(photo credit: Dubai Racing Club - Fairy Glen winning the Dubai Gold Cup)
By Suleiman Altaf
The Simon & Ed Crisford trainee has remained unbeaten in three starts since November last year when landing the 2600m Listed River Eden Stakes at Newcastle. She took a sharp drop in trip in full stride when successful in the 1800m G2 Balanchine Stakes in February. Anything that the Crisfords touched during the Carnival turned to gold and it was only fitting for them to cap their impressive 2025-2026 season—operating at a strike rate of 18%—with victory on Dubai World Cup night itself, their first since 2022 when they first set up their satellite yard in Dubai.
Now, the yard’s flagbearer from Dubai sets her sights on British Group targets. The challenge does not come easy. She faces only four, but the profiles of her opponents need no introduction. See The Fire heads the market with Oisin Murphy in the saddle. She made a triumphant return in a Listed race at Nottingham in April and placed thrice in Group 1 races last year. Fallen Angel tackles a trip beyond a mile for the first time, but she is a four-time Group 1 winner. Godolphin’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare third Diamond Rain is well-fancied too. She has two Group 1 placings to her name and improved throughout 2025. Juddmonte Farms’ multiple Stakes winner Red Letter completes the lineup.
But profiles do not bother Fairy Glen. Her scalps from the Dubai Gold Cup victory include Caballo De Mar, G1 Prix du Cadran scorer who was only narrowly beaten in the G3 Sagaro Stakes by Sweet William. That Sweet William has not placed out of top three except once in his 22 career starts yet and has troubled Champion stayers in all the top British staying races one can think of.
Nearly four lengths behind her in the Dubai Gold Cup was Al Nayyir, another seasoned stayer. Saudi’s Red Sea Turf Handicap scorer Sons And Lovers was also behind her and so was Joseph O’Brien’s Irish St. Leger winner Al Riffa.
Fairy Glen achieved what her mum Natural Scenery failed to achieve: victory in the Dubai Gold Cup (Natural Scenery was eighth in 2018). She also achieved an unprecedented Balanchine-Dubai Gold Cup double—a highly unusual campaign, anyway. And now she bids to tackle some of the best of her sex in the UK.
When one looks at her achievements this year and then at the market for her Thursday’s race, where she is the least favored of the quintet, one wonders if the market is severely under-appreciative of her achievements, to say the least. The Crisfords are clearly not at York just to make up the numbers and with none other than Ryan Moore in the saddle.
