Softly softly with Snow Fairy Ed Dunlop is continuing to take things cautiously with his brilliant yet fragile mare Snow Fairy as she builds up towards a return to competitive action. Connections could have been forgiven for retiring her to the paddocks after a fantastic Classic campaign three years ago, during which she completed the English-Irish Oaks double before going on to claim further Group One prizes in Japan and Hong Kong. However, she has been brought back each year since, despite suffering a number of injury setbacks, and appeared as good as ever when signing off last season with victory in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Her six-year-old debut has been delayed and Dunlop is keeping his fingers crossed his pride and joy will be back on the racecourse in the near future. "The long and the short of it is she's had more injuries than most horses will ever have," the trainer said. "The fact that she came back from her original tendon injury to win Group Ones was mind-boggling. "We then had a hiccup after that last year, we got her back, everything was going well and we had another hiccup. "We're back on track, but it is a daily thing with her. There is no point denying it. We worry desperately about her. "She's not easy to train, but at the moment we're happy with her. "She's entered in the Nassau (at Glorious Goodwood) and we'd like to go back for the Prix Romanet for obvious reasons (disqualified last year). She'll be entered in all the relevant races. She's in the Irish Champion. "If we get her back and she's as good as she was last year, she'll be pretty competitive."
