A Diamond Among Diamonds

“Diamonds in the Rough”

BY J. KEELER JOHNSON

P R E C I O U S   C U T   C O L L E C T I O N

A Diamond Among Diamonds

Patriotic Diamond Unleashes Big Finish to Win the Generous Portion Stakes

It’s not every day that one witnesses a two-year-old filly break her maiden in a stakes race, but then again, it’s not every day that a filly as talented as Patriotic Diamond comes along.

In terms of pedigree, Patriotic Diamond was not the sort of filly one would expect to succeed on dirt. A daughter of the Japanese champion Hat Trick–best known as a sire of turf runners–Patriotic Diamond’s broodmare sire is Whywhywhy, sire of 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Nownownow. On the surface, Patriotic Diamond seemed like a filly that would relish turf, but in her debut sprinting 5.5 furlongs on the main track at Del Mar, she showed that dirt wouldn’t be an issue by rallying from far back to finish a close second.

Less than two weeks later, Patriotic Diamond was back in action at Del Mar, starting as the second choice in the six-furlong Generation Portion Stakes for California-bred two-year-old fillies. As in her debut, Patriotic Diamond was out-run when the gates opened, quickly dropping several lengths off the pace as the stakes-placed filly Later My Love ran the opening two furlongs in a blazing :21.54 seconds. The fast pace meant that each of the nine fillies in the race were under some degree of urging right from the start, including Patriotic Diamond, who was having trouble keeping up while racing in the four-path with three fillies to her inside. But as the field rounded the far turn, and Later My

Despite having to shift five-wide as the field straightened into the homestretch–and despite being carried even further wide by the drifting presence of Just Google Me to her inside–Patriotic Diamond had passed the majority of the field shortly after turning for home, and continued to gain ground through the final furlong as she wore down Just Google Me to triumph by 1 1/4 lengths. The final time was modest–just 1:11.05–but Patriotic Diamond galloped-out in impressive fashion, and given the wide trip she endured, her performance was highly impressive and stamped her as one of the best two-year-old fillies on the West Coast. Just Google Me ran admirably in defeat, racing almost as wide as Patriotic Diamond throughout the race and staying on strongly to the finish. In turn, she finished 4 3/4 lengths in front of Later My Love, who tired from her early exertions and placed third.

Patriotic Diamond is owned by Diamond 100 Racing Club and is trained by Patrick Biancone. Rafael Bejarano was the winning rider.