Ed Dunlop waits on weather and jockey for Snow Fairy
By his own admission Ed Dunlop’s season with Snow Fairy has been “the most amazing fairytale story” but there are a few elements conspiring to make life hard for him to attempt a third Classic win of the season in the Group One Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday.
Snow Fairy, already the winner of both the Oaks and Irish Oaks, may not be in the line-up, due to the state of the ground, and may be missing her regular jockey even if she makes it to the race. The one upside appears to be the way she worked on the gallops at Newmarket yesterday, ridden by Ryan Moore.
Speaking on his website, Dunlop said: ''I was very happy with the way in which Snow Fairy worked, but obviously the fact that Doncaster have had 25mm of rain has put a dampener on things. The ground has gone good to soft and, while she showed that she can cope with those sort of conditions at the Curragh, the worry would be that further deterioration of the weather would put the emphasis on stamina over the longer trip.
''Against that, I never initially thought that Snow Fairy would stay a mile-and-a-half, so she has repeatedly belied her pedigree, and if we got the right conditions we’d be optimistic that she’d stay, though the riding instructions would be not to bully her if the petrol gauge was running on empty at the two-pole as we are looking forward to having her racing for us next year. However, we have to monitor the weather through the week.”
Just which jockey Dunlop may be giving those instructions to has yet to be resolved. Moore, who rode the filly to her Oaks victories, could be claimed by retaining trainer Sir Michael Stoute to ride Total Command, who finished ninth in the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last month.
"The rain might well bring Sir Michael Stoute’s Total Command into the mix, and if we do run - and I’d love to if the ground does not get any worse - we might not have Ryan, in which case it will be either Richard Hughes, who rode the filly in the Yorkshire Oaks, or Eddie Ahern. We still have the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp on Sunday as Plan B, and she will be left in that until the final declaration stage at least.”
The plan to offer the ride to Hughes will have to be revised after he was booked to ride Theology for Jeremy Noseda, even though the trainer admits that the colt has a something to find on form having finished sixth in the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in July. “There is no doubt that we have a lot to find in what looks to be a rock-solid Leger, however, I do feel that he is a progressive horse,” the trainer said on his website.
“He will handle the cut in the ground and there are definitely reasons to forgive his last run at Goodwood. He is guaranteed to relish the trip.”
Arabian Gleam will have no problem with the seven-furlong trip as he attempts to win the Group Two Eddie Stobart Park Stakes. He won the race in 2007 and again 12 months later before finishing a third last year. “I am delighted with him at home and with ground conditions in his favour I see no reason why he should not run well.”
Sans Frontieres will step up to Group One level for the first time when he lines up in the Irish Filed Irish St Leger at the Curragh on Saturday, having won his last two starts, the Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket and the Group Three Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury.
However, one horse who will not be running again for Noseda this season is promising juvenile Peter Martins. “Unfortunately he has met with a slight set-back which means that it would be a rush for us to prepare him for a significant autumn target,” Noseda explained.
“Therefore we have decided to finish him for the season and look towards a prep in the spring for the 2000 Guineas.
“I have always had a great belief in the horse and am thrilled that he has had a run at two. I think he will improve substantially physically from two to three.”
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