Daniel Ricciardo will make a shock return to Formula One at the Hungarian Grand Prix a week on Sunday.

The eight-time grand prix winner, who was axed by McLaren at the end of last year, will replace Nyck de Vries at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri for the rest of the year.

Rookie De Vries was hired by AlphaTauri at the beginning of this season but he has been dropped after only 10 races, paving the way for Ricciardo’s sudden comeback.

The 34-year-old Ricciardo’s career looked to be all but over after he was deemed surplus to requirements by McLaren following two underwhelming seasons with the British team.

Ricciardo failed to land a seat for the 2023 campaign and instead elected to return to Red Bull – the team at which he won seven grands prix – as a reserve driver.

Ricciardo got his first taste of this season’s Red Bull during a tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday – 48 hours after the British Grand Prix in which De Vries finished 17th and last.

Given Sergio Perez’s torrid run of form, which has seen him fall 99 points adrift of team-mate Max Verstappen in the world championship, AlphaTauri’s move to hire Ricciardo will fuel speculation that the Australian could land a seat back at Red Bull.

“I’m stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family,” said Ricciardo.

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost said: “I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team.

“There’s no doubt about his driving skill, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward.

“The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula One grand prix winner.

“I would like to thank Nyck for his valuable contribution during his time with Scuderia AlphaTauri, and I wish him all the best for the future.”

Ricciardo started his F1 career with HRT Racing in 2011 before he joined AlphaTauri, then called Toro Rosso, in 2012. Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull two years later – winning three times and out-scoring four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Australian took a surprise decision to join Renault in 2019, but after two years with the French team – claiming two podium finishes – he switched to McLaren. However, bar victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo underperformed and was replaced by countryman Oscar Piastri.

However, Ricciardo has been at a number of races this season and is regarded as one of the grid’s most popular drivers, particularly in America where the sport is booming thanks to the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.

For De Vries, 28, the writing appeared to be on the wall after ruthless Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko recently said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was right to have questioned why he was signed.

The Dutch driver crashed on multiple occasions and failed to score a single point with a best finish of 12th at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.

Home favourites Richie Ramsay and Robert MacIntyre are relishing the chance to make immediate amends for a missed opportunity in a star-studded Genesis Scottish Open.

The Scottish pair were both in contention to win in Denmark last week, with Ramsay finishing a shot outside the eventual play-off after hitting his approach to the last into the water and making a double bogey.

MacIntyre held a two-shot lead at the turn but ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 13th after failing to move his second shot from waist-high rough and then having to take a penalty drop.

But after sharing a car to the airport on Sunday evening, MacIntyre and Ramsay were also singing from the same hymn-sheet in terms of focusing on the positives ahead of a £7million event on home soil which boasts eight of the world’s top 10.

“The past week was probably the best golf I’ve played in a long, long time,” MacIntyre said at the Renaissance Club.

“I had so much control of the golf ball. For 71 holes I was in absolute cruise control. When I sit back and look at it, for the first 12 holes (on Sunday) I played golf perfectly. I didn’t put a foot wrong.

“On 13 I hit a good shot, flushed it, but just pulled it 10 yards. My natural shape is a draw and with the wind off the left, it was curving the wrong direction.

“But my head’s in a good place. I feel like you’ve got to take a couple of punches before you can hold a trophy. OK we had such a good chance to win, but it was all preparation for these two weeks.

“I shared a car with Richie going to the airport on Sunday night and he was on the phone speaking to his family and friends, I was getting phone calls from my manager and I was hanging up.

“I wasn’t speaking to anybody, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Richie has been out here a lot longer than me. He was a bit calm and chatting away. Once he was on the phone calls, I sat in a huff in the front seat.

“I was sitting there in absolute silence thinking to myself, ‘What just went wrong? Why has it went wrong?’… But I’m here now and last week is last week.

“Once I spoke to people they just assured me that’s not going to be the last hiccup I’m going to have on the journey. It’s going to happen again. But if you keep putting yourself in positions like Kenya, Korea, last week, I can’t not lift a trophy at some point.

“I was one step shy last week and what better time to correct the wrong than one of these next two (Scottish Open or Open Championship)?”

Ramsay, who also double-bogeyed the 72nd hole of last year’s British Masters at The Belfry when needing a par to claim the clubhouse lead, promised to keep “shooting for the stars” when in contention.

“It hurt to lose,” Ramsay said. “Ever since I was a little kid I hate losing but it’s part and parcel of the journey these days and only makes you stronger and more determined to get a win.

