While he's the defending winner, Ethical Diamond likely will again go off at generous odds when he tries to fend off the likes of Bay City Roller, Burnham Square, and other top runners in this year's $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Last year HOS Syndicate's Ethical Diamond delivered one of the bigger upsets in Breeders' Cup history when the Willie Mullins trainee rallied from 13th—nearly 10 lengths back early—to post a clear victory in the 1 1/2-mile test at odds of 27-1. The $57.40 return is one of the highest for any winner of the Turf.
Mullins is best known as one of the great trainers of jump horses, and Ethical Diamond made three starts over hurdles early last year before being switched to the flat ahead of his upset win. This year, Ethical Diamond has stuck to flat racing, and he added a score in the Ballyroan Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown Racecourse and will enter off a North American prep race, a second-place finish to mare Tiffany in the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs.
Tiffany will try to beat males again as she's also entered in the Turf by trainer Sir Mark Prescott for owner Elite Racing 004. Ahead of her win at Kentucky Downs, she captured a group 1 stakes in Germany.
While there will still be plenty of exceptional runners breaking from the gate for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf, the connections of Ombudsman ultimately decided not to ship after the Champion Stakes (G1) winner was pre-entered. Ombudsman currently is the second-highest rated horse in the Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings.
The field's highest-rated horse will be Bay City Roller, who will make his third group 1 or grade 1 start of the month. Campaigned by Victorious Forever, Bay City Roller opened the month by finishing second to Daryz in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Oct. 4 and then 13 days later finished third in the Champion.
Trained by George Scott, the Irish-bred 4-year-old son of New Bay turned heads at the Royal Ascot meeting when winning the Coronation Cup Stakes (G1) by 10 lengths.
Awaiting Bay City Roller and the other top runners from overseas will be Kentucky-based Burnham Square, who landed this year's Arlington Million Stakes (G1T) on the turf at Colonial Downs. Last year, he won the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on the dirt at Keeneland, but trainer Ian Wilkes moved him to the green late in 2025 and he'll bring a 4-2-0 record from seven turf starts into this year's race.
Those wins include a 9 3/4-length romp in this year's Elkhorn Stakes (G2T) conducted in April at the same 1 1/2-mile route on the Keeneland turf. He will try to become the first North American-based horse to win the Turf since subsequent Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in 2019.
Trainer Will Walden, who also has Rhetorical in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), will send out OXO Equine's Minaret Station off his half-length win in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) Oct. 1 at Belmont Park. That day he bested Far Bridge, who draws into the field after the withdrawals of Aidan O'Brien's Minnie Hauk and Lambourn.
Trainer Graham Motion, who won the 2004 Turf with Better Talk Now and 10 years later took the race with Main Sequence, will send out Test Score, a homebred for Amerman Racing. The 4-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky opened the year with a victory in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Gulfstream Park and will enter in good form after rallying from sixth to win the Del Mar Handicap (G2T) Aug. 29.
While she most recently finished off the board in the Prix Vermeille (G1), 5-year-old mare Survie returns to North America after taking a pair of graded stakes this summer at Saratoga, including a win over males in the Aug. 15 Christophe Clement Turf Stakes (G1T).
