Horse Profile: Porta Fortuna

Breeders' Cup Mile Scouting Report

(Editor's note: Originally published in the 2024 BRISnet Breeders' Cup International Report) 

Runner-up by a half-length in last year’s Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, Porta Fortuna returns stateside with a glittering resume. The remarkably reliable filly has yet to finish outside of the top three while competing in top company throughout her career. Since a neck loss in her seasonal reappearance, she’s racked up three straight Group 1 wins. 

Trained by Donnacha O’Brien – who like his brother Joseph has inherited the horsemanship skills of father Aidan and mother Annemarie – Porta Fortuna is virtually a member of the clan herself. She was bred by the O’Brien family’s Whisperview Trading, and her pedigree features Ballydoyle stars of ages past. By Caravaggio and out of a Holy Roman Emperor mare, she claims as her second damsire High Chaparral, a two-time Turf hero. 

Porta Fortuna had a busy two-year-old campaign that encompassed seven races from April to early November. Although she was precocious enough to win her first three starts, including the Albany (G3) at Royal Ascot, she progressed over the course of the season. After placing second versus males in the Phoenix (G1), and dead-heating for third on a rain-affected track in the Moyglare Stud (G1), Porta Fortuna scored a new high in the Cheveley Park (G1). Her Breeders’ Cup effort was commendable too, considering that she was stepping up to a mile for the first time, raced covered up much of the way, and had to rally inside the garden-trip Hard to Justify. 

Any suspicion that Porta Fortuna maxed out at two was quashed when she almost won the 1000 Guineas (G1) in her sophomore bow. An 11-1 overlay at Newmarket, she settled off the demanding pace and stayed on well to factor in the frenetic finish. She was just collared by the 28-1 Elmalka while nipping Mile rival Ramatuelle for second. 

Porta Fortuna hasn’t lost since. With an even tempo in Royal Ascot’s Coronation (G1), the 7-2 chance worked out a stalk-and-pounce trip to defeat Opera Singer (who appeared to be racing her way back into fitness). Favored Ramatuelle was further back in third, followed by a non-threatening Elmalka. 

Taking on older distaffers for the first time in the Falmouth (G1), Porta Fortuna finally gained the confidence of the market. The 10-11 favorite ran up to billing with a 3 3/4-length rout. Again well placed in a forward tracking position, Porta Fortuna took charge when pacesetter Running Lion imploded. She stamped her class to open up despite racing with her head cocked, on the left lead, as though just getting her bearings on Newmarket’s July Course. 

With her American ownership consortium, the Breeders’ Cup was always looming large on the itinerary. Donnacha accordingly opted to give her a break and point for the Sept. 14 Matron (G1) as her stepping stone to Del Mar. Porta Fortuna delivered her typically straightforward effort, driving from just off the pace to beat early leaders Fallen Angel and Soprano (Filly & Mare Turf). Fallen Angel came back to finish a solid fourth in the Prix de l’Opera (G1) on Arc Day, and Soprano was a distant second in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1). 

The Matron time (1:40.67) was slower, though, than Mile rival Diego Velazquez (1:38.94) one race earlier on the card. That raises the one caveat about Porta Fortuna: female Mile winners almost uniformly have current form versus males. The exception in that department is Tepin (2015), who raced exclusively in distaff company until the Breeders’ Cup. Porta Fortuna hasn’t competed in open company since the 2023 Phoenix.