“I spoke to my brother this morning and he said you’d have a problem if you weren’t putting yourself in that position and I took that on board and realised that the problem is not that I hit a bad shot at the wrong time, the problem would be if I wasn’t putting myself in that position.

“I mean, I was annoyed I didn’t win but for me, I didn’t do anything wrong. The shot I hit at The Belfry was because I was indecisive. I didn’t make a clear decision and that’s on me.

“That’s why it hurt a lot more but on this one last week, my viewpoint is that you’ve got to hit a great shot down the stretch to win a tournament.

“There’s an opportunity here. If you don’t take it, you’re going to regret it. I don’t regret taking it, because if I pulled it off, I feel that I left myself in a good position to get up and down or two-putt, and you win a tournament.

“You kind of shoot for the stars and I will hit one of those stars again sooner or later.”

World number four Jessica Pegula crashed out of Wimbledon after an untimely suspension of play helped shift the momentum in her surprise quarter-final defeat to Marketa Vondrousova.

The American looked poised to progress to the maiden grand slam singles semi-final of her career having overturned a one-set deficit to lead 3-1 in the decider.

But, due to forecasted rain, the contest was halted for around 23 minutes to allow the roof on Court One to be closed and 2019 French Open finalist Vondrousova returned to win five of the next six games to progress 6-4 2-6 6-4.

The Czech world number 42, who is enjoying her best run at the All England Club, will take on either world number one Iga Swiatek or Elina Svitolina for a place in the final.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “It’s an amazing feeling, I cannot believe it.”

Asked how much closing the roof helped her, she replied: “A lot actually. I never played on court number one under the roof. It’s amazing.

“I just wanted to stay as long as I could and I fought until the end. She was pushing me to the edge so I am just so proud of my game.”

Ons Jabeur has vowed to stick to her plan as she targets Wimbledon revenge over Elena Rybakina.

The pair meet in the quarter-final on Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s final where Jabeur’s heart was broken by a three-set defeat.

The Tunisian has come back 12 months later and looked every inch a possible champion as she has coasted into the last eight.

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She knows this is a step up in quality and accepts she will have to do things she does not enjoy against Rybakina.

The sixth seed said: “My priority is really to stick 100 per cent to the plan that my coach will give me, and try to even do things that I might not like on the court, play more freely, just think about each point and not the results.

“I think you have a plan tactically, mentally also. Sometimes playing someone like Elena, who serves really well, it can be frustrating.

“Me, I would get angry, but I’ll try to accept the fact that she serves so good and try to return good and see what I can do there.”

Jabeur admits that it took her a couple of weeks to get over last year’s final but takes a holistic view of the defeat.

“I think the first one or two weeks I thought about it a lot,” she said.

“It was very painful. The good thing about it is I know I gave it everything.

“I’m someone that believes that it wasn’t meant to be, so I cannot force it more than it should be.

“I’m glad that I have this belief. I believe in destiny. It wasn’t supposed to be that year.

“Maybe greater things are coming after that final. I definitely will learn a lot from it.

“Obviously the next match is completely different. It’s a quarter-final. It’s a completely different position. I’m going to do my best.

“The most important thing is that I give 100 per cent and I try not to regret anything.”

Rybakina has barely broken sweat on her way to the last eight, though did admit she felt nervous at the start of the competition.

She is now through that and wants to continue in calmer waters.

“Now I’m feeling much better and more confident coming and playing on Centre Court,” she said. “It is different from the first round.

“I think it was just overall the atmosphere and the nerves to play the first match to get used to the grass, just to play some matches here.

“I think now mentally I’m much better. Physically also good now. Yeah, hopefully I just continue like this.”

England captain Heather Knight insists the pressure is all on Australia after the home side’s fightback in the Women’s Ashes.

Australia appeared to be cruising towards a successful Ashes defence after winning the solitary Test and the opening ODI to take a 6-0 lead in the multi-format series.

But England have reduced the deficit to two points after winning back-to-back T20 games and head into the three-match one-day international series with renewed confidence of upsetting the world’s number one women’s side.

“We had to win five games on the trot to win the Ashes so I guess the pressure was on us as we were massive underdogs at that point,” Knight said ahead of Wednesday’s opening ODI in Bristol.

“But the pressure’s all on them now, they’ve only got to win one game (to retain the Ashes). If we can keep doing what we’re doing, keep ramping up that pressure a little bit.

“We’re still the underdogs in the context of the whole series. I feel like the pressure’s not massively on us.”

