Tag: Porta Fortuna

Breeders’ Cup Runner-Up Jody’s Pride Takes Next Step on Oaks Trail

Steve Weston hoped to produce a nice turf horse when he sent his mare Jody's Song (Scat Daddy) to Coolmore's American Pharoah. Jody's Song had been undefeated in two starts on the grass in New York and American Pharoah had already shown his versatility as a sire when he produced several Grade I-winning turfers from his first few crops.

Everyone spoke highly of the resulting filly, whom he named Jody's Pride, throughout her early years, but when it came time for the dark bay to make her debut last August at Saratoga, the race got rained off the turf. Trainer Jorge Abreu opted to keep the filly entered anyways and to her connections' pleasant surprise, she sprinted away to win by over 10 lengths.

Again in her next start in the Matron S., the race was switched to the main track. Again, Jody's Pride won going away.

“So then we tried the grass for a third time in the Breeders' Cup,” recalled Weston. “But they said they didn't have room for us. So we said, 'Okay, we'll try the dirt. We don't know how she'll do. She's never gone two turns, but we'll see.'”

Sent off at 18-1 odds in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Jody's Pride and jockey Flavien Prat trailed heavy favorite Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) along the rail before swinging out to close in on winner Just FYI (Justify) in the final strides and finish second by a neck.

A newborn Jody's Pride with dam Jody's Song | courtesy Ashford Stud

At that point it was a pretty easy decision that Jody's Pride would be sticking to dirt, at least for the time being, as she points toward the GI Kentucky Oaks.

“Believe me, I'm not complaining,” Weston said with a laugh. “It's very hard to be able to get a good dirt horse that can go two turns. I'm blessed right now to have one.”

Steve and Debbie Weston's Parkland Thoroughbreds has excelled at the top level of the sport in recent years by partnering up on the likes of Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio), who won the G3 Albany S. at Ascot last year, 2023 GII Appalachian S. victress Papilio (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), and other graded stakes winners like Royal Charlotte (Cairo Prince) and Horologist (Gemologist). But Jody's Pride stands out as a rare homebred for their stable and she's the one that Weston said is “by far” the best he's ever bred.

Weston, who is based in Parkland, Florida but spends his summers in Saratoga, purchased the filly's dam as a yearling for $250,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The daughter of Scat Daddy was bred by Avanti Stable, whose owners Mario and Dawn Martinez lived just a few doors down from the Westons on Fifth Avenue. Named after Weston's sister who had recently passed away, Jody's Song showed talent early on and won on debut by three lengths, but injuries cut her career short.

Jody's Pride was only the mare's second foal, but sadly Jody's Song passed away from colic a week before Jody's Pride made her debut last year.

“It was a terrible loss,” Weston said. “She had two surgeries and she lived for about a month, but we just couldn't save her.”

Jody's Song produced three other foals including a 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo who broke her maiden last summer at Belmont and retired to Weston's broodmare band this year. She also has a 2-year-old colt by American Pharoah training in Ocala and another American Pharoah yearling colt.

Weston's boutique breeding program is strictly a breed-to-race operation. Along with a handful of mares in New York, he owns Sabrina's Angel (Scat Daddy), a half-sister to WinStar sire Audible.

Weston said that he considers breeding a filly like Jody's Pride to be one of the highlights of his time in the game.

“It's a different feeling,” he explained. “Not that I don't enjoy Porta Fortuna and the others because I do, but it's a different feeling when you breed one and you're racing it, especially at a high level.”

Jody's Pride as a yearling at Ashford | courtesy Ashford Stud

Weston co-owns Jody's Pride with his good friend Joe D'Agostino of Sportsmen Stable. The pair has been counting down the days until their star filly's 3-year-old debut.

Jody's Pride was originally pointing for the GII Davona Dale S., but after she put in two works at Gulfstream, Abreu decided to send her to the Busher S. at Aqueduct, where she has won once before.

“She's up there now and she's ready to go,” Weston reported. “It was different when we went into the Breeders' Cup because we were not expecting much. There wasn't much pressure and we were just happy to be there. Now I'm sorry to say that our hopes are so high that going into New York, sure we hope we win, but we expect to run really well.”

Weston has followed this same path to the Oaks before. In 2022 Venti Valentine (Firing Line), a filly Parkland Thoroughbreds co-owns with NY Final Furling Racing Stable, won the Busher and was second in the GII Gazelle S. before taking her connections to the Oaks. While the Abreu trainee finished well back in 14th that day, she has since proven to be a skilled New York-bred stakes filly for the group, most recently finishing second in the Broadway S. at Aqueduct on Feb. 17.

Weston has a lot to look forward to this spring as many of his top horses are set to return to the racetrack in the coming weeks.

