Willie

Ethical Diamond came with a stunning late run to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf in a course record for Grand National-winning trainer Willie Mullins.

The 20-1 chance, who spent most of his early career jumping over hurdles, surged down the outside under Dylan Browne McMonagle to claim one of Flat racing’s biggest races, with more than £2m going to the winner at Del Mar in California.

Ethical Diamond, winner of the Ebor Handicap at York in August, triumphed from runner-up Rebel’s Romance and third-placed El Cordobes, with favourite Minnie Hauk unplaced.

It is the latest landmark in the remarkable career of Mullins, better known as a jump racing trainer who won the National with Nick Rockett in April.

“This might come second best to winning the Grand National with my son Patrick on board. I couldn’t believe it,” said Mullins, 69.

Newly crowned Irish champion jockey McMonagle, 22, said: “It’s an unbelievable training performance. It doesn’t get much bigger than this.”

Owners, the HOS Syndicate, have hopes of a big-race double with Absurde running in the Melbourne Cup for Mullins on Tuesday (04:00 GMT).

Following on from those 1980s stars like Miller, Prohm, Fairburn and others such as Mark Broadhurst, Mike Smith and David Watkinson, the current crop are equally well-stocked for talent.

Kiwi enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves brings the fear factor of a Broadhurst, captain Elliot Minchella captures the swashbuckling ball-handling of former Man of Steel Miller, and semi-final hero Jack Broadbent will be doing the Fairburn job from full-back with Arthur Mourgue cup-tied.

Perhaps the headline act these days is Mikey Lewis – a homegrown dynamo and the reigning Man of Steel.

Peters will have taken heart from the way these Robins have managed the excitement of reaching Wembley and continued their relentless form in Super League on the back of beating Catalans Dragons in their York semi-final.

Equally, the run to Wembley included the intensity of a quarter-final against neighbours Hull FC, added to a league derby against their rivals which were both negotiated smoothly amidst a run of tricky games.

With Warrington at times failing to match their cup highs in league matches given they lie eighth in the table, the league leaders could be forgiven for feeling the weight of expectation in Saturday’s showpiece.

It is a different scenario from their 2023 experience when Rovers and Leigh were considered equal odds before the Leopards triumphed in Golden Point, and last year’s Grand Final when holders Wigan were hotly-tipped to take the prize, and did.

“I don’t think it [form] does bring pressure, it should give the players a lot of belief knowing that we’ve had a lot of challenges in different situations this year,” Peters added.

“We’ve had different scenarios this year which would have put us under the pump if we’d allowed it to, but we didn’t and I’m proud of the players for that.

“You are going to go through setbacks and you need to experience adversity to grow, that’s what they’ve done.”