Test stars Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Filer have returned to the England squad with Knight promising that her side will continue to “disrupt” Australia.

Beaumont became England’s first Test double centurion while Filer touched speeds in excess of 75 miles per hour at Trent Bridge to live up to her reputation as the fastest female bowler in the country.

“We see her (Filer) as someone who can disrupt a bit and bowl in those middle overs and try to take wickets,” Knight said.

“She’s obviously played a lot at Bristol as well, knows the ground well and is really exciting.

“In the past, we might have got a bit down and had the ‘here we go again’ thing against the Aussies, but there’s a real belief in that room that we can match this cricket team.

“We’ve always seen ourselves as the disrupters in this series, having to do things differently to beat this really good team.

“I’m sure they’ll come at us hard but our job is to keep trying to disrupt, keep trying to put them under pressure and bring our best cricket.”

England’s men’s team have kept their own Ashes hopes alive by winning at Headingley since the women’s side wrapped up a 2-1 T20 series win on Saturday.

That feel-good factor in English cricket is something Knight is keen to tap into during the remaining ODI games at Bristol, Southampton and Taunton.

She said: “It was great to see the guys win. I think they have actually been quite parallel series – they obviously lost the first two games which were very close as well.

“There’s a real buzz around the country, which is awesome, that’s what Ashes series can do. We’re buzzing off the amount of people that have come to watch us.

“We’re just trying to keep the momentum going and if the boys can keep doing well and we can keep doing well then maybe we can both have the great escape. Time will tell.”

Australia all-rounder Tahlia McGrath says the visitors are not panicking after successive defeats.

McGrath said: “It was disappointing not to have played the cricket we would have liked, right through the T20 aspect.

“But we’ve had some good discussions and we’re still pretty confident. We’re here to win the Ashes and we’ve still got our noses in front. There’s no panic stations.”

Asked if just retaining the Ashes with an 8-8 draw would be enough for Australia, McGrath said: “I don’t think so. We want to win every game of cricket.

“First and foremost we want to retain the Ashes and doing that eight-all doesn’t sound the same as winning them outright.”

Aberdeen Women have appointed Clinton Lancaster as their new manager.

The former Watford Women head coach is the Dons’ first ever full-time women’s team boss.

Director of football Steven Gunn told Aberdeen’s official website that the appointment of Clinton is an important milestone.

He said: “After an extensive recruitment process, we are delighted that Clinton is joining Aberdeen FC as our first ever full-time women’s team manager.

“Clinton is an experienced and qualified coach, manager and teacher who has been passionate and excited about the opportunity to drive the women’s game forward at our club.

“Having a wealth of experience in women’s and girl’s football, and player development, Clinton has enjoyed promotions with both Crystal Palace and Watford in his previous roles.

“We feel he has all the qualities required to build on the good work that has already been undertaken at Aberdeen FC over the last four seasons.”

Lancaster is looking forward to leading Aberdeen into a new era.

He said: “When I spoke to the club, I could really see their vision for the team, and the wider project of developing the women’s football programme here at Aberdeen.

“I can see where the club wants to position itself going forward and that is something I was excited to be a part of.

“Despite being based down south, I am aware of the size of this club, and of course of the women’s league in Scotland.

“It’s a really competitive league and ultimately, we want to continue to build on the great work carried out in recent seasons, but the aim is to become more competitive and challenge ourselves to deliver success.”

Kyogo Furuhashi aims to keep Celtic fans smiling as he prepares for the new season after recently signing a new deal.

After scoring 54 goals in 83 appearances for the Hoops since his arrival from Vissel Kobe in July 2021, the 28-year-old signed a new four-year contract with the Parkhead club earlier in the month.

Furuhashi’s popularity among the Celtic support increased further last season as he helped the Hoops win the domestic treble, and the Japan forward expressed his gratitude for the support, telling the club’s official website: “From children to elderly people, a lot of people are cheering and supporting us.

“Once I step outside of the house and go into the city, many people talk to me, and at the stadium, all the supporters are cheering us from the bottom of their hearts.

“And because they are there, we can compete because I want to see their smiles. I work hard to get the win and they are very important to me.”

On his new deal under “brilliant” new boss Brendan Rodgers, he said: “I’m really delighted, to be honest. I’m happy that it shows how much they value me and want me.

“For the team and for the people who support us, and also for myself, I will continue to improve and to deliver success.”

