Ed Dunlop speaks to Ben Linfoot about his ambitions for John Leeper, a beautifully-bred horse named after his father, ahead of his run at Newmarket on Saturday.
"We hope and pray this is a good horse,” says Ed Dunlop, summing up his emotions as he wrestles with the idea of running his Derby contender in the Dante Stakes at York or slightly calmer waters at Newmarket. “It’s a new dimension for us, we haven’t had a good horse for quite a long time."
It’s six years since Dunlop won the Gold Cup at Ascot with Trip To Paris, his last Group One winner, and 11 years since his last Classic triumph. And if you’re defining a ‘good horse’ by Group Ones and Classics then he has high hopes indeed for John Leeper.
Named after his late father, John Leeper Dunlop, there is an extra pressure. He was a man who trained his fair share of good horses – 74 Group One winners including 10 British Classics – two of them being Shirley Heights and Erhaab who both won the Derby via the Dante.
But John Leeper won’t be taking the York route to Epsom. He will instead take in the Listed Betway Fairway Stakes over 10 furlongs at Newmarket on Saturday, a more unusual path for a Derby hopeful but a potentially important stepping stone on what will be just his third career start.
Once raced as a juvenile when an encouraging fourth over seven furlongs at Doncaster, he took a big step forward on his first start as a three-year-old over 10 furlongs at Newcastle on April 30, winning by four lengths under Hollie Doyle in fine style.
Further progression will be required if he’s to prevail at Newmarket, never mind in the Derby. But with great breeding comes great hope and it doesn’t get much more exciting on paper than a colt being by Frankel out of Snow Fairy.
The stallion speaks for himself and so does the dam, really. Ed Dunlop’s second superstar filly came hot on the heels of globe-trotting wonder horse Ouija Board, and Snow Fairy built up a similar CV, winning an Oaks and an Irish Oaks, the Hong Kong Cup and an Irish Champion Stakes.
"And the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Kyoto, twice,” Dunlop interjects. “She’s the only international horse to win twice in Japan which should never be underestimated. She was brilliant, she was tough, she wanted to win and she was very adaptable. She was truly amazing."
Snow Fairy was owned and bred by Mrs Cristina Patino who had horses with J.L Dunlop for 30 years. Horses like Dawning Street, Pairumani Star, Fantasy Hill, Big Bad Bob, Palavacini and Elusive Pimpernel.
Snow Fairy 👑 📸 in 2018 with her Frankel Colt foal
— Irish National Stud (@IrishNatStud) May 4, 2021
Now named John Leeper, he was an impressive maiden winner on Friday @NewcastleRaces for @EdDunlopRacing & @HollieDoyle1
He holds a Derby entry & the dream is very much alive for his owner breeder & all other connections🔴🟡 pic.twitter.com/fFumYdk0V8
“They were very close friends,” says Dunlop. “She was a huge supporter of him and as a result of that family relationship she sent me some horses from when I started training, Snow Fairy being one of them.
“Snow Fairy is incredibly close to her heart and this is the first colt out of her. She went to Frankel, this beautiful yearling appeared and after the death of my father, Mrs P, as we call her, chose to call him John Leeper.
“I actually thought this put a bit of pressure on the horse and after he won at Newcastle the other day I said to her – ‘it’s a good job you chose a good horse to name after my father’ and she said ‘don’t be so silly, I always knew he was a good horse, that’s why I named him that!’
“There’s a lot of emotion from our point of view, her point of view and of course it’s created some interest. He’s an unbelievably well-bred horse and all of that is very obvious, but that’s how the naming came about, it was all down to her.”
While Mrs P is responsible for the naming of John Leeper, the formative stages of the colt’s development were overseen by Dick Brabazon, a renowned pre-trainer at the Curragh. He broke in Snow Fairy, as well, and he liked what he saw in her son from an early stage.
“The vibes emanating from him was that this was a very nice horse potentially,” Dunlop says. “He then came to me in the February or March of his two-year-old career, once he’d been to the Curragh once or twice.
“He was always going to be an immature horse with that pedigree, being by Frankel out of her, and he obviously only had the one run as a two-year-old.
“He’s much bigger than his mother, his mother wasn’t particularly big. He can be a bit of a boy in the mornings but he’s got a real presence. He’s a very good dark colour, has a lot about him, he’s a happy horse that enjoys life and touch wood he’s been a very sound horse.
“He’s a horse that we hope will do well.”
How well is the big question. Royal Ascot well? Perhaps even Derby well? It’s that time of year where dreams are alive, no matter how impressive Bolshoi Ballet looked in the Derrinstown trial at Leopardstown on Sunday.
There is a race to be run at Epsom on the first Saturday in June and though the odds are in Aidan O’Brien’s favour once again, the magic of the Derby still gives hope that another great story will unfold on the Downs.
The stardust has evaded Dunlop in this race so far. He has had five previous runners in the Epsom Classic, his best results being the fifth-placed finishes of Native Khan and Red Galileo in 2011 and 2014, respectively.
He admits: “We don’t know what it takes to win a Derby and Newmarket has suddenly come up with two possibilities for Mr Haggas and Mr Varian, and we’ll obviously see what Mr O’Brien and Mr Bolger have, as well.
“Most trainers aren’t lucky enough to be sent a horse capable of running in the Derby, those type of horses are in very few hands now.
