SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. – Portfolio Duration, on the lead from the start, lasted just long enough to win the New York Stakes on Friday at Saratoga. The 4-year-old filly not only added a first stakes score to her holdings, she won a Grade 1 while making just her fifth start and only her second in stakes competition. It seems fair to say the wire saved Portfolio Duration in the $750,000 New York, run over a firm grass course at 1 3/16 miles. Cankoura, who shipped from France to make her North American debut, closed fast on Portfolio Duration through the final half-furlong but came up a head short. Chad Brown, who trains Portfolio Duration for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, added a sixth New York to his record-setting total. Flavien Prat rode his first New York winner and never had another horse in front of him. That’s how Brown figured the race would pan out. :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Betting Strategies by Mike Beer and David Aragona feature exclusive wager recommendations! Her career interrupted by one long layoff, Portfolio Duration only scored a second-out maiden win this past December. Fully aware he had a horse of true quality, Brown plotted a late spring and summer stakes schedule for the 4-year-old filly, starting with Distaff Turf Mile on May 2 at Churchill, where she closed hard from midpack before coming up a neck short of the front-running winner. Brown predicted earlier this week that Portfolio Duration, breaking from the rail, would lead. “On a stretch-out from a mile to a mile and three-sixteenths, that’s a pretty good jump, and you look at the fractions she ran last time she figured to be on the lead if she broke well,” Brown said. “We gave [Prat] full clearance to do that it. It just wasn’t clear who was going to be out there with her.” Nobody, it turned out. That was in part because the riders on two other Brown-trained horses, Irad Ortiz Jr. on City Girl and Jose Ortiz on Kathynmarissa, each took a big hold of their mount just out of the gate. Part of that had to do with Gezora, who broke from the far outside, coming over slightly just after the start, Kathynmarissa drawn next to her, City Girl inside Kathynmarissa. Even so, it took a mighty pull from Irad Ortiz to get his mount back, eventually to last, and by the time Jose Ortiz moved forward on Kathynmarissa, the first turn had come up and she was stuck three to four paths wide with no cover. Things also were going poorly for Gezora, the 9-5 favorite. Winner of the French Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last year while trained by Francis-Henri Graffard – Cankoura’s trainer – Gezora finished second to Kathynmarissa in the Modesty Stakes last month, her first and last start for Brown. In mid-May, owner Peter Brant moved the filly to trainer Bill Mott, who watched as Gezora, a little rank early after being asked for a touch of speed out of the gate, wound up three wide with no cover into the first turn, closer to the lead than expected. The first quarter mile was slow, 24.39, the half even slower, 49.21. Jose Ortiz had moved forward on Kathynmarissa but did not want to go all the way up to challenge Portfolio Duration. “I thought he actually crept up and improved her position without harming my other horse,” Brown said. “He was trying to walk a tight line there.” Going to the three-furlong pole around the far turn, Kathynmarissa finally did apply a bit of pressure on Portfolio Duration, but the main threat to the pacesetter had yet to emerge. Clement Lecoeuvre, riding in just his fifth North American race, his first since 2020, had early trouble of his own on Cankoura. Laurelin had broken well enough and moved forward in the very early stages to engage Portfolio Duration, but for whatever reason – Prat might have moved slightly into her path – lost stride going under the wire for the first time, forcing jockey Kendrick Carmouche to steady. Laurelin backed up into Cankoura’s path and Lecoeuvre, too, had to snatch the reins, losing a couple lengths before getting over to the rail into the first bend. There Cankoura stayed most of her trip, revving up going to the five-sixteenths marker and coming into the homestretch full of run. Lecoeuvre angled off the fence at the three-sixteenths, coming outside Portfolio Duration and Kathynmarissa, whereupon Cankoura made a couple subtle but costly mistakes, giving a little hop as she came to the gate tracks on the turf course, and, as she bore down on the pacesetter, jumping into a very late lead change. Two more strides, and she wins anyway. Brown wondered earlier this week if Portfolio Duration would quite see out this trip. He’d pegged the filly as a horse to aim for the Grade 1 Diana here over 1 1/8 miles. A mile and three-sixteenths proved just within her scope. Kathynmarissa, considering ground loss, did well to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths out of second, and City Girl, buried at the back of the field most of the race, finished fastest for fourth, another 1 1/4 lengths behind. Gezora, meanwhile, barely got out of second gear, cooked by the far turn and fading to a last of eight, nearly six lengths behind seventh-place Speed Shopper. Portfolio Duration clocked 1:52.50 and paid $10 as the third choice. Bred in Great Britain and purchased there, the filly is by Night of Thunder out of Shemya, by Dansili. Brown still has the Diana in mind. Portfolio Duration already is a Grade 1 winner. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.