Diamond Joe, a fan favorite in Nebraska and the most successful son of 1995 Arkansas Derby winner Dazzling Falls, has been retired, trainer Chuck Turco said on Friday. Diamond Joe ranks fifth all time among Nebraska-breds in earnings, a list topped by his sire. Turco also trained Dazzling Falls. “It was a great run with Joe, that’s for sure,” said Turco. Diamond Joe, a 9-year-old gelding, last raced in June and finished fourth in an allowance at Canterbury Park. He is now residing at a farm in Lincoln, Neb. Diamond Joe won 24 races from 56 career starts for earnings of $507,482. His wins included four runnings of the Who Doctor Who Handicap at Horsemen’s Park in Omaha, Neb., and the 2013 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Handicap, which is the premier stakes each meet at Fonner Park. The race was one of 21 stakes won by Diamond Joe. “The most exciting one was the Bosselman because no Nebraska-bred had ever won it,” Turco said. “So, he won it. It was hard not to cry. Looking up in the stands, people were screaming. The atmosphere was so wild.” Turco said the next morning, racetrackers trekked to his barn to congratulate Diamond Joe. “It was a steady stream of people all morning long, people just petting him,” said Turco. Diamond Joe ranked as one of the winningest horses in North America in 2012. He won nine straight races, and after the first eight, which came in Nebraska, he tested the waters out of state. Diamond Joe was shipped to Remington Park, where in his first start on a one-mile oval he won an allowance prep for the Oklahoma Derby. Turco recalled that on the trip, Diamond Joe, while under one of his regular exercise riders, Norman Ladd, became obsessed with the Jumbotron at Remington. “We got there Thursday, and on Friday [while out training], he stayed there and watched ‘Good Morning America’ on the Jumbotron,” Turco said. “The horse watched the whole thing! We let him stand there. I thought he needed to see it if he was going to run there at night.” The next night, Diamond Joe won but did not immediately return to the winner’s circle. Coming back from the race, the horse stopped to take in more of the sights and sounds of the track under jockey Cliff Berry. “He had his head over the rail looking at the waterfall [on the apron], and kids are petting him,” Turco said. “His first time in the big city … that was a lot of fun.” Diamond Joe was bred by Joe Miller and Roger Pelster and raced for Miller and Joe Koziol. He is out of the mare Diamond Road, by Tarsal. Diamond Joe’s regular rider was Jake Olesiak, and he also was ridden on several occasions by Chris Fackler and Dean Bulter. Turco said it was very meaningful to him how much the Nebraska racing community embraced Diamond Joe. “The horse had like 10,000 other owners because everybody always packed the place when he ran,” he said. “He was a joy to have around the barn.”