Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket review and replay: Porta Fortuna a class apart
By Sporting Life
16:53 · FRI July 12, 2024
Porta Fortuna proved a class above her six rivals when winning the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.
Third Group 1 win for Porta Fortuna
Porta Fortuna (10/11 fav) ran out a decisive winner of the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes on day two of the July Festival at Newmarket.
With Porta Fortuna's regular pilot Tom Marquand riding at York, Ryan Moore was an able deputy aboard the Donnacha O'Brien-trained filly, but he had an armchair ride as the three-year-old led home a 1-2 for the Classic generation.
Jabaara (18/1) fared best of the rest in a bunched finish for the places, with fellow three-year-old A Lilac Rolla sharing a dead-heat for third with Rogue Millennium.
The win was a third at the top level for Porta Fortuna, adding to her wins in the Cheveley Park last year and Coronation Stakes last month.
The disappointment of the race was Running Lion who dropped away tamely having made most of the early running with Rogue Millennium.
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Reaction of winning connections
O’Brien said: “With any Group One, there’s always some pressure but she’s delivered. All the best three-year-olds were there, so it’s nice to see her go and do it again.
“I don’t know what is next, we’ll take her home and have a think. I think it’s sensible to give her a little break now, then prepare her for the Matron (Leopardstown, Irish Champions Weekend), Sun Chariot and then Breeders’ Cup, something like that.
“I think the Filly & Mare is one-mile-three this year, if it was a mile-one, we’d be tempted to have a go, so it would probably be the Mile against the boys, which will be tough but all of her owners are American, so it would be nice for them, it’s always been the plan.
“She means a lot to me, you’re always trying to find one good one a year to take you to the Group Ones and she’s doing that.”
Moore, who partnered Porta Fortuna for the first time, added: “She’s a great filly and she has always shown plenty, she’s an Albany winner and a Cheveley Park winner who ran very well at the Breeders’ Cup after that.
“She ran well in the Guineas and then went and won the Coronation this year, she’s never run a bad race.
“She’s straightforward, I was fast out of the gates, we weren’t going mad but it was the perfect race really. She’s very uncomplicated and when you couple that with her ability, it makes things easy.
“The way she’s handled her contemporaries and the older fillies here, she’d have no trouble mixing with the boys.”
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Varian pleased with runner-up
Varian was delighted with the performance of Jabaara and said: “She ran great, I’m thrilled with her.
“We sort of rolled the dice, she’d won two Listed races and I just thought this race always has a small field and if we could be third, it would be worth running. She’s ended up second, so we’re delighted.
“We’d have loved to have won but hats off to the winner, she’s top class and we were second best.
“She got the mile but I think she’s better at seven (furlongs), but she was ridden just to get the mile – over seven, she has a high cruising speed, she’s a filly with pace and James (Doyle) thought going into the dip she was going really well, but her guts and determination ground out second.
“As long as she comes out of it OK, we’d love to go to Goodwood for the Oak Tree and then see after that, as she’s had a busy summer. Maybe the Foret.”
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