Streaking American turf horse Burnham Square is scheduled to have some international competition when racing in the Kentucky Downs Turf Cup Invitational Stakes (G2T) Sept. 5.
Ethical Diamond, the 2025 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) upsetter trained in Ireland by Willie Mullins, is an intended starter for the 1 1/2-mile turf race at Kentucky Downs in the southern part of the Bluegrass State. The race is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, providing its victor with a paid, automatic berth in this fall's $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
H O S Syndicate's Irish-bred Ethical Diamond scored at 27-1 odds last year when the Breeders' Cup was held at Del Mar. Most recently, Ethical Diamond took the Aug. 6 Ballyroan Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown, where he edged group 2 winner Green Impact by a nose. Ethical Diamond had been unplaced at group level in two earlier starts this year.
As an Irish-bred 6-year-old Awtaad gelding, Ethical Diamond is eligible for $1 million of the Kentucky Downs Turf Cup's $2 million purse. Half of the purse is funded with incentives for Kentucky-breds.
The Kentucky Turf Cup will mark a long-awaited return to Kentucky Downs for Mullins, whose father Paddy Mullins saddled Grabel to a victory in the 1990 Dueling Grounds International Hurdle.
"I am looking forward to visiting Kentucky Downs again," Mullins said. "The last time I was there was the opening of the racetrack, then known as the Dueling Grounds, when my father trained a winner there."
