Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville, France, lost its expected favorite on Friday when Snow Fairy was declared ineligible because of French racing rules pertaining to horses withdrawn from recent races.

In a shock to British trainer Ed Dunlop, Snow Fairy, the winner of four Group 1 races in 2010, was removed from the race because she had been scratched from the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday because of concern over the condition of the turf.

Margot Did, one of two fillies in a field of 17, pulled a 20-1 upset in Friday’s Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York, England, giving jockey Hayley Turner a career-best second win at the highest level this summer.

Turner won the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket on Dream Ahead last month. At the time, Turner became the first female rider to win a Group 1 in England since Alex Hammond won the Nunthorpe Stakes in a dead heat in 1997.

Blue Bunting won her third Group 1 race of 2011 on Thursday at York, defeating Vita Nova by three-quarters of a length in the Yorkshire Oaks.

Blue Bunting’s task was made easier by the withdrawal of early favorite Snow Fairy from the race. Snow Fairy’s trainer, Ed Dunlop, was said to be unhappy with the soft course condition at York, and instead plans to start Snow Fairy on Sunday in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville in France.

On Friday, Hoof It, a winner of 3 of 4 starts this year, makes his group stakes debut in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes over a straightaway five furlongs at York.

VIDEO: Nunthorpe Stakes preview and live stream from York

Trained by Michael Easterby, Hoof It won a minor handicap at York in May and was seventh in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. He won two races a week apart last month – the Sky Bet Dash at York on July 23 and the 27-runner Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood on July 30.

Twice Over pulled a mild upset in Wednesday’s Juddmonte International Stakes at York Racecourse in England, winning his first Group 1 race since October and giving jockey Ian Mongan the biggest win of his career.

Sent off at 11-2 in a field of five, Twice Over caught stablemate Midday, the 5-year-old mare, in the final furlong of the race over about 1 1/4 miles to win by three-quarters of a length.

Several high-class 3-year-olds remain in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday at York in England after Snow Fairy, last year's runner-up and this year's likely favorite, was ruled out.

British racing authorities have banned a trainer for four years for de-nerving a horse and administering anabolic steroids to three other horses, according to the Racing Post.

Immortal Verse and Goldikova, the one-two finishers Monday in the Prix Jacques le Marois, could meet again Sept. 11 in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Should Goldikova wind up in that race, which trainer Freddie Head said was the plan for the mare, it would deviate from the schedule Goldikova has kept the last two years. In 2009 and 2010, Goldikova was given a rest after the Marois, returning both years to race during early October in the Prix de la Foret.

The 2012 Dubai World Cup program will be held on March 31, the highlight of a racing calendar in the United Arab Emirates announced on Monday.

The season will encompass 53 racing days, three more than last season, at Meydan and three other racecourses – Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Meydan will have 21 racing days overall and will be host for the Dubai World Cup Carnival from January through March, featuring 10 days of major racing. That portion of the Meydan season was previously known as the Dubai International Racing Carnival.

Three fences used for the Grand National steeplechase in Aintree, England, each April, including the famous Becher’s Brook, will undergo changes before racing resumes on that course in December, according to a statement released by Aintree and the British Horseracing Authority on Monday.