By Adam Houghton
Fairy Glen (Farhh) demonstrated remarkable versatility and no small amount of class when stepping up fully seven furlongs in trip to win Saturday's $1-million G2 Dubai Gold Cup Sponsored By Al Tayer Motors for Simon and Ed Crisford.
The winner of last month's G2 Balanchine over 1,800 metres of the Meydan turf, the five-year-old Fairy Glen remained an unknown quantity in this 3,200-metre contest, taking on heavyweight stayers such as Al Riffa (Wootton Bassett) and Caballo De Mar (Phoenix Of Spain), the winners of last year's G1 Irish St. Leger and G1 Prix du Cadran, respectively.
Mickael Barzalona had Fairy Glen buried in the main group as the trailblazing Sunway (Galiway) soon established a huge lead under Silvestre de Sousa, evoking memories of last year's G1 Juddmonte International in which Godolphin pacemaker Birr Castle (Cloth Of Stars) was reeled in only close home by the same owner's Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder). Here, however, Sunway capitulated much sooner and was swamped entering the final two furlongs, having still led by upwards of 10 lengths on the home turn.
Having led the chasing pack throughout, Caballo De Mar was the first to take over at the head of affairs, before being joined on his inner by Fairy Glen with a furlong to run. From there the superior turn of foot of Barzalona's mount enabled her to seize the advantage, ultimately winning by half-a-length from Caballo De Mar, with another 3 1/4 lengths back to Al Nayyir (Dubawi) in third. Sons And Lovers (Study Of Man) fared best of the Joseph O'Brien-trained duo in fourth, with stablemate Al Riffa never threatening to land a meaningful blow in sixth.
“I think we were stretching our luck going up to two miles but, the way the race set up, it worked really well for the closers,” said Simon Crisford. “She's got a nice turn of foot and she showed it tonight. She's very honest, very brave – a good filly. She's a dual Group 2 winner and she'll probably go back and run next in the [G2] Middleton [Stakes, at York on May 14].”
This was a fourth career victory for Fairy Glen, who ended 2025 on a steep upward curve before making her Dubai debut in the Balanchine. Having filled the runner-up spot behind Term Of Endearment (Sea The Moon) in October's Listed Beckford Stakes at Bath, she then made her black-type breakthrough when winning the following month's Listed River Eden EBF Fillies' Stakes over 2,600 metres at Lingfield.
Pedigree Notes
Fairy Glen is the sole winner from three runners out of Godolphin's four-time winner Natural Scenery (Dubawi) who, incidentally, ran in the 2018 edition of the Dubai Gold Cup when finishing ninth behind Vazirabad (Manduro). Natural Scenery, in turn, is out of the Listed Prix Rose de Mai winner Argentina (Sadler's Wells), who also filled the runner-up spot in the G1 Prix de Diane, G1 Prix Saint-Alary and GI Diana Stakes.
What a start to the day for the Crisford team! 🤩
Fairy Glen storms to success in the Dubai Gold Cup… 🏆 pic.twitter.com/p8i9u7WsbQ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 28, 2026
Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
DUBAI GOLD CUP SPONSORED BY AL TAYER MOTORS-G2, $1,000,000, Meydan, 3-28, 4yo/up, 16fT, 3:22.36, gd.
1–FAIRY GLEN (FR), 125, m, 5, by Farhh (GB)
1st Dam: Natural Scenery (GB), by Dubawi (Ire)
2nd Dam: Argentina (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
3rd Dam: Airline, by Woodman
O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum; B-Godolphin;
T-Simon & Ed Crisford; J-Mickael Barzalona. $580,000. Lifetime
Record: SW-Eng, SP-Fr, 11-5-3-1, $831,399. Werk Nick Rating:
A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Caballo De Mar (Ire), 129, g, 5, Phoenix Of Spain (Ire)–
Oberyn (Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire). (€21,000 Wlg '21
GOFNOV; €33,000 Ylg '22 TIRSEP). O-Victorious Forever;
B-Barouche Stud Ireland Ltd; T-George Scott. $200,000.
3–Al Nayyir (GB), 129, g, 8, Dubawi (Ire)–Bright Beacon (GB), by
Manduro (Ger). (AED40,000 HRA '21 ERASEP). O-Elbashir
Elhrari; B-Godolphin; T-Tom Clover. $100,000.
Margins: HF, 3 1/4, 3/4.
Also Ran: Sons And Lovers (GB), Epic Poet (Ire), Al Riffa (Fr), Burdett Road (GB), Dubai Future (GB), Ruling Dynasty (GB), Sunway (Fr). Click for the ERA chart. VIDEO.
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