The Porta Fortuna Story

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Consigned by Taylor Made Sales, champion and four-time Group 1 winner Porta Fortuna will be offered at the 2025 Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

Transcript

00:00Italian for Lucky Charm, Porta Fortuna is that rare race filly who has already brought unbridled

00:09joy and good fortune to the lives of all those closest to her. Porta Fortuna was a lovely

00:16yearling when she first came in. She was one of my picks of our homebreds when she was a yearling

00:22and then when she came in she was very professional and did everything very nicely from day one.

00:26She was always a very precocious two-year-old. She was my first two-year-old runner that year.

00:31Won her debut nicely and then won a group three at NACE and then went to Royal Ascot obviously.

00:37Phil and I we went to a lot of two-year-old races, maiden races early in the year looking for that

00:44you know hopefully special filly. What we ended up with was far more than we ever expected.

00:50One appeared in and that off. She was in the back most of the race and they were tightly packed

00:56and all of a sudden she came up the rail and that was very impressive for a two-year-old you know to

01:03be able to squeeze up the rail and win like that we thought you know hey you know this horse looks

01:09special. How special you know we never knew. Porta Fortuna at the near side, Porta Fortuna at the near

01:15side. She won in April and then that's when our ownership group bought her. We left her with with

01:20Donica. She came back in the group three at NACE you know was was really impressive that day and

01:27kind of all roads led to Ascot where you know she beat a really strong field with Matrika who came

01:32back to win a group two. I think there were four or five other future group winners in the field.

01:36We're never quite sure how far she was going to go so we ran in the Phoenix first the boys where she ran

01:47second. She beat Unquestionable who ended up winning the Breeders' Cup. We then threw into the Moyglaire.

01:52She didn't have a great trip and it was probably on ground on the slow side of what she would prefer but she

01:58still was third and then obviously capped it off with with the group one win at Newmarket at the Shively Park.

02:03Porter Fortuna the leader as they race up up the hill inside the final furlong as she Murphy on

02:09Porter Fortuna wins the Chiefly Park. And then ran a great second in the Breeders' Cup you know maybe

02:14had a little bit more racing luck I think and got to the outside she probably would have won. We

02:19really felt like she was probably very deserving of being champion two-year-old filly. She was the only

02:25two-year-old in her crop that won a group one and won two other group races. She was the only two-year-old

02:30in her crop that was a group one winner as well as group one placed and she was three-time group

02:35one placed. So we really feel like she not only was she the most accomplished three-year-old of

02:39her generation you know she was also the most accomplished two-year-old of her generation.

02:44Coming back at three still looming in our head she got a mile in America but could she stay the mile

02:51especially on a straight mile in the guineas and she ran an absolute blinder and just got nailed right on

02:57the line by Omelka. She was the only horse in the top five that hadn't had a prep run and then you

03:02know really started I think the three race series where she won the Coronation, won the Falmouth and

03:06then won the Matron. I think she's the only horse that's ever done it and there have been some some

03:11really top level horses like Attraction and Spiral that have tried to do that treble or have at least

03:18tried to do the Coronation Falmouth and weren't able to do it.

03:21And they're off for the Coronation Stakes. My highlight of her racing career so far would

03:28probably be the Coronation in Ascot as a three-year-old you know it's probably the the highest

03:32quality race she ran in. She impressively beat the Cartier champion two-year-old Phil Lee in Opera

03:37Singer and obviously to do it on the biggest stage in Royal Ascot is very special and very hard to replace.

03:42They're inside the final half and it's Porter Fortuna getting the better of Opera Singer on the run towards the lion and

03:48Porter Fortuna has won the Coronation Stakes. I dropped to my knees I just dropped to my knees

03:54in the paddock I was just just so amazed you know what she did was so exciting it's a thrill of a lifetime.

04:04For her to win back-to-backs at Royal Ascot that's hard to do it was a thrill for us and even a bigger

04:12thrill of course when we got to meet King Charles so that that ranks at the top of the list of wins

04:18and experiences she was a you know four-time group one winner in every race she was right there and it

04:26was just a thrill to watch her run. She beat Opera Singer then she beat El Malko she beat Rahia

04:33you know she beat Ramatuel all group one winners content was in there as well so it was just a

04:38you know a great a great run so you know we've just been very fortunate. After her triumphant

04:45three-year-old group one winning streak in the summer of her three-year-old year it was little

04:50wonder that Porter Fortuna was crowned Cartier champion three-year-old Philly. She had a determination

04:57of you will not beat me on this I will finish ahead of you and I saw it time and time again

05:05even when she would train when they asked her to pass the horse in front she would trail the horse

