'Everyone knows how hard it is to breed a winner here' - Royal Ascot double a treasured occasion for Ana O'Brien

Among the youngest of breeders honoured at a lunch at Ascot on Friday for those responsible for the winners at last month's royal meeting was just about the most successful of them all.

Ana O'Brien, the daughter of trainer Aidan and wife Annemarie, is now at the helm of Whisperview Trading, the family's breeding operation based near her brother Joseph's stables in County Kilkenny.

Their keynote achievement was through her other brother Donnacha's brilliant Porta Fortuna, who became a back-to-back Royal Ascot winner when she took the Coronation Stakes and then added the Falmouth Stakes at the July festival. Whisperview also bred Port Fairy, who won the Ribblesdale Stakes.

Aidan O'Brien has trained more winners at the showpiece than anyone else but Ana, 28, said 2024 was particularly special.

"For me personally there's a bit more excitement when we’ve bred them, we’ve seen them come up all the way along, so for Donnacha to train one and Dad the other, it was even more exciting again," she said after joining fellow breeders for a photograph. "It’s great from the guys here at Ascot to put this on for the breeders, because everyone knows how hard it is to breed a winner here. It’s great to be here and to be appreciated."

Porta Fortuna beats Opera Singer to win the Coronation StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Porta Fortuna, a daughter of Caravaggio owned by a range of individuals and syndicates, is the first foal out of the Whisperview-bred Holy Roman Emperor mare Too Precious, who was owned by a syndicate and went through the ring at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale at the end of her career in 2019, when Ana O'Brien signed for her at €11,500.

"It’s only once in a lifetime those kind of fillies come around really, we are really enjoying having her," she said of Porta Fortuna. "We bought the mare back, not for very much money really. Joseph [brother] actually trained her originally, she was a good mare for Joseph, she won four races and was rated highly. We always liked her and wanted to hold on to her.

"We’ve unfortunately sold the dam on but hopefully she can breed something for the new owners. We have sisters of the dam, so we do have some of the family."

Like her siblings, O'Brien started out as a promising jockey and rode nearly 70 winners after starting as a 16-year-old. She suffered a horrible fall at Killarney six years ago, when multiple fractures in her back and neck ended her career. After a long rehabilitation, she quietly assessed her options for a future career and, with a love of horses in the blood, found she was happiest with the option on her doorstep.

Early success in the saddle for Ana O'Brien has been followed by a promising career in bloodstockCredit: Patrick McCann

"I retired from racing and a couple of years ago I started working on the farm," she said. "In the last year or so I’ve kind of taken over running it. I’m really enjoying it, it's a very different side from the actual racing itself but it’s great I can see it from both sides."

Whisperview has bred a number of useful horses over the years such as Breeders' Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia, Oaks heroine Qualify and juvenile Group 1 stars such as Beethoven, Intricately and Kingsbarns. The combination of family knowledge, which includes Ana's sister Sarah, a vet, the Coolmore sires to make use of and the training prowess of the rest of the clan makes them a force to be reckoned with.

"I guess the day-to-day working I'm there but all the big decisions we’d all make together," she says. "The reason how it happened wasn't how I expected but it definitely was always the side of the industry I was interested in."

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