and has not lost since. He won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes on June 20 and the 22-runner Ebor Handicap at 1 3/4 miles at York Racecourse on Aug. 23. Following that win, David Casey, an assistant to Mullins with an accomplished background as a jump jockey, suggested that Ethical Diamond be considered for the BC Turf. A trip to Monday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup was the original goal, but that was abandoned because Ethical Diamond underwent an operation earlier in his career to have a stabilizing screw placed in a leg. Horses that undergo such surgeries are ineligible for the Melbourne Cup. “David Casey came up with the plan,” Mullins said. “He said, ‘Let’s go for the Breeders’ Cup.' I thought, 'Why not? We’re not going to try to win it. We’ll try to finish in the first five or six.' ” Mullins said his hopes rose when Gstaad won Friday’s BC Juvenile Turf at a mile from the outside post in a field of 14. “That gave me a little more confidence,” Mullins said. Mullins has led Ireland’s jump trainers 19 times and has won the last two jump-racing training titles in Britain. Mullins has won a record 113 races at the Cheltenham festival and has three career wins in the famous English Grand National at Aintree Racecourse, including in April with Nick Rockett, who was ridden by his son, Patrick. Willie Mullins has said that win is a personal favorite. The rankings below that milestone had a new entry on Saturday. “This might come second best,” he said. “I can’t believe it.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.