Diamond in his eyes
marie’s diamond
Ciarán De Barra is looking forward to this spring with his first stallion Marie’s Diamond. De Barra chats with Ronan Groome about his equine career so far, and just how thrilled he is to be standing the tough-running son of Footstepsinthesand
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COUPLE OF MONTHS into his traineeship with KPMG, a 23-year-old Ciarán De Barra met with his director to conduct a performance review meeting. “Just one thing, Ciarán,” the director said. “It’s been flagged up by IT that you’ve been spending a lot of time on recreational websites, can you explain that?” “Oh yeah,” came the reply. “That’s irishracing.com. “You see this job is what I’m doing now but I need to be on that website for what I’m going to be doing in the future.” So, 13 years later, perhaps a decision to go down the road of acquiring his own stallion to stand and all the risks that comes with that venture is on brand for a man who has always allowed his ambitions to soar. De Barra has already made a name for himself in the position he held at the Irish National Stud, as well as through his own endeavors to source and sell on stock at the sales. But now the main focus is Marie’s Diamond, the eight-year-old son of
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