AIDAN & ANNEMARIE O’BRIEN, Whisperview Trading

Porta Fortuna (Ire), 2021 f. by Caravaggio out of Too Precious, by Holy Roman Emperor

PREVIOUS winners of the Connolly’s Red Mills/the Irish Field Flat Breeder of the Year Award, Aidan and Annemarie O’Brien are back again with another monthly nomination. This time it is for Porta Fortuna. Donnacha O’Brien believes that the three-year-old is not always given the recognition she deserves, and he is probably correct.

Porta Fortuna won the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. At two she was successful at Newmarket in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, and she returned to that track to land the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Goodwood.

In addition to these victories, among six to date, she finished runner-up in the Group 1 1000 Guineas, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, and the only time she was out of the first two was when dead-heating for third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Porta Fortuna is trained by Donnacha, bred by his parents, was owned by his mum Annemarie when she won her first start, is a son of Caravaggio who was trained by his father Aidan, and is the first foal out of a mare who was trained by his brother Joseph. The filly’s third dam Kantikoy was purchased by Annemarie in 2003 at Goffs for €10,000.

Kantikoy is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner and classic-placed Kithanga, herself dam of the Group 1 St Leger winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Milan (Sadler’s Wells).

JIMMY MURPHY, Redpender Stud

Mill Stream (Ire), 2020 c. by Gleneagles out of Swirral Edge, by Hellvelyn

A WEEK after Palladium’s Group 1 victory in the mile and a half Deutsches (German) Derby, the European champion miler Gleneagles displayed his great versatility by siring another Group 1 winner, this time the six-furlong July Cup hero, Mill Stream.

Bred by Jimmy Murphy at Redpender Stud, the four-year-old’s victory also provided his half-brother Asymmetric with a nice update, That Group 2 Richmond Stakes winner, who placed in the Group 1 Prix Morny, has just completed his first season at Ballyhane Stud. The pair are the first two foals out of Swirral Edge. Asymmetric sold for 150,000gns as a breezer, and Mill Stream was purchased by Stroud Coleman for 350,000gns in Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale.

Swirral Edge is one of six winners from six runners for the Shamardal mare Pizzarra. Jimmy Murphy’s belief in this family has been strengthened, as he owns the three-year-old daughter of Pizzarra, Zarra Ellis (Eqtidaar), and she won her maiden last month in Cork. Murphy bought her as a foal. Pizzarra was placed and was the only one of nine runners out of Pizzicato not to win. The eight successful offspring included a pair of blacktype winners, both fillies, and both have gone on to breed stakes winners.

Wunders Dream won the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes and the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes, and her half-sister Grecian Dancer won the Group 3 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes, while at Royal Ascot she placed in the Group 2 Windsor Forest Stakes.

EVA-MARIA BUCHER-HAEFNER, Moyglare Stud Farm

Kyprios (Ire), 2018 c. by Galileo out of Polished Gem, by Danehill

WHAT a special horse Kyprios is, and he has shown recently that he is as good as ever, having survived a scare that threatened his very existence. One of just three horses ever to regain the Group 1 Gold Cup crown at Royal Ascot, he took his tally of wins to 12 when he also won the Group 1 Goodwood Cup for a second time, and this was success number six at the highest level. His winnings are approaching £2 million.

The emergence of Kyprios meant that he became the third Group 1 winner for Polished Gem. His other wins include the Group 1 Prix du Cadran and the Irish St Leger. Prior to Kyprios, Polished Gem’s best offspring were the dual Group 1 Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song, and Group 1 winner and Anngrove Stud sire Free Eagle.

Add to that list Group 2 winners Custom Cut and Sapphire, Group 3 winner Valac, and stakes winners Falcon Eight and Amma Grace. From a family that has a long history with Moyglare Stud, almost matching the time since the farm was founded, Polished Gem has an impeccable record as a producer – 10 foals, runners and winners. Eight of these won stakes races.

Polished Gem is a winning daughter of Danehill and the classic winner Trusted Partner. Both Trusted Partner and her dam, Talking Picture, produced 11 winners each. Talking Picture was champion two-year-old filly in the USA and won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and Grade 1 Matron Stakes.

JIMMY MANGAN

Pinkerton (Ire), 2016 g. by Ocovango out of Mistress Pope, by Catcher In The Rye

TEN years after he won the race for the first time, the Galway specialist Noel Meade produced a second winner of the Grade 3 Galway Plate, this time with the lightly-raced but very consistent Pinkerton. This win was hugely popular.

Bred by Jimmy Mangan, Pinkerton was sold as a three-year-old at the Goffs Land Rover Sale for €21,000 to Meade. He has run 14 times, been out of the first three on only two occasions, and this was his fifth career success, and third over fences. His wins also include a listed chase at Punchestown, and he had a number of smart placed efforts over hurdles.

Pinkerton is the first foal out of the unraced Mistress Pope, and her second, the Leading Light gelding Eden Mill, won a handicap hurdle at Kelso last November. An unnamed filly followed, as did the unraced five-year-old Potters Voyage, by Sans Frontieres, a four-year-old filly by Galileo’s son Soldier Of Fortune, and a two-year-old filly by another son of Galileo, this time Order Of St George.

Both of Mistress Pope’s winning siblings were placed at Grade 2 level, eight-time winner Frascati Park and five-time winning chaser Fix The Rib. Their unraced half-sister That’s Amazing, a daughter of Marignan, bred Mister Fisher, and he won seven races.

A son of the much-missed Jeremy, Mister Fisher was successful over the smaller obstacles and he won the Grade 2 Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle. His chase victories included three Grade 2 level successes.