Darley purchases Diabolical

Diabolical, one of the top sprinters in the country, has been sold to Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai's Darley stable and will not run in this year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Instead, Diabolical will be pointed to next year's Dubai International Racing Carnival, which begins on Jan. 17 and concludes on Dubai World Cup night next March 29. Diabolical would be a likely candidate for the $2 million Golden Shaheen at six furlongs.

The deal was finalized Wednesday, according to Steve Klesaris, who trained Diabolical and who also owned a piece of the colt along with Jeff Puglisi. As of Wednesday afternoon, the horse was still bedded down at Klesaris's barn at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland.

It is expected that Diabolical will soon be vanned to Keeneland and then be prepared to do a month's quarantine before shipping over to Dubai. Last week Sheikh Mohammed purchased the New York-bred Accountforthegold from Winning Move Stable for the purpose of running in the Racing Carnival.

Diabolical would have been one of the favorites for the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 27 at Monmouth. A son of Artax, Diabolical has won 8 of 19 starts and earned $750,900. He won his last two starts - the Grade 3 Maryland Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap at Pimlico and the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. The Vanderbilt was part of the Breeders' Cup Win and You're In series, which means he already had secured an automatic berth into the Sprint.

"Certainly he'll be greatly missed by our whole organization," Klesaris said. "He's been a lot of fun since Day 1. Lot of thrills, memories. He's going to a very good outfit. I certainly wish them the very best of luck.

"It comes down to a business decision," Klesaris added. "This is certainly a business - you can't lose sight of that. He's certainly the best horse I ever trained. We're going to miss him without a doubt.