Rodgers has taken over from Ange Postecoglou who departed for Tottenham at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Following a training camp in Portugal, the Northern Irishman – in his second spell as Hoops boss – will take Celtic to Japan, which will be a homecoming for Furuhashi and Celtic team-mates Reo Hatate, Tomoki Iwata, Yuki Kobayashi and Daizen Maeda.

The Scottish champions will play two games in Japan – against Yokohama F Marinos on July 19 and Gamba Osaka on July 22 and Furuhashi said: “I’m really excited about it and excited to play in front of Japanese fans.

“Many players from Celtic are going so I want them (Japanese fans) to know about us and become our fans.

“Also, many people from Scotland are coming down and I want them to enjoy Japanese culture too.

“They will be two tough games but if we can deliver what we are working and believing in, then they will be good games and the good results will follow, and we will play with high confidence in ourselves.”

As for working under a new Celtic boss, Furuhashi said: “He’s a brilliant manager.

“I’m happy to work with him and I would like to return the favour by playing well to get success.

“We need to work hard together to get as many wins as possible. There will be the Champions League as well so we need to prepare well in order to have good results this season.”

Johanna Konta admits to finding motherhood boring compared to her previous life but said she is “very committed to retirement”.

Caroline Wozniacki is the latest player to announce a return to the sport after retiring and starting a family but Konta insists that is not a path she will be taking.

The 32-year-old announced in December 2021 that she was calling time on her career and she gave birth to daughter Emmeline last September.

She has picked up a racket again to play in the invitational doubles at Wimbledon, where Wozniacki is also in the field, and was very open about the challenges of swapping a professional sporting career for changing nappies.

“A part of me will always miss it just because the kind of adrenaline and the life you live as a successful professional tennis player, you can’t replicate in any part of your life,” said Konta.

“Compared to that, motherhood is frankly quite boring. It’s very monotonous and it’s fundamentally not really enjoyable, for me anyway.

“I love my daughter. When I put her down for naps I get excited for when she’s going to wake up. I’m to the moon in love with my daughter but I think the act of motherhood is actually really tough.

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“It’s monotonous, boring and, compared to what I used to do, which is play on Centre Court and travel the world and live a really selfish existence, to then be thrown into a very selfless existence, it’s a really hard transition, and it’s not fun.

“But I would choose it every single day over playing on Centre Court. I really love what my life was but I am learning to love my life more now.”

Konta has not even been playing tennis socially and described her first day back on court at Wimbledon as “rusty and painful”.

“The first day I was so sore everywhere but the last few days it’s been fine,” she added. “Don’t ask me to move a lot, though. That’s not what it used to be. I’m very committed to retirement.”

While Konta’s retirement was initially overshadowed by Emma Raducanu winning the US Open, the latter’s struggles have thrown into focus what a stellar career her predecessor as British number one put together.

Konta reached three grand slam semi-finals and three more quarter-finals while reaching a high of fourth in the world rankings in 2017.

By contrast, Britain did not have a direct entrant in the women’s singles here or at the French Open and current leading woman Katie Boulter is ranked 89.

“You want British interest,” said Konta, who is carving out a new career in broadcasting.

“You guys want British interest in the second week of grand slams, the players who are playing want to be in the second week. Everyone has the same desire, and also it’s good for the kids back home to see British representation on the female side.

“Everyone’s working towards the same goal, everyone’s giving their best and hopefully it will be happening.”

Raducanu is now down at 132 in the rankings and is unlikely to return until the autumn following surgeries on her wrists and ankle, but she still appears the best British hope of a leading player in the near future.

Konta highlighted fitness as the key to whether Raducanu can return to the top 10, saying: “I think just consistent physical health, for her to get physically robust is probably the number one priority because that has been her biggest hurdle.

“For her to be able to play enough tournaments, enough matches, will give her then the chance to win.”

England's Euro 2022-winning defender Demi Stokes respects players from France, Spain and Nigeria for taking a stance on conditions in women's football ahead of the World Cup.

The preparations of several teams for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand – which begins on July 20 – have been impacted by disputes between players and coaches or federations.

Earlier this year, France dismissed head coach Corinne Diacre after a group of players – including captain Wendie Renard – refused to represent Les Bleues under her.

The Lyon skipper has since been recalled by Diacre's successor, two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner Herve Renard. 

Meanwhile, 15 players told the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) they would no longer play under Roja boss Jorge Vilda last September, citing impacts on their "emotional state", though the RFEF has stood by the embattled coach. 

Manchester City left-back Stokes – who was an unused member of the Lionesses squad that won last year's Euros before being overlooked for the World Cup – believes the players involved have their teams' interests at heart.

