Donnacha O’Brien already has one eye on a Royal Ascot hat-trick for Porta Fortuna after confirming his star filly will stay in training as a four-year-old next season.
The daughter of Caravaggio has already won twice at the showpiece meeting in Berkshire, landing the Albany Stakes as a juvenile in 2023 and this year striking gold in the Coronation Stakes.
That latter success was followed by two more Group One triumphs, as she landed the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and the Matron Stakes on home soil at Leopardstown, while she was beaten just a neck by Elmalka when filling the runner-up spot in the 1000 Guineas in the spring.
Porta Fortuna was unable to land a telling blow on her final outing of the campaign after encountering a troubled passage in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but she has returned to Ireland none the worse and O’Brien is eyeing more big-race glory in 2025.
He said: “She came home and is in good form and is just having a bit of a break now. She didn’t get much of a run around (at the Breeders’ Cup) and around there (Del Mar) you need things to go right for you, but that’s racing. She’s had a great run, so we were bound to get a little bit of bad luck at some stage.
“The plan is to keep her in training for next year, so she’s having a good break now and we’ll slowly start her back and I would imagine her first real target will be Royal Ascot next year. I’m not sure which race we’ll go for, but we’ll work back from there.
“It’s so hard to find horses like her that are able to be consistent and competitive at Group One level, so it’s great for us that the owners have decided to keep her in training and we’re very thankful to them for letting us have her for another year.”
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