Porta Fortuna, who ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has returned to training for the partnership of Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Barry Fowler and will make her 3-year-old debut back in her home country of Ireland in early April.

Papilio, who is co-owned by DJ Stable, Medallion Racing and Barry Fowler, made her 4-year-old debut at Gulfstream this past weekend and finished a close second to MSW Sweet Dani Girl (Jess's Dream).

Mischievous Angel (Into Mischief) is a 4-year-old out of Weston's broodmare Sabrina's Angel. The gelding broke his maiden on debut last June and then finished sixth in the GII Hall of Fame S. While the Chad Brown trainee hasn't seen the starting gate since, Weston said he has been putting in solid works at Palm Meadows this year and is set to make his 4-year-old debut at Keeneland this spring.

“I have had a lot of lean years, but the last couple of years have really improved,” he said, and then grinned. “I think I'm actually almost breaking even.”

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Hard to Justify Gives Brown A Sixth BC Juvenile Fillies Turf Title

It took about 45 minutes for Justify to add to his Breeders' Cup grab, as HARD TO JUSTIFY (–Instant Reflex, by Quality Road) managed to secure a handy position from gate 12, relaxed kindly through the middle fractions and kept on very gamely to hold off an equally game try from the Donnacha O'Brien-trained Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) to give trainer Chad Brown a remarkable sixth success in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, where he won his very first Breeders' Cup race some 15 years ago in the same event with Maram.

The $190,000 Keeneland September yearling, who earned her way into the Breeders' Cup with a tally in the GIII Miss Grillo S. at Aqueduct last month, was guided down towards the inside by Flavien Prat to sit just off the flank of Dreamfyre (Flameaway), herself the all-the-way winner of the local prep, the Oct. 8 Surfer Girl S. Asked to confront the front-runner approaching the entrance to the stretch, Hard to Justify edged in front and battled on bravely for the victory as Porta Fortuna was just beaten. Favored She Feels Pretty, a daughter of GI Breeders' Cup Mile hero Karakontie (Jpn), was unable to get in from her high draw and was therefore consigned to a four-wide trip, but she, too, boxed on determinedly to finish not far away. It was a 17th Breeders' Cup victory overall for Brown and fifth for Prat, who was aboard Flightline (Tapit) in that history-making Classic last fall.

 

Friday, Santa Anita
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF-GI, $920,000, Santa Anita, 11-3, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.42, fm.
1–HARD TO JUSTIFY, 122, f, 2, by Justify
             1st Dam: Instant Reflex (GSP), by Quality Road
             2nd Dam: Without Delay, by Seeking the Gold
             3rd Dam: Slow Down, by Seattle Slew
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Wise Racing LLC; B-Yeguada Centurion S.L. (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $520,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $687,750. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Porta Fortuna (Ire), 122, f, 2, by Caravaggio
             1st Dam: Too Precious (Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)
             2nd Dam: Delicate Charm (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire)
             3rd Dam: Kantikoy (GB), by Alzao
O-Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Barry Fowler; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd (Ire); T-Donnacha O'Brien. $170,000.
3–She Feels Pretty, 122, f, 2, by Karakontie (Jpn)
             1st Dam: Summer Sweet, by More Than Ready
             2nd Dam: Summer Solstice (Ire), by Caerleon
             3rd Dam: Summer Sonnet (GB), by Baillamont
($240,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Lael Stables; B-Payson Stud Inc (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. $90,000.
Margins: HF, HD, 3/4. Odds: 9.10, 3.80, 3.50.
Also Ran: Content (Ire), Austere, Buchu, Carla's Way (Ire), Life's an Audible, Dreamfyre, Laulne (Fr), Les Pavots (Ire), Flattery, Gala Brand, Buttercream Babe. Scratched: Go With Gusto, Mo Fox Givin.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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‘She’s Been a Superstar For Us This Year’: Fortuna Out to Favour The Brave

ARCADIA, USA–Bar those who have raced recently in the US, the European horses arrived at Santa Anita on Sunday evening, with their trainers mostly following on over the next few days. One early bird at the track on Sunday morning was Donnacha O'Brien, who is entitled to want to soak up as much of the atmosphere as he can this week as he has brought a Group 1-winning juvenile to be his first runner at the Breeders' Cup.

Only Bob Baffert has accrued more prize-money earnings than Donnacha's father Aidan O'Brien in the 39 previous runnings of the Breeders' Cup, with the Irishman's 16 winners having contributed towards a haul of more than $30 million. Brother Joseph O'Brien, too, has his name on the board with one winner from five starters to date. That success, in the Breeders' Cup Mile also at Santa Anita back in 2019, came with Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}), whose success was followed up in the same race the next year by her half-brother Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}), trained by Aidan. 