"Obviously, Wendie Renard has her reasons for why she doesn't want to play for France," she said, speaking at the launch of Pixel FC, a collective of dedicated women’s football creators helping to close the visibility gap within women’s football.

"Without people like Wendie taking a stance – if you look at the Spanish team as well – there's not going to be changes.

"All they're asking for is change [in response] to the challenges, and they are just being authentic to themselves.

"If they said they are not playing for France and then go and play for France, people won't take them seriously. So, I respect what they've done.

"Hopefully things can change, things can be resolved and things can be put into practice to help these players, protect these players and support them. 

"When players take a stance, I think it just shows the characters that they are."

Only three of the Spain rebels – Mariona Caldentey, Aitana Bonmati and Ona Batlle – have been recalled, with Stokes' City team-mates Leila Ouahabi and Laia Aleixandri among those frozen out.

Asked who she was backing in the Spain dispute, Stokes said: "I don't know, I think it's very different when you're in that situation. 

"I've got team-mates who have taken that stance and stuck by it, and then equally you've got players who want to play, and I think everyone's very different. 

"I can't be the one to judge and say, 'you're wrong or right'. It wouldn't be easy for me to just say I'd do that, because in the moment, it can be very different."

Nigeria have also seen their World Cup preparations hampered by an internal quarrel, with players threatening to boycott games if the Nigerian Football Federation reneges on an agreement to split revenue from the tournament.

Asked if she thought the Nigeria squad would follow through on that threat, Stokes said: "I'm not sure. 

"Hopefully they can resolve their issues, and it's probably never nice to boycott, but if they take that stance then they're doing it for a valid reason and they're doing it for a bigger picture and a bigger cause."

The opening race on Wolverhampton’s Tuesday card was voided after Dane O’Neill took a fall from Eagle Eyed Tom.

The gelding, who is trained by Charlie Hills, seemed to stumble and clip heels when leaving the stalls for the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap and unseated O’Neill in the first few moments of the contest.

The race was stopped abruptly before it could be completed and O’Neill was attended to on the track before reportedly being taken off on a stretcher.

Milton Harris is hatching an audacious plan to get Scriptwriter rated highly enough for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup.

The two-mile ‘race that stops a nation’, which will be run at Flemington on November 7, is the richest handicap run anywhere in the world and was worth over £2.5million to connections of Gold Trip, who won it last year.

There there is always fierce competition for a place in the line-up which has a maximum of 24 runners.

But Warminster handler Harris is hopeful the former Aidan O’Brien-trained gelding will show his ability throughout the summer on the Flat, starting with Saturday’s Group Three John Smith’s Silver Cup Stakes at York.

“He’s a Group horse, we’ve always thought that,” said Harris. “I’m going to tempt fate. He’s going to run on Saturday at York, I think. The main target has always been the Ebor at York.”

The Ebor victor will be given an automatic entry for the Melbourne Cup, with the York contest the only international win-and-you-are-in race.

Scriptwriter proved himself among the top young hurdlers last season, winning the Grade Two Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham in November.

He also landed a decent all-weather handicap on the Flat at Wolverhampton before being touched off in the Finesse Hurdle back at Cheltenham.

Scriptwriter was seventh to runaway winner Vauban in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot on his return to action last month and while his official Flat rating is 103, he will need to improve if he is to have a chance of going to Australia.

Harris added: “I thought he ran well at Ascot from a bad draw, but just couldn’t win.

“So we are going to York on Saturday and then hopefully the Ebor. If those two races go well, we might have a go at the Melbourne Cup – if you don’t dream, you’ll never have one come to fruition, will you?”

Cyriel Dessers knows there is a void to fill at Rangers following Alfredo Morelos’ departure but he is determined to be his own man at Ibrox.

The 28-year-old Nigeria striker became Michael Beale’s sixth signing of the summer transfer window when he joined from Cremonese on a four-year deal for a reported fee of around £4.5 million.

Dessers will be expected to take over from Colombia striker Morelos, who became a fans’ favourite during his six years in Govan where he scored 124 goals before his contract ran out at the end of the season.

Speaking at a media conference from Rangers’ training base in Germany, Dessers said: “Of course Alfredo did amazing things for Rangers at Ibrox so it is never easy to come after a good striker like he was.

“But on the other side I cannot look at the past.

“I am here for the present and for the future and I hope to do some nice things, some good things for Rangers as well and I hope I can build a similar relationship with the fans but that will depend on our relationship and the things I do on the pitch and off the pitch.

