Indeed, that was the question on the lips of most observers when the two-year-old Mansa Musa just prevailed, after a sustained duel with the odds-on favourite, Array, in the valuable British EBF 40th Anniversary Maiden Stakes on the opening day of ‘Glorious Goodwood’ on August 1, 2023. Diego Dias is, in fact, a Brazilian-born trainer based in Rathbride, Co. Kildare and Mansa Musa was his first runner on British soil.
Dias did not saddle his first runner, Gaenari, until May 26, 2023 and, although the Inns Of Court filly has yet to win a race, she has finished second three times and collected over £25,000 in prize money. Most recently, she earned £6,000 for finishing a creditable fifth in the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on August 12, 2023. According to Matt Eves, managing partner of Star Bloodstock, which owns both Mansa Musa and Gaenari, Dias only has ‘five or six [horses] in training’, so few would argue that he has created a highly favourable impression in what are still very early days for his fledgling training career.
A recent addition to the training ranks he may be, but Dias has been preparing young horses for the Curragh-based bloodstock operation since 2019. Prior to taking out his licence, he specialised in ‘breeze-ups’ or, in other words, briefly training two-year-olds, typically at high speed over short distances, so that they are amenable, educated and ready for sale at an appropriate ‘breeze-up’ auction. Speaking after his Goodwood victory, Dias said, ‘I took out the licence this year and that’s my second winner. I like all my horses and the horses I don’t sell at the breeze-ups have to be given another chance by running them.’
Diego Dias’ twitter account: https://twitter.com/DiegoDiasracing