Mac Diarmida

Mac Diarmida (1975–2005) was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.

Background

Mac Diarmida was bred by John Hartigan at his Cashel Stud farm in Ocala, Florida. Sired by Minnesota Mac, he was out of the mare Flying Tammie, a daughter of the 1958 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, Tim Tam.

As a weanling, John Hartigan sold Mac Diarmida in a private transaction to Dr. Jerome Torsney, who entrusted his race conditioning to future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Scotty Schulhofer.

Racing career

Mac Diarmida made two starts at age two without a win. However, at age three he had a Championship year, winning twelve of his fourteen starts including ten in a row on grass surfaces. Ridden by Jean Cruguet, among Mac Diarmida's 1978 wins, he beat older horses in capturing the two most important North American turf races with European competitors: the Canadian International Championship at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada and the Washington, D.C. International at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. Mac Diarmida was voted the 1978 Eclipse Award for American Champion Male Turf Horse.