Asfoora to start mum duties after Goodwood
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Asfoora (Oisin Murphy) finishing the best to land the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye (1,000m) for trainer Henry Dwyer at ParisLongchamp on Oct 5.
PHOTO: SCOOPDYGA
GOODWOOD – Brilliant Australian mare Asfoora is set for her career swan song in the £300,000 (S$516,000) Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes (1,000m) at England’s Glorious Goodwood race carnival on July 31.
Victorian trainer Henry Dwyer said Asfoora is most likely to return home after the race to start her new career as a broodmare in the spring breeding season, though he did leave the door for one last dance slightly ajar.
“If she won at Goodwood, I might be able to twist the owner’s arm to go to York (Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes) next month,’’ Dwyer told Racing And Sports.
“But he is pretty keen to get her home and get her served in the spring.’’
The Flying Artie seven-year-old is lining up in her third successive King George, having finished second in the Goodwood sprint in 2024 before finishing unplaced in 2025.
Dwyer said his star mare is “going well” and said there were excuses for her poor run when last in the Group 3 Coral Charge (1,000m) at Sandown on July 4 last start.
“I was really disappointed last time because I had never walked on a track more confident than that day,” said Dwyer.
“But she smashed her head on the gate when she came out and was out the back which is very uncharacteristic.
“I think she is ‘great’, so we will give her one more chance and if she doesn’t win, she doesn’t win.”
Whatever the result at Goodwood, Asfoora will soon retire to stud with the towering accomplishment of being the most successful Australian-trained international Group 1 winner.
Raced by Noor Elaine Farm, Asfoora has won 12 races, mostly in her native Australia.
She put herself on the world map with her three Group 1 races, all over 1,000m, in Europe.
She first landed the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2024, and then claimed the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and the Prix de l’Abbaye at ParisLongchamp in France in 2025.
RACING AND SPORTS
