By Tom Frary
Newmarket's July Festival witnessed some smart performances from big names on the opening day and Friday's action looks set to follow that pattern with Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) the leading lady in the feature G1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes. Surprisingly, she has proven adept at this mile despite showing abundant pace as a juvenile when winning the G3 Albany Stakes and G1 Cheveley Park Stakes. Runner-up in the 1,000 Guineas, the filly who races for Steven Weston, Barry Fowler, Medallion Racing and Reeves Racing went to Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation Stakes as one who had a little to find.
Ultimately emerging best in that title decider contested by the elite of her sex in this category, the star of the Donnacha O'Brien stable faces a different examination over the straight course here and with the ground probably similar to the good-to-yielding on which she dead-heated for third in The Curragh's G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. “The Coronation Stakes was probably as strong a fillies' race as you could have and all the best 3-year-olds were there, maybe barring Fallen Angel, and she proved herself top class,” her trainer said.
“I would be worried if it stayed soft and her two worst runs last year–even though she never ran badly–were on ground that was slightly easier, but there isn't much rain due on the forecast and Newmarket can dry out quickly, so we're hoping it can dry out before the race,” he added. “The plan was to go either here or the Prix Rothschild. We'll probably give her a little break after this and start her back in the autumn in the Matron Stakes and hopefully end up at the Breeders' Cup at the end of the year.”
Will She Roar?
Following her emphatic win in the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes on the Rowley Mile course in this town last May, David Howden's Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion) has become something of a quandary wrapped in an enigma. Withdrawn from the start of the Oaks and disappointing in the Prix de Diane, she was ending a six-race winless sequence when storming back to her best in Royal Ascot's G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes last time. “She was able to do her own thing at Royal Ascot and enjoyed meeting the ground,” Oisin Murphy said. “She was an impressive winner there. A mile is probably her minimum distance and it won't be to her disadvantage if the ground is on the easy side at Newmarket, but this is as good a chance as she'll get in a Group 1.”
A High Rolla?
Of the remainder, Scott Heider's Rogue Millennium (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) has to bounce back from a disappointing effort when fifth defending her crown in the Duke of Cambridge while the Mutual Admiration Society Partnership's A Lilac Rolla (Ire) (Harry Angel {Ire}) has to up her game despite having finished runner-up in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in May. “She's a progressive filly who has done well from two to three,” trainer Paddy Twomey said of the latter. “Her form this year has been pretty good and the Falmouth or the Prix Rothschild was always the midsummer target after she won an Irish Guineas trial and was second in the Irish Guineas itself. We'll then probably be looking at something like the Matron Stakes. I'd imagine this one is a miler and we are hoping there's a bit more to come from her still.”
Moore of the Same?
Thursday saw Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore carry on their momentum and they combine with the likely favourite in Friday's G2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes as the G3 Albany Stakes third Heavens Gate (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}). That form looks typically strong and this could even be a less-competitive affair despite the rise in grade, with Godolphin's re-opposing TDN Rising Star Mountain Breeze (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) needing to find 2 3/4 lengths on that running. Qatar Racing Limited and Fergus Galvin's Mighty Eriu (Ire) (Inns Of Court {Ire}) was a surprise second at 50-1 in the five-furlong G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and is joined again by Maw Lam (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), a neck further away having also traded at those odds.
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