Mac Diarmida Stakes

Mac Diarmida Stakes
Grade II race
Location Gulfstream Park
Hallandale Beach, Florida, United States
Inaugurated 1995
Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Website www.gulfstreampark.com
Race information
Distance 1+38 miles (11 furlongs)
Surface Turf
Track Left-handed
Qualification Four-year-olds and older
Weight 124 lbs with allowances
Purse $200,000 (since 2014)

The Mac Diarmida Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for horses four-years-old and older run over a distance of one-and-three-eighth miles (11 furlongs) on the turf, annually in February at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The current purse is $200,000.

History

The event was inaugurated on 16 January 1995 for three-year-olds at a distance of 1 mile and 70 yards and was held on the dirt track.

The race was named in honor of Florida-bred Mac Diarmida who was the American Champion Male Turf Horse of 1978. The following year, in 1996 the event was lengthened slightly to one-and-one-sixteenth miles and run on the turf.

It was run as a handicap from 1997 through 2008 but is now run under allowance weight conditions. The event was upgraded to Grade III in 1997. In 1997, wet weather forced the race to be moved from the turf course to the main dirt track and set at a distance of one-and-one-quarter miles with conditions changed to allow horses four years old and older. In 1998 the race was changed to its present distance of one-and-three-eighths miles.

The race was not run in 2001. The event was upgraded once again in 2007 to Grade II. The event was originally held in January but since 2017 has been run in late February or early March.

Records

Speed record
  • 1+38 miles — 2:10.87 Stream of Gold (IRE) (2008)
Margins
  • 4+14 lengths — Panama City (1999)
Most wins
Most wins by an owner
  • 3 - Michael M. Hui (2019, 2020, 2023)
Most wins by a jockey
Most wins by a trainer
  • 4 - Michael J. Maker (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)

Winners

Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Distance Time Purse Grade Ref
Mac Diarmida Stakes
2023 Value Engineering 7 Jose L. Ortiz Michael J. Maker Michael M. Hui & Phil Forte 1+38 miles 2:14.20 $200,000 II
2022 Temple 6 Jose L. Ortiz Michael J. Maker Paradise Farms & David Staudacher abt. 1+38 miles 2:15.30 $200,000 II
2021 Phantom Currency 5 Paco Lopez Bryan Lynch Jim & Susan Hill 1+38 miles 2:13.84 $200,000 II
2020 Zulu Alpha 7 Tyler Gaffalione Michael J. Maker Michael M. Hui 1+38 miles 2:11.47 $200,000 II
2019 Zulu Alpha 6 Irad Ortiz Jr. Michael J. Maker Michael M. Hui 1+38 miles 2:16.39 $200,000 II
2018 Sadler's Joy 5 Julien R. Leparoux Thomas Albertrani Woodslane Farm 1+38 miles 2:12.93 $200,000 II
2017 Wake Forest (GER) 7 Javier Castellano Chad C. Brown Michael Dubb, Sheep Pond Partners, Bethlehem Stables 1+38 miles 2:13.54 $200,000 II
2016 Grand Tito 6 Emisael Jaramillo Gustavo Delgado Grupo 7C Racing Stable 1+38 miles 2:12.55 $200,000 II
2015 Main Sequence 6 Rajiv Maragh H. Graham Motion Flaxman Holdings 1+38 miles 2:15.06 $200,000 II
2014 Twilight Eclipse 5 Jose Lezcano Thomas Albertrani West Point Thoroughbreds 1+38 miles 2:15.18 $200,000 II
2013 Amira's Prince (IRE) 4 John R. Velazquez William I. Mott Wachtel Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred & Gary Barber 1+38 miles 2:17.14 $150,000 II
2012 Simmard 7 Javier Castellano Roger L. Attfield Roger L. Attfield & William Werner 1+38 miles 2:11.71 $150,000 II
2011 Prince Will I Am 4 John R. Velazquez Michelle Nihei Casa Farms I 1+38 miles 2:13.04 $150,000 II
2010 Presious Passion 7 Elvis Trujillo Mary Hartmann Patricia A. Generazio 1+38 miles 2:13.49 $150,000 II
2009 Presious Passion 6 Elvis Trujillo Mary Hartmann Patricia A. Generazio 1+38 miles 2:12.10 $150,000 II
Mac Diarmida Handicap
2008 Stream of Gold (IRE) 7 Eddie Castro Kiaran P. McLaughlin Zabeel Racing 1+38 miles 2:10.87 $150,000 II
2007 Ramazutti 5 John R. Velazquez Anthony J. Sciametta Jr. Anstu Stable 1+38 miles 2:11.86 $150,000 II
2006 Hotstufanthensome 6 Rajiv Maragh Nathan W. Sinclair Running Horse Farm 1+38 miles 2:10.90 $100,000 III
2005 Host 5 Javier Castellano John C. Kimmel Caesar P. Kimmel, Philip J. Solondz & C G Zoe Stable 1+38 miles 2:12.83 $100,000 III
2004 Request for Parole 5 Jose A. Santos Stanley M. Hough Jeri & Sam Knighton 1+38 miles 2:12.58 $100,000 III
2003 Riddlesdown (IRE) 6 Roger I. Velez Niall M. O'Callaghan Gary A. Tanaka 1+38 miles 2:14.75 $100,000 III
2002 Crash Course 6 Jerry D. Bailey Jimmy Croll J. Mack Robinson 1+38 miles 2:16.27 $100,000 III
2001 Race not held
2000 Unite's Big Red 6 Jorge F. Chavez Randy Mills Breakaway Racing Stable 1+38 miles 2:12.14 $100,000 III
1999 Panama City 5 Jerry D. Bailey William I. Mott Robert Sangster & Joseph LaCombe abt. 1+38 miles 2:20.65 $100,000 III
1998 Copy Editor 6 Jerry D. Bailey Martin D. Wolfson Team Valor 1+38 miles 2:16.72 $100,000 III
1997 Mecke 5 Jerry D. Bailey Emanuel Tortora James Lewis Jr. 1+14 miles 2:05.80 $72,750 III
Mac Diarmida Stakes
1996 A Real Zipper 3 Aaron Gryder Ronald B. Spatz Horses of Course 1+116 miles 1:42.66 $50,000 Listed For 3YO Only
1995 Kings Fiction 3 Robbie Davis H. Allen Jerkens Hardwick Stables 1 mile & 70 yards 1:43.12 $50,000 Listed For 3YO Only

Legend:
  Turf   Dirt

See also

List of American and Canadian Graded races