Diamond Necklace powers through rain to win French 1,000 Guineas

Ballydoyle and Coolmore landed a major breeding and racing marker at ParisLongchamp as Diamond Necklace cut through relentless driving rain to win the Emirates Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, giving St Mark’s Basilica his first Classic winner and confirming the filly as a serious player for the season’s biggest races.

The Irish-trained filly, bred in France, settled into the mile on very soft, heavy ground and finished the job in authoritative fashion. She was the 4/5 favorite in a field of 15, stopped the clock in 1:40.73 and beat The Last Dance by three lengths, with Green Spirit another 1 1/2 lengths back in third. France Galop said Diamond Necklace “gave her rivals absolutely no chance.”

Ryan Moore’s ride was as important as the raw talent. Diamond Necklace tracked the pace before Moore angled her to the rail at the cutaway and asked for her effort about 300 meters from home. She surged clear while the ground kept deteriorating, and her closing three-furlong sectional of 36.72 told the story of a race run in increasingly punishing conditions. Rayif had earlier covered the same final stretch in 34.72, but the track had changed by the time the fillies went to post.

The result carried meaning beyond one Classic. France Galop noted that Diamond Necklace and The Last Dance were both bred in Normandy, then sold as yearlings at the Arqana August Sale in Deauville in 2024. Diamond Necklace brought a record €1.7 million, while The Last Dance cost €105,000. That gap sharpened the commercial punch of the finish: one filly became a Classic winner after commanding the highest price ever paid for a yearling at that sale.

Her pedigree gives the win another layer. Diamond Necklace comes from a family that includes Chicquita and Philomene, both Prix de Diane runners-up, and she has now completed a Longchamp double after winning the Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac at two and the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at three. For St Mark’s Basilica, the first Classic winner is a key early signal in the stallion race, especially after he completed the French Guineas-Derby double in 2021.

Aidan O’Brien said in March that Diamond Necklace was being aimed at both the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and the Prix de Diane, and that planning paid off in the mud. Racing Post reported that O’Brien was “delighted,” praised Moore’s ride and said the filly is “like her dad” because she has improved from two to three. He will now discuss whether she goes to the Prix de Diane Longines at Chantilly on June 14 or the Oaks.

It was O’Brien’s second win in the race, 25 years after Rose Gypsy and Mick Kinane took it in 2001. On a day when the rain turned the Guineas into a test of class and stamina, Diamond Necklace looked every bit the filly to follow.