Snow Fairy could make a belated return to racecourse duty on Saturday after her thwarted run in Dubai resulted in a spell on the sidelines. Thankfully all is now well however, and the Ed Dunlop-trained filly has long been in full exercise and looks set to take her chance in the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend.

Not seen in public since a runaway victory in the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin in December, Dunlop reports his inmate to be in good form but expects the four-year-old to strip fitter for the outing.

On a normal year the top-level contest doesn't attract the best of line-ups and the daughter of Intikhab would usually face little opposition, but with 14 entries currently still standing their ground, the one mile two furlong contest could turn out to be a competitive heat with Sir Henry Cecil still represented by Midday, who returns to her optimum trip, along with Aidan O'Brien's Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Misty For Me. Final runners will be confirmed on Friday.

Talking of horses that may or may not take their chance, Sir Michael Stoute's Carlton House is still engaged in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby on Sunday and despite not providing the Queen with her elusive Epsom Derby success, the Irish equivalent never seems as strong as its English counterpart, and he could make amends for his Epsom defeat. Mind you, the credentials of Treasure Beach have been franked considerably by Nathanial (second behind the O'Brien runner at Chester) who galloped away with the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

I hope most of you managed to watch some of the Royal Ascot coverage on Dubai Racing, even if it was to laugh at my expense as I got a proper drenching from underneath my top hat!

But the racing on the track was certainly top class and Rewilding's gritty victory in the Group One Prince Of Wales's Stakes was undoubtedly the highlight for me.

Whipping it up

Frankie Dettori's absence the last two days was a bitter disappointment for the racing public, but he certainly had a fair crack of the whip (get the pun?) on the Mahmoud Al Zarouni runner. And despite beating the week's so called hot-pot, So You Think, Godolphin's winner was entitled to be in the shake-up and duly justified the shrewd decision by connections to keep the son of Tiger Hill fresh for this race after his Sheema Classic triumph in March.

In a post-script from the contest, Bart Cummings, the previous trainer of So You Think (who finished second) implied that Aidan O'Brien did not have his former charge fit enough and said he was ‘slightly underdone'. Unless the Ballydoyle team sends a work list to the Australian training maestro every day, I'd love to know why Cummings was so convinced about the wellbeing of the dual Cox Plate winner. I just think he's eaten a few too many sour grapes!