What made those two victories all the more special was the fact that the siblings were bred by Aidan and Annemarie O'Brien under their Whisperview Trading banner, and now it is the turn of his Donnacha to attempt to secure another Breeders' Cup winner for his parents as breeders with Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio). More importantly, however, the filly will be carrying the hopes of a large number of American owners in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday.

“We've been coming to the Breeders' Cup since as along as I can remember, and I've been lucky enough to ride at a few, but this is my first one as a trainer, so it's exciting. I haven't been to the Breeders' Cup in the last few years because I haven't had a runner, so it's nice to be back,” said O'Brien, the former dual champion jockey in Ireland who retired from race-riding in 2019

Porta Fortuna remains confined to barracks until being allowed on to the main track on Tuesday morning.

“She travelled well and is in good form, and seems to have settled in well,” he continued. “She's been a superstar for us this year. To win at Ascot was fantastic, but she had two wins before Ascot, so to still be going, and to have run in three Group 1s in a row, and against the boys as well, she's danced every dance and she's a very tough filly. We're very lucky to have her, she's been great for us.”

That she has. From her maiden win at the Curragh on April 16, Porta Fortuna went straight into Pattern company for her first run in the colours of her new team of owners to win the G3 Fillies' Sprint S. at Naas, enjoying the perfect tune up before her first spot of travelling to Ascot for the G3 Albany S. Come August, she was chasing home Bucanero Fuerte (Fr) to be second in the G1 Phoenix S. before taking third in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. Finally she secured her own Group 1 success on her return to Britain for the Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket. She steps up now for a tight, turning mile, the first time she has gone beyond seven furlongs. 

Her trainer reported, “She has taken every run very well. She's not a filly who needs a lot of work at home. She's not difficult to train, her races kind of bring her along.

“She is owned by Steve Weston, Barry Fowler, Dean Reeves and Medallion Thoroughbreds, as well, which is a big syndicate. They are all American, and from the moment they bought her this was the dream and it has just worked out incredibly well. It's great to be able to bring her over to the US for them.”

The success of Porta Fortuna has also prompted greater involvement in O'Brien's stable from the ownership group, who bought into the filly through agent Mark McStay.

He added, “They bought her after she won a maiden, and they have bought some yearlings for me this year.

“In Ireland there's a small pool of owners, but internationally there's obviously a big interest in racing. This isn't something we've done on purpose, we were just lucky enough to get involved with these guys and it's brilliant to have some success for them.”

The one question that remains is how Porta Fortuna will cope with a two-turn mile after the wide open expanses of the Curragh plains and Newmarket Heath.

“We won't be sure until we go and do it, so we'll see,” said O'Brien. “It's going to be a lot different for her. Every race she's had so far has been on a straight track but she trains round a left-handed bend every day at home, so she's well used to turning left. She's obviously going up in trip as well, but on tight tracks, a mile around here is going to be like seven in Europe, and she has stayed seven before. We're not sure until we try but I feel she should handle it.”

 

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McStay Makes Hay In America – And Anisette Looks Another Stateside Star

In running out an impressive winner of the G2 San Clemente S. at Del Mar last weekend, Anisette (GB) (Awtaad {Ire}) capped a memorable few months for bloodstock agent Mark McStay, who helped source the filly privately on behalf of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. 

McStay had already been provided with one of his biggest kicks in racing this summer when Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio), who he purchased on behalf of a host of American owners, landed the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot. 

Porta Fortuna could well be aimed at the Breeders' Cup later in the year while Anisette has Grade I targets more immediately. America has been a happy hunting ground for McStay, whose fingerprints are also all over high class Stateside performers Selenaia (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) and Papillo (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), and he's keen to soak in the strong run of form.

On his latest big-race winner, McStay commented, “I signed for Anisette as a yearling and she is a filly whose career I watched closely in Britain. When she won at Wolverhampton in December, I thought she was very eye-catching and it was myself and one other agent who were on her straight away. I sent her to Aron Wellman, who is a guy who makes his mind up pretty quickly, and he is very experienced and successful at what he does. 

“Thankfully, we were on the same page with her and managed to get a deal done. From the moment she has gone out there, I have heard nothing but good reports and thankfully they have proved to be correct.”

McStay's good record across the Atlantic stems much further back than Anisette. Dubawi Heights, who was part-owned by his mother Clodagh, won twice at the highest level in California in 2011 and McStay has continued to make hay in the jurisdiction through his private purchases on behalf of various different clients.   

“Historically, I have had plenty of luck in America and that goes all the way back to Dubawi Heights (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was sent out there with Simon Callaghan, his father Neville, my mother [Clodagh] and MV Magnier,” McStay said. 

