Porta Fortuna confirmed her position at the top of the female miling division with another Group 1 success in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday.
It was a third straight Group 1 victory for the filly, whose only defeat came in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on seasonal reappearance. A top-class juvenile performer, winner of the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, the Donnacha O'Brien-trained filly has held her form at three and continues to delight connections with her exploits.
Porta Fortuna arguably faced her toughest task to date against Irish 1000 Guineas winner Fallen Angel, but Tom Marquand was always confident on the talented filly, remaining in touch with the leaders before kicking for home with a furlong to run. She remained on top all the way to the line, recording a one-length success over Fallen Angel with George Boughey's Soprano back in third.
In an interview with RTE, trainer Donnacha O'Brien said: "She's an incredible filly, she shows up every day. It's a huge honour and pleasure to train her and I'm lucky to have her.
"You can never be confident going into a Group One, they are always hard to win. No matter what the bookies are saying they are always very tough to win, but she makes it look easy.
"She's always been good, but you can never be sure they are going to develop into something like that, you can never dream of that.
"She won very well at the Curragh and then she was bought by Mark McStay for Steve Weston, Philip Shelton, who represents Medallion Racing, Dean Reeves and Barry Fowler, who is not here today.
"It's just a huge honour to have the filly, she's very special. We'll take her home and see how she is, but all being well we'll be going to Del Mar.
"She'll get an easy week or two. I'll have to confirm with the owners, but we had it in our heads that if she won here she'd skip Newmarket and we'd prep her for America."
Despite post-race comments, Paddy Power reacted to the win by shortening Porta Fortuna to an evens favourite from 7/4 for the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket.
