Ed Dunlop hopes that Curragh going is not fairy stories
Plenty of people have been known to play up their winnings on the horses.
Not many of them are trainers paying large supplementary entry fees to run one of their owner’s horses in Classics, but it has worked so far for Ed Dunlop.
After Snow Fairy had won a Listed race at Goodwood in mid-May, Dunlop persuaded the filly’s 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 have done the same this week by paying €42,500 (about £36,700) for a similarly late entry for the Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Sunday.
However, even as he was making the entry Dunlop had anxieties about the weather conditions in Ireland this week. The track is currently described as good to firm on the round course but as Dunlop told At The Races: “It was a difficult decision really with the ground situation. Having won the Oaks going onto the Irish Oaks that wasn't a difficult decision but we looked at every website imaginable, spoken lots of people and we've been brave and done it.
"I spoke to Paul Hensey [racecourse manager] at the Curragh and he said they'd had seven millimetres of rain last night. But it's sunny there at the moment and windy which is good. Let's hope it doesn't get too soft - not just for us but for a lot of the other fancied runners.
“She's due to leave here on Friday morning and get there Friday night. I don't go until the day of the race and I would think it's more-than-likely that she'll run but who knows? Let's see what the weather does."
The fear of soft ground is based on Snow Fairy’s only poor run, when she finished ninth at Newbury in September, which was on soft going. “I always thought she'd be a better filly as a two-year-old on slower ground. She's worked on the watered gallop this year and handled it very well but the ground at Newbury when she ran badly was that very bad, tacky ground. The racecourse had been used a lot and she just got stuck in it. I'd be surprised unless it rains and rains that they'll have that ground at the Curragh.”
Dunlop’s belief that Snow Fairy has improved from the performance that saw her beat Meeznah, who is likely to be in the field again on Sunday, by a neck at Epsom was nourished after a good workout on the gallops at Newmarket with big-race jockey Ryan Moore.
“Ryan was delighted with the way she went,” Dunlop said. “She seems in good form and I think she's stronger than she was before the Oaks. Her work has been good and so far, touch wood, we've had no problems. We're very happy with how she is going into the race and touch wood we'll get a bit of luck.”
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