Prebble stunned as Fairy descends from the heavens

Brett Prebble looked to his left, then to his right and then pressed the button on Irian in the HK$20 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup yesterday - but the devil was sitting right behind him and even knowing Snow Fairy was there would not have helped as the filly produced a stunning finishing sprint to swamp him.

'I can't believe anything could have come from behind me and beaten me,' was Prebble's stunned response to the Ed Dunlop-trained three-year-old's effort to snatch the lead on the line and land a remarkable fourth Group One in four different countries this year - England, Ireland, Japan and Hong Kong.

'I'm lost for words,' said Dunlop after a performance under Ryan Moore that announced Snow Fairy to the world as a superstar.

'She's been very good against her own sex, but now she has done it against colts as well, so she must be one of the best fillies in the world on that performance. Without meaning any disrespect to the race, I did think we'd had our day in Japan - to see her beat colts like that surprised me.'

After Snow Fairy's devastating Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup win in Kyoto last month over 2,200 metres, the temptation for Dunlop and the filly's owners was to press on to the Japan Cup, but that temptation was passed up for more than one reason.

'It did come up very soon for her after the Kyoto race and I felt it would be better to give her the extra time and come for this race instead,' said Dunlop. 'But we also decided to come for the 2,000m race rather than the 2,400m because we needed to find out if she would be as good at that distance.