Diamond Diesel revived memories of his late, great sire Mossman with a dynamic victory in the ATC Civic Stakes (LR, 1400m) at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.

Appreciating the sting out of the ground, the 7yo gelding maintained a 60% winning strike-rate in heavy going when he powered home to defeat Estadio Mestalla (Ire) and Essonne (NZ) at the midweek meeting postponed from the weekend.

He’s from the penultimate crop of Mossman who died at Vinery in August 2021 following a stud career that reached Group 1 heights with Champion sprinter Buffering, Golden Slipper winner Mossfun and Coolmore Classic mares Ofcourseican and Plucky Belle.

Diamond Diesel is the 43rd black-type winner by Mossman and the Civic Stakes improved his record to 8 wins in 21 starts for earnings of $542,000.  “When he wins, he doesn’t just win, he does it quite comfortably,” trainer Adam Duggan said.  “He’s the best horse I’ve had for sure.

“He can be tricky to train and it took some time to work him out after he arrived back from Hong Kong..  We space his runs and he likes to be left alone at home.”

Diamond Diesel was repatriated to Australia after suffering a shoulder injury at his only start for trainer Caspar Fownes.  He’s the third Vinery-sired, Hong Kong discard to win in Australia this month following Allibor (All Too Hard) and Oughton (More Than Ready).

Duggan will set him for the South Grafton Cup (1600m) on Sunday, July 14 and an added incentive is that it’s a qualifying race for the $2million Big Dance at Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day.

Diamond Diesel was a $65,000 buy for Hawkes Racing from Vinery (as agent) at the 2018 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.  Bred by Vinery partner Alan Green (Echo Beach Bloodstock), he’s the first foal of Malacca Cane (Big Brown) who is a half-sister to the Victorian black-type winners Stokehouse (MRC Autumn Classic Gr.2) and Malasun (MRC Blue Diamond Preview LR).