FORTUNATE KISS EARNS A HARD-FOUGHT WIN IN THE GLASSHOUSE HANDICAP

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 5, 2025

It was indeed a kiss of good fortune for Luke Tarrant when he picked up the ride on the Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans trained Fortunate Kiss in the Listed Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast after Ronnie Stewart, who had originally been booked for the ride picked up an injury earlier in the day.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Unwanted in the betting at $26, Fortunate Kiss was slow away from a wide draw but, what he did have in his favour was a handy galloping weight and, in Tarrant, a jockey with the kind of ability, on the right day, to match it with the best of them.

It was the right day.

Tarrant took Fortunate Kiss across the back of the field from his number ten barrier draw, found the rail and then pushed forward quickly to settle just worse than midfield in the early part.

Saving ground every inch of the and travelling smoothly, Fortunate Miss had six lengths to make up in the sweep to the home turn and then, courtesy of the inside path tracked by Tarrant, the daughter of Divine Prophet had whittled that margin to the leader down to three lengths on straightening.

With horses coming from everywhere, it was full cavalry charge down the home straight and Fortunate Kiss seemed to relish both the task he was facing and the ride he was being given as he stretched out with meaning to join a line of horses in contention, before sustaining a strong finishing effort to claim the lead with 50m left to run.

Another $26 chance Oughton did the best out of the rest of the chasing pack to close ground on Fortunate Miss, but the latter remained resolute over the concluding stages to carve out victory by aa 0.37 length margin.

Fortunate Kiss was third-up this preparation. She came into this race off the back of a third place finish in the Listed Eye Liner at Ipswich … a race won by Oughton.
A 1.5kg favourable weight turnaround with Oughton from that run and more fitness in the legs made the difference with Oughton, in spite of being very game, finishing behind her this time.

Fortunate Kiss is now a five-time winner with the $174 000 won in the Glasshouse taking the six-year-old’s overall prize-money earnings to a very healthy $624 725.

For Luke Tarrant it was a homecoming of sorts … not merely because he is based at the Sunshine Coast, but because this was his home track when he was flying so high to such good effect earlier in his career.

It has, in fact, been over ten years since Tarrant won the $2 million Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic as the boom apprentice of the time when scoring that very tasty victory aboard Le Chef back in January 2015.

Let’s just say that a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but there was no much to like about this win in terms of Tarrant’s presence being in play … his ride, his own particular form of celebration, his expressions, his sense of humour post-race, not taking himself too seriously.

To be serious though, while Fortunate Kiss was top class in his own right in being good enough to outgun her opposition in highly pressurised finish, Tarrant’s expertise in the saddle underlined just how good a rider he is.

Some might say, he was right back where he should be.

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