Diamond Omi dies from pneumonia

Diamond Omi died Thursday of complications from pneumonia  (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

Oak Leaf S. (G2) victress DIAMOND OMI (Giant’s Causeway) was euthanized
Thursday at Chino Valley Equine Clinic in Chino, California, after losing a three-week struggle with
pneumonia.

“She had a walled off abscess in her lung that was close to her heart,”
trainer Bob Baffert told The Blood-Horse. “(The veterinarians) couldn’t get to
that thing. She was trying to get well, but she couldn’t. When young horses like
her get stressed from shipping and racing, that’s when things like this come
along.”

The two-year-old chestnut filly won two of five races, earning $160,740. Her career got off to
a bumpy start with a fifth in her debut, but she
rebounded to break her maiden two starts later and then annexed the Oak Leaf, defeating eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner-up
Wild Fit (Wild Wonder).

Diamond Omi was a half-sister to 1996 champion two-year-old filly
Storm Song (Summer Squall). She made her final start in the Juvenile Fillies, finishing
10th, and exited the race with a virus that would eventually lead to her pneumonia.

“It’s devastating to lose her,” Baffert said. “She was such a sweet filly,
too. She fought too hard to lose.”