Snow Fairy defeats Nathaniel, St Nicholas Abbey in Irish
Champion
Anamoine Ltd’s sensational five-year-old mare Snow Fairy defeated favored
Nathaniel by 1 1/4 lengths, with St Nicholas Abbey third, in Saturday’s 1
1/2-mile, Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. In the process, the
Intikhab mare earned an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf through the
Breeders’ Cup Challenge series.
Trained by Ed Dunlop and ridden by Frankie Dettori, Snow Fairy passed the
Group 1 Eclipse-winning Nathaniel with about a sixteenth remaining and held off
the fast closing St Nicholas Abbey, the defending Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, to
score her second race in as many starts this year following nine months of
recovery from a tendon injury.
“To beat some of the best colts around and to take the track record after
having a tendon injury, this has to be her best performance,” Dunlop told the
Racing Post. “Looking ahead we’ll take it one step at a time. She’s in the
(Group 1) Champion Stakes and the (Group 1) Arc and I’d love to take her to the
Breeders’ Cup.”
Dunlop trained the great mare Ouija Board to victories in the Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Turf in 2004 and 2006.
“Full credit goes to Ed and the team for getting her back after such a
serious injury,” said jockey Frankie Dettori, who captured his fifth Irish
Champion Stakes. “She retains all her class and ability and it was just lovely
to be on her again.”
Snow Fairy, second in last year’s Irish Champion Stakes to So You Think, won
her ninth race in 21 starts in a globetrotting career, which has included
Group/Grade 1 victories in Japan, Hong Kong, England, France and Ireland.
Following her victory in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Kyoto, Japan,
last November, Snow Fairy did not race again until she won the Group 1 Prix Jean
Romanet at Deauville on August 19.
Under the enhancements of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, if Snow Fairy
is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by October 22, Breeders’ Cup Limited
will pay the $90,000 in entry fees and provide a $20,000 travel allowance for
her to start in the Turf, which will be run at 1 1/2 miles.
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