Under the shade of the famous Hill of Crockafatha where racing has taken place in Bellewstown since 1726, An Spidéal native, Ciarán De Barra is ready to welcome Irish breeders to see his new first season stallion, Marie’s Diamond at Diamond Stud Bellewstown, as part of the Irish Stallion Trail on January 12 and 13.
His Diamond Stud Bellewstown venture is the culmination of a varied career in the thoroughbred breeding industry. Originally a graduate of NUIG, having studied Commerce and a Masters in Accounting, De Barra is also a graduate of the Irish National Stud Breeding Course.
Mr De Barra was the inaugural O’Reilly Business Intern (now renamed the Jonathan Fitzpatrick Internship ) where he worked closely with CEO John Osborne in what was a wide-ranging role.
He was involved in all elements of the Irish National Stud, launching the INS Breeding and Racing Club, undertaking research projects, compiling the stud’s Business Strategy, assisting in the running of the Breeding course while also being heavily involved with all the practical aspects of the stud.
He has also previously spent time working in Kentucky, with Paul Gilligan in Craughwell, Corduff Stud in Kildare and Kedrah House Stud in Tipperary.
While at the Irish National Stud, Mr De Barra began to independently source mares abroad including selling the top-priced filly in the Tattersalls July sales of 2015 with a filly he sourced in the Czech Republic.
These sales provided the foundation for his breeding enterprise, and he has been in the breeding business in his own right ever since.
In 2021, he bought the farm at Bellewstown and has been in the process of turning it from a crop farm into a thoroughbred stud farm. “Ideally, I would have liked longer to get the farm set up but when the opportunity to stand Marie’s Diamond came along it was now or never!”
Marie’s Diamond is a seven time winner, winning three times at 2, winning the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes, placing runner-up in the Group 2 Railway Stakes and Group 2 Richmond Stakes, and 4th in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes but was also progressive enough to win four races over a mile, winning the Listed Paradise Stakes at Newmarket by 4 1/4 lengths and coming 3rd in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
When asked why he chose Marie’s Diamond, Mr De Barra told The Advertiser that ‘I needed a horse that I genuinely believed in and he was the one.”
The horse boasts a record of having won or placed in more stakes races (21 ) from his juvenile season than any other stallion in the stud book. He raced over 6 seasons and averaged 11 starts a season.
As his trainer Mark Johnson noted “Marie’s Diamond has the perfect blend of precocity and progression and showed a special constitution that is rare in the modern thoroughbred.”
Marie’s Diamond boasts an impressive pedigree. By Footstepsinthesand and out of an esteemed Aga Khan family.
His dam, Sindiyma, boasts an impressive breeding record with six foals and six winners, including Australian Group 1 Miler, Sikandarabad, his second dam is a sister to the European Champion Sinndar.
As well a superb damline, he is completely free of Sadlers Wells, Danzig and Acclamation blood lines, making him an excellent outcross for the majority of the Irish broodmare population.
Mr De Barra is excited to welcome breeders from all over the country to his fledgling farm in Bellewstown. “I’m looking forward to welcoming breeders, I’m a small breeder myself so I understand the business from the other side and I will support and help breeders in whatever way I can”.
More info on the ITM Stallion Trail can be found on the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing website at ITM.ie and for Marie’s Diamond and Diamond Stud Bellewstown, details can be found on diamond studbellewstown.ie or by calling Ciarán De Barra on 087 6266342.
