England hasn’t seen the best of Ortensia but trainer Paul Messara hopes that can change on Friday after a few days of clearing weather.
The Australian mare hurt herself in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and wasn’t suited by the extremely wet conditions in the July Cup, running a gallant fourth.
Messara and managing owner Alistair Fraser decided to extend her stay in England to include the Nunthorpe Stakes.
She will use Friday’s Group Two George Stakes (1000m) at Goodwood as a tune-up for the Group One Nunthorpe later this month.
“It’s stopped raining over there at last,” Messara said.
“She runs on Friday and then the Group One three weeks later.”
The winner of the Group One Winterbottom Stakes in Perth during the summer, Ortensia gained international attention when she took out the Al Quoz Sprint on World Cup night in Dubai in March.
She was favourite in the King’s Stand but became agitated before the race and pulled up sore after the race in which she finished ninth.
Ortensia is among the entries for the Sprint Cup at Haydock on September 8 and also has the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (1000m) on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard in October as a possible target.
The seven-year-old’s extended overseas stay means she will miss the Australian breeding season but there is a possibility she could be served by a European stallion to southern hemisphere time.
Ortensia was originally trained in Victoria by Tony Noonan and came to Messara after his Hunter Valley neighbour Fraser decided to put her back into work.
It proved a wise decision with Ortensia winning her first three starts for her new trainer.
