Fairy & Think all set for Champion Stakes Seamie Heffernan can hardly wait to be reunited with So You Think as he bids for his third European Group One in Saturday's Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Having carried all before him in Australia, the five-year-old was shipped to Ireland at the start of the campaign and barely came off the bridle on his first two starts for Aidan O'Brien, leaving the trainer waxing lyrical about his latest superstar. Defeat in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot was not in the script, but So You Think silenced the doubters with a battling defeat of last year's Derby and Arc hero Workforce in a thrilling climax to Sandown's Coral-Eclipse. Having been given a mid-summer break in order to keep him at the peak of his powers for the autumn, So You Think faces five rivals - including two stablemates - on his first start for two months, and Heffernan reports the son of High Chaparral to be in rude health. "He came out of his last race really well and we were delighted with him in Sandown as everything went smoothly," said Heffernan. "He hasn't run for a couple of months, but he seems in good form and hopefully he'll show what a good horse he is again. "It's a proper Group One race and Snow Fairy obviously looks the best of the opposition. Fingers crossed we get a bit of luck. "I'm not sure what the plan is with him (after Saturday), but I'm sure he'll be aimed at Group One races wherever he goes. "He's shown form over different trips and he's just a very good horse. "I think there's a drop of rain forecast at Leopardstown, but I think that's needed and hopefully it will be nice ground." O'Brien's two other representatives, as he goes in search a seventh win in this prestigious race, are Epsom Derby sixth Recital and Roderic O'Connor. Snow Fairy on the other hand completed the English and Irish Oaks double for Ed Dunlop in 2010 and rounded off the year with two more top-level triumphs in Japan in Hong Kong. This year has not gone so smoothly, as she suffered an injury when being prepared for the Dubai Carnival and was well beaten by So You Think when she did eventually make her seasonal reappearance at Sandown. But having followed that up with a solid second to Midday in the Nassau Stakes, Dunlop believes another crack at the antipodean ace is justified. Speaking on his website, Dunlop said: said: "Snow Fairy has given us some magical moments over the last couple of seasons, including three memorable 'away' victories at the Curragh, in Japan and Hong Kong, so we are used to having our backs against the wall. "It has been a strange year, what with having to come back from Dubai without a run after she got injured just before the Sheema Classic and then having no option but to pull out of the Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland when the Curragh was hit by a monsoon. "However, we have finally got our ground, and, while So You Think beat us more than nine lengths in the Eclipse, we needed that race badly and Snow Fairy is definitely a lot straighter now. "She was fitter when she went to Goodwood for the Nassau Stakes, but, though Midday beat us fair and square, we were still not quite there, and Frankie (Dettori) got off and assured us that she would improve again. "Snow Fairy's subsequent homework suggests that she has come on again since Goodwood, and, while it will be tough taking on a high-class colt like So You Think on his home patch, there are not that many opportunities left in Europe, and we are lucky to have sporting owners who are all for giving it a go."
