Royal Ascot: Donnacha O'Brien beats father in Coronation Stakes with Porta Fortuna

After training Auguste Rodin to win the featured Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and Kyprios in the featured Gold Cup on Thursday, an O’Brien saddled Porta Fortuna to win the featured Group 1 Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot.

But for the first time this week, it was not Aidan O’Brien winning a major race. Porta Fortuna resides in the yard of O’Brien’s son, Donnacha, and she ran down the Aidan O’Brien-trained Opera Singer to capture the Coronation by one length.

The Coronation, a one-turn mile for 3-year-old fillies, unfolded in an uncomplicated manner for the top two. Opera Singer pressed two wide as Skellet set the pace, Porta Fortuna following just behind Opera Singer. Skellet fell away in midstretch, Opera Singer took the lead, Portuna Fortuna attacked and pushed clear in the late stages.

Ramatuelle, the French 1000 Guineas winner, finished third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Opera Singer, with Elmalka a tepidly closing fourth.

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Porta Fortuna ($8.80) won at Royal Ascot last summer, landing the Albany Stakes. She became a Group 1 winner in the Cheveley Park last fall at Newmarket and went on to finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Second by a neck to Elmalka in the English 2000 Guineas, a straight mile run over more undulating ground than the flatter Ascot course, Porta Fortuna showed she’s just as high class at age 3 as she was as a juvenile.

Now 5-3-1 from nine starts, Porta Fortuna is by Caravaggio out of the Holy Roman Emperor mare Too Precious. The filly has American owners – Medallion Racing, S. Weston, B. Fowler, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing – who would like to get her back to the Breeders’ Cup this fall, O’Brien said in post-race comments.

In Friday’s second Group 1, the Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds over a straight six furlongs, Inisherin validated his favoritism with a decisive 2 1/4-length tally over late-running Lake Forest, who nabbed Jasour for second on the wire.

Trained by Kevin Ryan, Inisherin paid $6, his relatively short price mainly motivated by a powerhouse score in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock Park. Ridden by Tom Eaves, Inisherin traveled beautifully through the early and middle stages in his recent start at and did so again Friday.

Moving from a stalking position on the far side of the course to take the lead without being asked, Inisherin quickly opened daylight on 13 rivals and never came close to being threatened. Inisherin, who has come far forward as a 3-year-old, is by Shamardal out of Ajman Princess, by Teofilo.

Lesser stakes, the Group 3 Albany, a sprint for 2-year-old fillies, and the Group 2 King Edward VII, a 1 1/2-mile race for 3-year-olds, produced noteworthy winners.

In the six-furlong Albany, favored Fairy Godmother appeared hopelessly beaten a quarter-mile from the finish, stuck in traffic with nowhere to launch a run. Ryan Moore, riding for Aidan O’Brien, gave up on finding a way through the morass and steered sharply left to come around the horses blocking his path.

Getting clear with a only furlong to race, Fairy Godmother shouldn’t have been able to rally in time but did, scoring by three-quarters of a length. The filly is by Night of Thunder out of Scintilating, by Siyouni, and is a horse to watch this summer.

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Calandagan made an equally impressive move from the rear of the 14-runner King Edward field to win by a massive margin, six lengths, under Stephane Pasquier. An Aga Khan homebred trained in France by Francis-Henri Graffard, Calandagan was gelded after winning one of two starts as a 2-year-old of 2023.

Defeated in his first race this year, Calandagan won a pair of Group 3s in France before storming home Friday with a sustained eye-catching blitz. Calandagan is by Gleneagles out of Calayana, by Sinndar, and he looks ready for higher-level competition.

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