Seagulls Eleven nips Persica to win Diomed Stakes at Epsom

Seagulls Eleven got up only in the final strides to deny Persica by a nose in a stirring Diomed Stakes at Epsom, turning what looked like a lost cause into a Group 3 win for Hugo Palmer and Oisin Murphy. Sent off the 5/2 favorite, the Galileo Gold gelding finished strongly over the mile and 113 yards on good-to-soft ground and stopped the clock in 1:46.74.

The finish had the feel of a photo all the way to the line. Seagulls Eleven was keen early, helped force the pace and then shifted toward the near side as the race developed, while Persica, last year’s winner, edged right and hit the front more than a furlong out. For a moment it looked as though the defending champion had done enough, but Murphy kept Seagulls Eleven balanced and, when asked, the horse responded well enough to inch past at the finish. Boiling Point was a length back in third, with Ice Max, Royal Playwright, Skukuza, Qirat and Chancellor completing the eight-runner field.

For Palmer, the result mattered as much for the horse’s direction as for the prize money. The winning cheque was £70,888, but the bigger significance was that Seagulls Eleven again showed he can handle Epsom’s turning track and the pressure of a tactical race. Palmer said he thought both horses were beaten at one stage, but Murphy timed the ride well and Seagulls Eleven “put his head down where it mattered.” He added that the horse is now easier to ride and that a small field suits him, a useful trait for a horse who had been overfaced at times last year in the 2,000 Guineas and in Australia.

That makes the Diomed more than a narrow upset. The race, a Group 3 inaugurated in 1971 and named after Diomed, the first Epsom Derby winner, is run on the first day of the Derby Festival alongside the Oaks and often points the way to stronger summer targets. Palmer suggested the Summer Mile at Ascot, the Sussex Stakes, the Celebration Mile at Goodwood and the Prix du Moulin as possible next stops, with the horse arriving here only 12 days after a win in France and after two runs there this season plus his trip to Australia in November.

The ownership profile adds another layer to the story. Seagulls Eleven is part-owned by James Milner, Danny Welbeck and Lewis Dunk, a football-linked group that gives every big run extra reach beyond racing. Against a race won last year by Persica and historically dominated by Sir Michael Stoute, who has three Diomed victories, Seagulls Eleven has now forced himself into the summer conversation as a tough, improving miler with the sort of late punch that wins tight races.