“To have a horse that could be a Derby horse is very exciting. To have a horse that we hope will be good enough is fantastic for everyone in the yard, it’s exciting for Mrs Patino – she’s thrilled about potentially having a horse run in the Derby.
“I think most trainers would tell you that to win the English Derby as an English trainer is probably the pinnacle of any ambition that you can possibly have.”
While the Derby remains nothing more than aspiration for Dunlop at this stage, he has twice conquered the Oaks with Snow Fairy and Ouija Board, so the yard is well used to Classic success at Epsom.
And he reminds me of another potential link between the two great fillies. “Ouija Board produced a Derby winner [with the O’Brien-trained colt Australia] so wouldn’t it be a great story if Snow Fairy could do the same? What are the chances of that happening?”
The bookmakers say 20/1 at the time of writing. Those odds were 100/1 in the days after his Newcastle success, but sustained support snowballed during those early unsatisfactory Derby trials. And then there were further nibbles at the last remaining 25/1 when he was left in the Dante at the six-day stage.
By Frankel, out of Snow Fairy and a horse with a big future!
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 4, 2021
John Leeper has @EdDunlopRacing dreaming of Derby glory after this beautiful success under @HollieDoyle1 at @NewcastleRaces on Friday... pic.twitter.com/E6RM5sQIss
“We thought long and hard about running him in the Dante,” Dunlop says. “My father always said to us ‘if they’re the best they go to the Dante’. It was his number one choice as a Derby trial and he had many good horses run in it.
“It was a serious option but a key factor was that we got two extra days since his last run by going to Newmarket. It’s also closer to home, and the Dante looked very strong.
“This is a lightly-raced horse coming out of novice company, so after looking at the options and discussing it with Mrs Patino we decided upon the Fairway Stakes. We’ve also had plenty of rain here, so it’s beautiful ground. It should be on the easy side of good this weekend.
“He’s won one novice race at Newcastle, so stepping into any Derby trial is tough. We’ve decided to go one step at a time, but he is in the Derby and it is being considered quite seriously if we feel he’s good enough after he’s run on Saturday.”
A dog is barking at the office door of Dunlop’s historic La Grange stables in Newmarket. Someone wants a walk and it's time to go.
But there's just time to ask what the overriding emotion is to have a horse bred like this and named like this, laying his Derby credentials on the line with dreams of Epsom floating in the air.
“He’s named after my father,” Dunlop says. There is a long pause.
“Overall, it’s just very exciting. We think an awful lot of him.
“If he proves not to be good enough there’s the King Edward VII Stakes and other races to go for. But to disappoint at Newmarket would be the end of the Derby dream - along with lots of other people who have the same dream of winning the Oaks and the Derby at this stage of the season."
It’s that very special time of year.
Newmarket, 2.05, Saturday May 15
Listed Betway Fairway Stakes (1m2f) - Click here for full racecard & free video form
Ed Dunlop on…
Snow Fairy as a juvenile
“I did a very bad job of Snow Fairy’s two-year-old career, I have to admit. I thought she wanted soft ground and she hated it, we were pretty poor with her. She won a maiden and was placed in a handicap – she probably should have done better than she did – but to go on and do what she did as a three, four and five-year-old wasn’t something that was totally obvious when she was a juvenile. But then she went and won the Height Of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood and the rest is history.”
John Leeper as a juvenile
“He was big and his light juvenile campaign was slightly by accident, but, to be honest, Mrs Patino likes her horses to be lightly-raced as juveniles unless they’re an obvious two-year-old type. She’s wonderful at putting no pressure on and I thought this horse needed as much time as possible to mature, as he was such a tall and leggy individual. It’s only now he’s starting to look like a more mature horse.”
John Leeper’s Doncaster debut over seven furlongs
“I wanted to run him over a mile, but I didn’t want to run him on very firm ground at that stage in his career being a big horse. William Buick liked him and what he liked considerably was that he couldn’t pull him up afterwards, he kept going. He was a bit sluggish at the start, typical of one of my newcomers, and ran on well.”
John Leeper from two to three
“He was always going to get stronger and he’s much stronger than he was. He’s physically developed very well and I think he’ll continue to develop the older he gets. His mother got better with age and Frankel was obviously brilliant at all ages, but his progeny seem to be getting better with age – not that I’ve had very many.”
John Leeper burning up the grass last week 💥🔥🔥 @EquuisImages #frankel #snowfairy #brightfuture #eddunlopracing pic.twitter.com/vm5UHA9nkR
— Ed Dunlop Racing (@EdDunlopRacing) February 21, 2021
John Leeper’s Newcastle victory
“We were drawn in the car park on the outside, which always makes you slightly nervous and I said to Hollie ‘let’s not go round the outside, you’ll have to drop him in’ and I said ‘ride him like a good horse and see what happens’ and obviously he did win well. I thought he was a little green in the middle of the race, nothing untoward, but he seemed very happy, he was happy on the Tapeta surface and he came out of the race in very good form.”
John Leeper’s 4yo half-sister Virgin Snow
“She’s still in training. She got injured unfortunately when having a holiday, she’s not a bad filly and was always going to be a better four-year-old. She had a setback on her break during the winter and won’t be seen until the last part of her four-year-old career. She has done very well from three to four and always looked like she might win a stakes race at least. She’ll be a lovely broodmare if we can’t do anymore than that. By Gleneagles, she’d probably be a little bit sharper and 10 furlongs could be her trip, but we always thought she’d be better as she got a bit older so hopefully we can get her back going.”
