JC / Railbird

Snow Fairy

Believe in Fairy

Irish Champion Stakes winner Snow Fairy has overcome injury to win Group 1 stakes in five countries. She’s now a mare on the verge of worldwide fame:

“I usually don’t notice these things,” said rider Frankie Dettori, winning the ten-furlong contest for the fifth time, “but I could hear the crowd get behind her and the roar when she crossed the line. I’ve had some great days here but this one was all about this mare.”

Romance and record combine to make her an organic star.

And to think, she might not have been.

The Flying Fairy

She’s not the biggest filly in the world … but she’s got the biggest heart in the world,” the Guardian quotes trainer Ed Dunlop saying of Snow Fairy after the 3-year-old filly won the Hong Kong Cup on Sunday by a neck with a startling display of late speed. The Telegraph estimates just how fast she was:

The split times for the Hong Kong Cup make astonishing reading. The time for the leading horse is taken every two furlongs of the 10 furlong race, and they highlight the amazing power of Snow Fairy’s stunning final flourish. The times for yesterday’s race were : 25.98s – 25.19s – 25.38s – 23.48s and 22.93s. Considering that she was a good eight lengths behind the leader at the two furlong marker, Snow Fairy must have covered the final two furlongs in around 21 seconds.

I get a stellar :21.8 timing her run from the replay:

Check out Hong Kong’s awesome “Race Running Position Photos,” which shows the filly second to last coming into the stretch (via Equidaily).

Snow Fairy is a name to know for 2011. Dunlop confirmed the globetrotting filly, who won four G1s this year in four different countries, will stay in training as a 4-year-old and could start in the Dubai World Cup.