Fortina's dam Bertina was a daughter of the leading French stallion La Farina and a female-line descendant of the influential Hungarian broodmare Kunst.
In the autumn of 1946 he was bought by Lord Grimthorpe and brought to England to be trained by Hector Christie in Wiltshire and made a successful British debut in the Lancashire Chase.
[3] The winter of 1946/47 was exceptionally severe and many National Hunt fixtures, including the Cheltenham Festival, were either cancelled or postponed.
The 20th running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was eventually staged on 12 April with Fortina starting at odds of 8/1[4] in a twelve-runner field.
The 3/1 favourite was Dorothy Paget's eight-year-old Happy Home whilst the other leading contenders appeared to be Coloured Schoolboy (ridden by Fred Rimell) and Prince Blackthorn.