Asfoora, winless in two previous starts on this year’s visit to Britain before Friday, claimed her second Group 1 prize in the northern hemisphere in the Nunthorpe Stakes
Aussie sprinter Asfoora claimed major honours in the £700,000 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes on Friday.
At Royal Ascot in 2024 the mare, trained more than 10,000 miles away in Victoria, reestablished Australia’s reputation for producing champion sprinters becoming the eighth to triumph at the meeting when she collected the King Charles III Stakes. Her trainer Henry Dwyer famously tipped her to the King when they were introduced before the race. Dwyer said that occasion was “completely bonkers, just madness,” he said. “I was very nervous before the race as it was the biggest day of my racing life.
READ MORE: 57-year-old jockey says he’s riding ‘better than ever’ after first York win in five yearsREAD MORE: Jockey guilty of using ‘obscene, offensive and racially charged language’ given huge ban
“I have 40 horses in work and have won a couple of Group 1 races, but that whole thing of travelling a horse, the risk versus reward scenario, it was a lot of pressure.”
Despite the considerable expense and 43 hour journey from his Ballarat stable to Asfoora’s temporary base in Newmarket, Dwyer was prepared to take on the adventure again this year.
However the seven-year-old, who has never won a Group 1 in her home country, finished only fifth in the King Charles and seventh in the King George Stakes at Goodwood, when she was inconvenienced by softening ground.
Punters dismissed her chance at York, where she had run fourth 12 months ago as 6-4 favourite, as she went off at 11-1.
But after tracking the fast away Night Raider, she was produced to lead by Oisin Murphy and was not for catching as she triumphed by a length and a quarter from the 100-1 Ain’t Nobody with Frost At Dawn third.
Murphy said: “Amazing! It’s very difficult to bring them up to run from Australia two years on the trot. She was in some condition today.
“She got a toe off Night Raider, I didn’t take her back from the gate. She travelled very well, She was electric.”
Dwyer said: “We had to keep a little bit of faith. Things didn’t go so well the first couple of runs. There were a few naysayers and doubters. Even a broken clock’s right twice a day.
“You’ve still got to doubt yourself because when they’re not winning you worry about things. You need to see it. We were confident we’d see it today but there was always that lingering doubt.
“I ship her in, ship her out, enjoy the wins and the parties, but Chenelle Ellis is the one who has done the job, looking after her up year.”
He added: “It’d be a bad night to be beer in York, I reckon.”