“She won two Grade Is out there in 2011 and Miss Keller (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), who I bought as a yearling, was another filly who did very well out there and won the EP Taylor. I have had a lot of luck in America and I think finding a filly with the right outlook and attitude is key.”

On what he looks for in form horses when trying to fill orders for America, he continued, “Anisette is very genuine and is clearly very talented. Dubawi Heights had that same attitude and outlook and you need to find horses who are on an upward curve and look like they will progress. We don't have a crystal ball and it can be very hard to predict what will happen but, if you think there is more in the tank when you are buying them, that is always the question you need to be asking yourself when you are buying a form horse. 

“With Anisette, looking at her physically, there was always going to be plenty of progression. She's a beautiful-looking filly and was still quite unfurnished when we bought her. Leonard Powell has done a great job with her and has taken his time and Kevin was a star to deal with in brokering the deal as well. He's a great guy and is one of those young trainers who is very much on the up.”

Another handler who fits into that category is Donnacha O'Brien, trainer of the unbeaten Royal Ascot heroine Porta Fortuna. McStay acted quickly to snap up the filly on behalf of Medallion Racing, Dean Reeves, Barry Fowler and Steve Weston after she won her Curragh maiden and it has proved one of his shrewdest acquisitions. 

“That was huge,” McStay reflected. “Ascot is where all the big owners want to have winners and Porta Fortuna delivering for Medallion Racing, Dean Reeves, Barry Fowler and Steve Weston was massive. On a personal level, I have been going to Royal Ascot since I have been living in England and when I was working with Godolphin-which is 20 years ago-so, to have one that you have purchased on behalf of clients go and deliver on the big stage, it's huge. As an agent, it's the type of result you need to be getting. When people are spending good money you need to be getting those results.”

On future plans for the filly, McStay said, “She has loads of options which Donnacha will discuss with her owners. The Phoenix Stakes might be one and the Cheveley Park Stakes could be another. The owners are American and I think they would like to stretch her out in trip in time so maybe that might happen at the Breeders' Cup. She was so professional in the Albany and is a beautiful individual. She's got the size and scope and won't just be a two-year-old, with a bit of luck. Hopefully she has a big career in front of her.”

Papilo, bought privately on behalf of D J Stable LLC, Medallion Racing Et Al from Irish trainer Fozzy Stack to continue her career with Mark Casse, has already delivered the goods with a Grade 2 win at Keeneland back in April. The Saratoga Oaks could be next for the three-year-old, for which McStay plans to be in attendance prior to hot-footing it to Arqana for the August Sale. 

It was at that sale where Deauville Legend (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), on course to contest one of the hottest King Georges in recent history at Ascot on Saturday, was sourced on behalf of the agent's major supporter Bon Ho back in 2020 for €200,000. McStay says he will be out to find the next classy performer in France next month but wouldn't be able to enjoy the run of success he is enjoying with the support of his family.

He explained, “Deauville Legend is a huge price [40-1] for the King George. I don't think it's a reflection on him but more the quality of the race. Mr Ho is based in Hong Kong and that is where this horse will finish his season. Deauville Legend had a long hard season last year and, with the Hong Kong International race meeting taking place in December, we weren't in any hurry to get him out this season. I think the lack of a run counted against him at Royal Ascot [when fourth in the Hardwicke] and I expect him to run a big race in the King George. Mr Ho has been a huge supporter of mine in recent years and is such an enthusiastic owner. I really appreciate the faith he's placed in me and he's got some very nice horses both in Europe and Australia-I hope he'll be rewarded by landing another one of these big International Group 1 races soon.

“The sale season is upon us and I'm looking forward to Arqana next month. It has been a lucky spot for us over the past few years so hopefully we might be able to unearth another nice horse or two from there. I go over there nice and early and provide my clients with an overview of the sale. With a smaller catalogue like Aqrana, it affords you the time to do that.”

He added, “A number of my clients are overseas, be it Hong Kong, Australia, America or Dubai, and with time differences etc, being able to send out lists and giving people the time to digest the information, that's a big plus. At the end of the day, most of these people are well-informed and want to be involved in the buying process so a sale like Arqana, where you have the extra bit of time, it's huge. 

“I can't wait for Arqana and am actually going to Saratoga beforehand. I did my diary with my wife Eva the other day for the next six months and, on a serious note, this job would not be possible without her support. I couldn't do the job that I do without Eva being behind me one hundred and ten per cent. Being an agent, or working in any capacity in this industry, the hours and the time that we give to it is far from nine to five. Having a family behind you that allows you to do your job well is crucial.” 

 

 

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