“So I am confident that can work.”

Dessers joins Abdallah Sima, Sam Lammers, Jack Butland, Dujon Sterling and Kieran Dowell as Beale’s new boys for the upcoming season, with the promise of more signings to come in the re-build as Rangers look to take the cinch Premiership title as well as both domestic cups back from Old Firm rivals Celtic following their domestic treble last season.

The former Utrecht, Heracles Almelo and Genk player looks forward to a “new wind” at Ibrox.

He said: “Rangers of course is a massive club: the history, the stadium, the fans, even the city, everything is amazing.

“But apart from that, of course I spoke with the manager as well and he spoke about what is going on now.

“After not such an easy season, there is a new wind at the club and I want to be a part of that.

“I am at a good age right now, 28 is the perfect age where physically at your top level and you have gained some experience from the last years.

“So I think that is a perfect time to play for trophies and hopefully win some trophies and of course the mentality of Rangers which is present at this moment in the team already is clear and it is clear that I want to be a part of that.

“I think I can bring some things, not only football-wise but mentality-wise in the locker room and I hope I can play a role as well in that.”

Neil Lennon revealed earlier in the week that Dessers had been on his radar while he was boss at Celtic but the Belgium-born forward is happy to be at the other side of Glasgow.

Dessers said: “I didn’t know about that at the time.

“I spoke a couple of times with Rangers in the past years and the contact has always been close so I am happy to finally be here now.

“The first contact came during Covid and it was a difficult time for a lot of clubs to make deals and after that there was always contact and casual conversations.

“If you scored goals you will probably be on some club’s radar but that is not an issue, I am happy to be here.”

Royal Ascot scorer Porta Fortuna could be tasked with taking on the colts following her impressive triumph at the summer showpiece last month.

The daughter of Caravaggio provided Frankie Dettori with his 80th winner at the Royal meeting when storming to Albany Stakes success and the form of that victory was given an immediate boost when the runner-up Matrika won the Group Two Airlie Stud Stakes only eight days later.

Having now struck twice at Group Three level in her three appearances to date, trainer Donnacha O’Brien is keen to keep his unbeaten filly at six furlongs for the time being and she could get the chance to showcase her talent in Group One company if lining up in the Curragh’s Keeneland Phoenix Stakes on August 12.

O’Brien said: “She’s very good and has come out of the race well. We gave her an easy week after the race to freshen her up and she’s back in full work now and everything is going well.

“She’s very straightforward and I suppose she’s a dream filly to ride as she has plenty of pace, travels well, has a turn of foot and also keeps going at the end as well. She’s just a very smart filly.

“We’re thinking of going for the Phoenix at the minute, the Group One at the Curragh. We’ll have to take on colts, but we’d like to give her another run at six. We’ll put her in the Lowther (York, August 24) as well as a back-up, that’s about a week or two afterwards.”

Connections then hope all roads will lead to the Breeders’ Cup, where Porta Fortuna’s American owners will have the opportunity to cheer on their filly in their own backyard.

“I suppose later on in the year the targets will be races like the Cheveley Park (Newmarket, September 30) and the Breeders’ Cup,” added O’Brien.

“We’ve got a few more runs to go before we get there so I’m sure we’ll learn a bit more about her by the time, but the obvious one would be the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf (Santa Anita, November 3) unless for some reason we thought we would go back in trip to the (Juvenile Turf) Sprint.

“The Breeders’ Cup was always the main aim for her at the end of the year, but she’s got a few races to go first and we’ll take each one at a time.”

Porta Fortuna is not the only filly at O’Brien’s Tipperary base with the potential to become a high-ranking two-year-old and the handler also has lofty ambitions for the Niarchos family-owned Mysteries who opened her account in good style at Cork.

“She’s a lovely filly and one we’ve always thought plenty of,” continued the Group One-winning trainer.

“The plan at the minute is to go for the Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown (July 27) and then for a seven-furlong filly there’s a very obvious programme, so it will be there, the Debutante (August 19) and the Moyglare (September 10), all being well.”

Meanwhile, one-time Derby hope Alder is on the comeback trail from the setback which ruled him out of Classic action and could return at Dundalk in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Diamond Stakes on September 29 before getting his passport stamped at the back-end of the year.

“He’s good and we gave him a bit of a break but he’s back in work now,” said O’Brien.

“I’m provisionally aiming him at a Listed race in Dundalk in September and then all being well, we could potentially go travelling with him after that.”