Ed Dunlop considers St Leger for Snow Fairy
Ed Dunlop admits that it took him time to fully realise what he had, but now he has been given more time to explore the possibilities.
Such were the trainer’s doubts about Snow Fairy’s stamina that he did not risk the entry fee for the Oaks, or the Irish equivalent. And it was only once the filly had won a Listed race at Goodwood in mid-May that Dunlop persuaded owner-breeder Cristina Patino, to part with most of the prize money to supplement Snow Fairy for the Oaks, at a cost of £20,000.
They reaped the full benefit of their boldness when she provided Ryan Moore with his first victory in a British Classic and connections repeated the exercise by paying €42,500 (about £36,700) for a similarly late entry for the Irish Oaks at the Curragh, with the same result.
Dunlop is now faced with the option of running Snow Fairy against the older distaff division in the Yorkshire Oaks or trust that the stamina, the existence of which he had questioned, could be the answer to the St Leger, a race which only one filly (User Friendly in 1992) has won in over 20 years.
"Mrs Patino has kindly said she’ll stay in training as a four-year-old so this is not the be-all and end-all. It looks a strong division for older fillies as we know – with Sariska, Midday and Da Re Mi – it’s competitive from that point of view,” Dunlop said.
"We haven't sat down and decided what we’re going to do. She will be trained for the Yorkshire Oaks. No disrespect to York but the ground, since the new drainage, has got very quick when it’s dry and I wouldn’t want to risk her on it. That’s why we’re keeping our options open but, amazingly, she took the Irish Oaks better than the English Oaks -considering she had to take a horsebox over there and come back again – and she seems in very good form.”
With another season to work through Dunlop no longer feels constricted to chase prizes that will still be available next year so a third Classic – one which he has entered for this time – is becoming tempting. “We don’t need to go to the Yorkshire Oaks, she is in the Leger and something makes me think I’d like to give it a go,” he explained. “We’ll train her, we’ll get Ryan to come and ride her work and consider York – but she’s not definitely going to turn up.”
Although fast ground is Dunlop’s current preoccupation it was the opposite conditions that had him pacing the carpet at his Newmarket yard before Snow Fairy turned up at the Curragh last month; that was before she won by eight lengths. “And the jockey said she didn’t like the ground,” Dunlop said ruefully “which makes it even better.”
How much better Snow Fairy can become is a subject that Dunlop hopes to investigate. “Time will tell, but she’s beaten what’s on offer so far very impressively; particularly in Ireland. We knew she’d improved from Epsom to Ireland, that was obvious on what she’d done at home. She’s got stronger, she looks better – she’s not a big filly but her work was more encouraging. The ground at Newmarket had been quick, even with the use of the watered gallop, and she was able to work extremely well on that ground. And that’s why were so nervous of Ireland on very soft ground because when she ran at Newbury, at the backend of her two-year-old career, she ran appallingly on awful ground when we thought she would win.”
Dunlop may have had his preconceptions about Snow Fairy but that has been a thread that has run through Snow Fairy’s story since the day she failed to raise any interest when she passed through the sales ring in December 2008. “She wasn’t bought at 1800 quid in Ireland as a yearling, so she was retained, and that’s the major part of the fairytale story.
“She ran in Group races as a two-year-old and was unlucky not to win a Group race at Goodwood. So she was rated 102 as a two-year-old but I have to admit her pedigree was a little bit strange. There was stamina on the dam’s side but she’s by Intikhab and we hadn’t even considered that she’d stay a mile-and-a-half – and that’s why she wasn’t entered in any of these races. So I’ve looked a complete fool – not for the first time.”
Perhaps, but it takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes.
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