05:12and when they asked her she was just you know bam and you could tell she waited and waited mentally

05:18like okay let me know when I can go to be an owner and to sit there and know it's coming to know that

05:27Philly has it and waiting and waiting for that moment when the trigger's pulled and then it happened

05:34every time it's a thrill for an owner to know you've got that kind of Philly in the race and you know

05:41the rest of them don't know what's about to happen. It's the thing that all great horses have they have

05:48the heart the heart and the will to win I mean many of them are physically you know equal uh but some of

05:56them just have that will to win. We've been blessed to have a great group of people in this partnership

06:04everybody's been on the same page everyone has traveled to Ireland and England and to the Breeders

06:11Cup for races with this Philly we've all had a great time when we've done it it's been a family affair

06:17everybody's in sync. Donika O'Brien has done a fabulous job he and his staff getting this Philly

06:25ready each and every time.

06:27I've been involved with thousands of horses in my life and and it's been a blessing to have horses

06:37come across my path that were really uh really special but she's the horse that really took me

06:44to Europe on the racing side seeing her win at Ascot and to see how Europeans really embraced our

06:50partnership and how they cheered for us they were happy for the highs we were experiencing

06:56that's really unique and it's right up there with the best moments I've ever experienced.

07:00When we look back on Porta's career up to this point she's just been electric all the way through

07:06I think her mental ability and determination she has and you know unbelievable ability to travel into a

07:12race so she's got plenty of pace she settles and then she's just got a massive turn of foot to

07:17really just have this explosion kind of inside the tube she's just been an incredible horse and I

07:21think a lot of it you know testament goes to Donika and his team. She's a very good looking Philly

07:26she's not massively tall but she's very scopey she's great length she's a great mover um very strong

07:32backside on her strong neck and shoulder and back she's an impressive specimen she's built probably like

07:38a fast Philly but she stretches out to a mile easily and you know probably would get a little

07:42bit further if if we ever tried it she looks quite like her sire Caravaggio in that sense but she's

07:48always been a very very sound Philly throughout her career other than the little tweak that we got

07:52before Ascot there's no badness in her she's just she's just a very um very hardy Philly she loves

07:58her work loves everything she does um and as you can see in the stable she's she's like a lamb

08:03she's back in work now um you know she's a Philly that I think has plenty racing left in her we just

08:10decided when she put on a good bit of weight when when we gave her the break and we decided that we

08:16probably weren't going to get her to the matron in time and when that happened the owners took the

08:20decision just to keep her in light work till the sales and keep her happy and healthy so that's what

08:25we're doing but she's in a great place now so she's a Philly that potentially has plenty racing left

08:30dinner if that's what you know her new owners will want she's a special Philly and she she's um

08:35she's achieved a lot already and possibly can achieve uh much more in the future she's just a

08:40once-in-a-lifetime horse and she's doing really well she obviously is going to have a lightly raced

08:44four-year-old career and I think for somebody that wanted to have a have a superstar Philly at the

08:48races in 2026 she's a great opportunity I'm really looking forward to the Tatters Hall sales and

08:55and seeing her selling obviously it'll be mixed emotions but um at the same time it'll be exciting

09:00to see you know who's there and and trying to buy her and hopefully it'll be a night to celebrate

09:05her and her career and everything she's achieved and um you know it'll be exciting to find out what

09:10the next chapter uh holds for Port has taken us on the ride of a lifetime I would love to say that

09:16we're going to have more horses like her in the future but I think all of us appreciate how special

09:20she's been you know she's taken us to group one races in America and Ireland and in England

09:25and we're so fortunate that we've been blessed to be a part of her journey TaylorMade has sold

09:32180 mares that have brought seven figures and if I had to put Porta Fortuna in that group she's at

09:40the very very top amongst the habit of graces and the songbirds and the shadows and the round ponds

09:46multiple greater group one winners champions and just very rarefied air it's an honor and a privilege

09:54uh you know to be able to bring her to Tatters Halls this year and now this outstanding champion

10:00is set for a new chapter never before has a Cartier champion three-year-old filly been presented for

10:06sale as a filly in training the Porta Fortuna story remains to be completed and those focused on

10:14racing at the very highest level on the international stage and breeding at the pinnacle of the

10:19thoroughbred industry will have their chance the only four-time group one winner to be offered for

10:26sale as a filly in training anywhere in the world this year selling in the SEPTA sessions on Tuesday

10:32the 2nd of December of the world-renowned Tattersall's December mares sale the once in a lifetime filly

10:40now presents the opportunity of a lifetime

10:51you

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