THERE has been plenty spoken in recent times about a lack of depth at the highest level of Irish flat racing this year, as well as the growing theme of British-trained runners capturing major prizes on these shores.

Away from Aidan O’Brien’s A-listers - the likes of Auguste Rodin, City Of Troy and Kyprios - it does feel like we are in the middle of somewhat lean times for Ireland’s domestic team at the top end. News of Dermot Weld’s Oaks heroine Ezeliya being retired following a setback did no favours to the strength of that picture either.

As far as Irish-trained runners plundering marquee prizes overseas is concerned, though, there has been one standout flagbearer trained away from Ballydoyle in 2024.

Last week’s Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes scorer Porta Fortuna has developed into one of the most dependable and likeable fillies in Europe for Donnacha O’Brien. Her sheer consistency and toughness have been the cornerstones of a tremendous CV being developed to this point of her three-year-old season.

The winner of six of her 10 starts - three of those victories now coming at Group 1 level - she has never finished out of the first three in her life and is a dual Royal Ascot winner.

The daughter of Caravaggio has scored under five different jockeys, at five furlongs, six furlongs and a mile, while also finishing a close second in both the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita. She has won on both good to firm and heavy ground (and unusually carried six different variations of silks!).

Improving filly

Granted, the crop of fillies and mares campaigned in top-level contests over a mile right now does not look to be a vintage one by any means.

However, the Whisperview Trading-bred three-year-old only appears to be getting better and better with each start.

Her three-and-three-quarter-length margin of victory in the Falmouth was by far her biggest to date, and she ought to be a tough nut to crack in fillies-only company for the remainder of the season, wherever she goes. What a joy she must be to own for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Barry Fowler, Medallion Racing and Steve and Debbie Weston of Parkland Thoroughbreds.

Perhaps it is a product of us being so familiar with success for his family on the big stage, or the fact he is not the type of character to trumpet loudly about his own accomplishments, but it almost feels as though Donnacha O’Brien’s exploits with this filly - and more broadly in recent years - may not be getting the level of recognition he deserves for such excellent campaigning.

He has nurtured an April five-furlong maiden winner at two to now become one of the best milers during the high-summer period in Europe at three. That is no mean feat with a horse who come to hand as early as Porta Fortuna did. O’Brien has handled her exquisitely.

What’s more, from a relatively small string each year, he has continued to deliver Group 1 winners and have his representatives show up in peak form for the big day. That goes back as far as his first six months with a licence, when becoming the youngest trainer from Ireland or Britain to win a classic through Fancy Blue in the 2020 Prix de Diane at Chantilly, aged just 21 years and 349 days old at the time.

Group 1 haul

Feature-race success at Newmarket’s July Festival last weekend brought O’Brien to an impressive tally of seven Group 1 winners in the space of four years. In that period, only Aidan O’Brien (67), Joseph O’Brien (11), and Dermot Weld (10) notched more flat Group 1 or Grade 1 winners from the entire population of trainers in Ireland.

To stretch it out a step further and compare that haul to some leading British operations, Andrew Balding has trained six Group 1 winners in the same timeframe, Roger Varian has sent out nine and Ralph Beckett has notched 10. O’Brien is more than holding his own at the top table when the opportunity arises, and he is doing so with a much smaller team than any of those yards.

In the 2023 season, according to Irish Racing’s database, O’Brien was represented by just 39 different horses. He won with 15 of them, resulting in a healthy 38% winners-to-individual-runners strike rate.

Aidan O’Brien, out on his own in the Group 1 standings, had 160 different horses run for him last season, Joseph O’Brien had an even bigger 223 and Dermot Weld fared well with his team of 68. The British trainers referenced earlier had significantly bigger individual runner totals of 254 (Balding), 195 (Varian) and 191 (Beckett).

On a more day-to-day level, O’Brien is one shy of a half-century of maiden winners in Ireland since beginning training, and his 16% strike rate in this category of race ranks him behind only his father, Paddy Twomey and Ger Lyons among trainers with at least 70 runners in Irish maidens since 2020.

Plenty achieved

Of course, it is an obvious help when dealing with smartly-bred Coolmore stock in many cases, and he has had an outstanding chance to experience the ins and outs of training from growing up in Ballydoyle.

However, it must be remembered that O’Brien only turns 26 this coming Monday. He has achieved a considerable amount already in this sphere, having quit riding at just 21.

His first runner in Britain was a Group 1 winner in the 2020 Nassau Stakes with Fancy Blue, Shale provided a first Irish top-level success later that season in the Moyglare Stud Stakes and Proud And Regal was well placed to land the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud in 2022.

There have been a dozen other blacktype winners in a relatively short window.

In terms of other Group 1 ventures, O’Brien also saddled the runner-up in both the 2022 Irish Derby with Piz Badile and 2021 Vertem Futurity Trophy with Sissoko, the latter sold afterwards to Hong Kong.

Ireland may be light on flat performers away from Ballydoyle at the very highest level right now, but O’Brien and Porta Fortuna are doing their bit to keep the flag flying. They are consistently proving an ability to produce the goods on the big occasion.