Luckless mare Fortunate Kiss chasing black type for new trainers

Fortunate by name, luckless by nature. That’s been the narrative for smart mare Fortunate Kiss, who is ramping up her preparation for new trainers Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans.

Fortunate Kiss hits the line to win at Caulfield in January. Picture: Brett Holburt / Racing Photos

Fortunate by name, luckless by nature. That’s been the narrative for smart mare Fortunate Kiss, who is ramping up her preparation for new trainers Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans.

Sold for $150,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May, Fortunate Kiss last Monday made a jumpout appearance for Kennewell and Yeomans at Cranbourne, where she shaded three-time Group 1 winner Pride Of Jenni for a tidy win.

Formerly trained by Daniel Bowman, the mare – a four-time race winner – has shown the class to compete strongly at stakes-level, but is still chasing an elusive black type win.

“She’s great, obviously one of our great clients Santo bought her from the broodmare sales,” Yeomans said.

“We got her back down to Victoria and have taken our time with her. She’s a lovely mare, she’s performed quite well in the past, we’ve freshened her up and kept her sharp.”

“There were quality horses that were having quiet trials (in that jumpout). We did ask our mare to do a little bit, she was given a bit of reign and clicked up, she responded really well, her data was really good.

“She handled the wet conditions so we think she’s in at the right time of year. We are hoping to get a result with her in the first few starts.”

3x G1 winner, Pride Of Jenni, finished 2nd in her first jump out of the preparation 😍

The jump out was won by 5YO mare, Fortunate Kiss & Free To Move finished 3rd.

Interview with @cmaherracing coming soon. pic.twitter.com/ndyrrMMhbN

— Racing.com (@Racing) July 22, 2024

• Freedman ‘optimistic' Cups king can return for Spring

The first of those starts could be in a Benchmark 84 over 1100m at Flemington on Saturday, with alternative options over the following two Saturdays should the stable elect to wait.

A stakes win is the target, with the mare having run well but without luck in a handful of stakes races when caught wide or stuck in traffic. The daughter of Divine Prophet was fifth behind Yearning in the G1 Thousand Guineas as a three-year-old and has third placings in the G3 Tressady Stakes and Chairman’s Stakes.

“We want to win races with her so she pays herself off, but the ultimate goal would be to win a Listed race because we definitely think she’s capable of doing that,” Yeomans said.

“There’s quite a lot of fillies and mares races (coming up), there’s even 4YO+ mares black type races scattered about, it will just be what distance is her ideal trip, the end goal is to be winning a black type race.”

A Yearning for success! Last to first as Snitzel filly, Yearning, adds a $1 million Group 1 @SchweppesAus Thousand Guineas over 1600m at Caulfield to the resume. A maiden winner 2 starts ago, Yearning is from Group 1 Australian Oaks winner Rising Romance. pic.twitter.com/iGHZliwF1b

— Aushorse (@Aushorse_TBA) October 13, 2021

• ‘Can't remember a thing': Larrikin jockey ‘lucky to be around' after horror fall

While luck hasn’t favoured the ironically-named Fortunate Kiss, it hasn’t always been without her own doing. She has a habit of being tardy out of the barriers and that trait was again on display in last week’s jumpout.

“She came to us in great order, but she was quite muscle sore, (she) had sore hamstrings and (was) sore over the back, so whether that’s contributed to her barrier manners and how she leaves the gates we won’t know,” she said.

“It’s something we are mindful of, whether we go down the path of a barrier blanket, we’ll get her to the races and see how she goes.”

Kennewell and Yeomans have Ravenite accepted to run in a Maiden Plate (1000m) on the synthetic track at Ballarat on Tuesday. The gelding is a $3.60 equal favourite with TAB fixed odds.

“He’s got good gate speed and high cruising speed. We are hoping that he can bring to the races what he’s been working like at home,” Yeomans said.

“If he can jump cleanly and land on the bunny around Ballarat he could take some catching.”

Originally published as Luckless mare Fortunate Kiss chasing black type for new trainers