Asfoora may line up with a new accessory for her Royal Ascot defence as trainer Henry Dwyer seriously considers applying blinkers to her gear for the King Charles III Stakes.
After watching her breeze in blinkers on the July course at Newmarket on Monday, Dwyer was encouraged by what he saw during the 800m piece of work and is leaning towards the change on race day.
“I’ve always wanted to put blinkers on her but it’s always a bit hard to change things when they’re going really well,” Dwyer told RSN.
“It’s a bit of an itch to scratch with the blinkers and I reckon they will help her find a length a two.
“We threw them on in trackwork, just to make sure she would be OK with them, she was.
“I dare say we will put them on when she runs next Tuesday.”
Dwyer suspects Asfoora has perhaps been a touch too relaxed since returning a winner in the Group 3 Irwin Stakes (1100m) in Adelaide.
She then underperformed in the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m) and was second in a Flemington trial shortly after.
“She won at Royal Ascot last year and we thought, ‘you can’t put them on now’,” Dwyer said.
“She won well first-up and I just thought she was entitled to go a bit better in Adelaide, despite the fact it was 1200 metres and despite the fact she was a bit flat, maybe.
“I thought she was a bit below her best and she trialled at Flemington just before she left and once again, she didn’t do as much as she should.
“Her recovery has been a lot better this preparation and I think it’s a legacy of her reserving her energy a bit more.
“She was always a bit wound up, but now she’s been a bit more complacent.
“I think she’s going well, but there’s just one thing missing, and I hope it’s the blinkers.”
With Oisin Murphy riding her in the latest gallop, Dwyer acknowledged Asfoora hasn’t quite hit her physical peak yet, having remained in Australia longer than ideal.
“It wasn’t ideal how we went about getting here and I think she only looks a seven-out-of-ten,” Dwyer said.
“The work was fantastic, but there is room for improvement in her looks.
“Last year it was similar. She really blossomed from being here three or four weeks after having that first-up run leading into Ascot.
“This year we haven’t had that luxury. She looks scrubby, wintry and a bit dull and that’s just a legacy of spending an extra month in Ballarat in four-degree conditions as opposed to the other horses that have been here in summer for a bit.
“She will catch up when she reacclimatises, but it just hasn’t happened yet.”
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