While Asfoora didn’t achieve the fairy-tale finish at the Royal Ascot meeting where she established her reputation, trainer Henry Dwyer saw enough in her recent performance in the King Charles III Stakes to extend her racing career.
However, the opportunity for a fourth European Group 1 triumph will be contingent on the mare’s condition.
The current plan is for the rising eight-year-old to return to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, with her departure date to be finalised based on her performance in up to two potential races next month.
“She’s going into quarantine on the 31st of July to get back here for the breeding season at the start of September,” Dwyer stated.
“We can run her at Sandown on Saturday week in the five-furlong (1015m) Group 3 sprint there, the Sprint Stakes, which will be two-and-a-half weeks between runs and then there’s the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood the day she’s supposed to go into quarantine.
“They’re two options for her before she comes home. But if she was to win one or both of them, which we’d be a chance to, then the Nunthorpe is three weeks later and the owners might be persuaded to put off getting her served by a month.”
The Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes (1005m), a race Asfoora previously won, is scheduled to take place at York on August 21.
Dwyer is confident that Asfoora will give her owners something to consider, with a peak performance anticipated following her seventh-place finish, two lengths behind the winner, in last week’s King Charles III Stakes (1000m), a race she won in 2024.
“I think she ran near enough her best, she just blew out that last little bit,” Dwyer commented.
“Maybe off the back of two very soft runs she still needed it a bit the other day.
“She had a big blow, but at least she tried and I feel like her next run will be her peak run.”
Dwyer returned to Australian shores on Tuesday morning and will be back at Caulfield this Saturday, with Salsa Fellow set to contest the Sportsbet More Places BM84 Handicap (1100m) which concludes the day’s racing.
The four-year-old Blue Point gelding will be participating in the ninth start of his current campaign, a preparation that began at Flemington on New Year’s Eve and featured consecutive victories at Terang and Warrnambool, before his last-start fourth in the Golden Topaz (1200m) at Swan Hill.
“He’s had a long busy preparation, so he’s nearer the end of it than the start of it, but he seems pretty good,” Dwyer remarked.
“He’s getting up in the ratings now but he’s probably still got another couple of wins in him so we’ll just try and make the most of the off-season before the spring starts with him.”
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