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The winners keep on coming this season for Amo Racing and Ornellaia added another victory to the tally when taking the British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes on Thursday at Glorious Goodwood.
The Dominic Ffrench-Davis-trained juvenile shaped with promise on debut at the July course, struggling for room in the closing stages but stayed on well to finish third behind Sacred Angel. The form was given a boost when Sacred Angel won the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot, so it was little surprise to see Ornellaia go off favourite for her Goodwood assignment.
Jockey Kevin Stott kept it simple on the daughter of Night Of Thunder, sitting in second place before taking the lead with three furlongs to run. She drew clear of Classical Song with a furlong to go, comfortably beating the Ralph Beckett-trained filly by two lengths with plenty more in hand. Although Get Jiggy With It was only a short head back in third, there was a further four-and-a-half lengths back to the fourth-placed Eleftheria.
Named after an Italian wine producer, Ornellaia was bought for 260,000 guineas at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2022 and is out of the Group 3 placed mare Namhrooda. Trained by James Tate, Namhrooda won on her sole start as a juvenile but remained lightly raced until her four-year-old campaign when she flourished. An eye-catching winner of a Newmarket handicap over seven furlongs, she was subsequently tried in Black Type company, finishing third in the Listed Valiant Stakes before filling the same position in the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes at Goodwood. Namhrooda's first foal Shurakaa (Night Of Thunder) was bought for 200,000 at Book 2 in 2019 and never reached the track, eventually selling for 13,000 guineas at the Tattersalls February Sales in 2021.
Second dam Independent produced four winners from four runners, including Namhroodah and Ilwendo, who started his career in Germany before being sold to Australia and finishing second in the Listed Gold Cup at Gosford. Casting an eye further back in the pedigree, the page becomes littered with French Black Type when reaching Ornellaia's fourth dam, Sporades. Although successful in the Group 3 Prix de Flore on the racetrack, Sporades excelled when retired to stud, producing nine winners from thirteen runners. These included Listed winner Tigre D'Or and the Listed-placed Leave Us Leap and Shake The Moon.
