Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
Over seven months off the scene, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone to see Royal Ascot heroine Asfoora (Flying Artie) return a little soft on Saturday, but the 6-year-old mare defied any doubters at Morphettville to win the G3 RN Irwin Stakes first up, leaving Group 3 winner Sghirripa (Lonhro) and Group 1 winner Climbing Star (NZ) (Zoustar) in the dust behind her.
“We thought she was in really good order,” trainer Henry Dwyer described the feel the mare gave him on the run-up to her Australian return. “There's no question about that. She looks great, and all her work has been good, but there's always a question mark when they haven't been seen at the races for seven months. They're obviously going to be a little bit rusty to some extent, I suppose.”
Particularly pleasing is that Asfoora didn’t show Dwyer that she was even at her best yet, which bodes well for her next assignment, the G1 Robert Sangster Stakes, before she heads to the Northern Hemisphere for another tilt at Royal Ascot.
Something different
Trying “something different” last year was the tipping point that led Dwyer and Asfoora’s connections to consider the original trip overseas. Their options were limited in Australasia, particularly for a highly rated mare that relished 1100 metres or less, and connections weren’t ready to retire her just yet.
Henry Dwyer | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“It was either we leave her here and retire her, or try something different, there just weren't the races here for us,” Dwyer said. “She gets weighted out of the handicaps and most of our Group 1 sprints are over 1200 metres, with the exception of the Lightning, which is always strong and you always find a Nature Strip type.
“It’s that or the Moir in the spring, where she ran second to Imperatriz. There’s always one or two better every year. We had limited options, but over there (in Europe), there’s a good five or so 1000-metre races, all Group 1s and Group 2s, that she could run in. That was the early thought process.”
"Over there (in Europe), there’s a good five or so 1000-metre races, all Group 1s and Group 2s, that she (Asfoora) could run in." - Henry Dwyer
Once the seed of an idea had started to germinate and the team began exploring the logistics of the enterprise, Dwyer realised there was too much at stake not to commit. Asfoora was set for several lead-up races in Australia last autumn to establish that she was running in good enough form to go - and despite being winless in that endeavour, she gave the team the confidence that she was ready.
“She was running well without luck, so we ended up rolling the dice and going over,” he said. “We got there and she ran okay at Haydock (fourth in the Temple Stakes) once again, a little bit plain, and you'd be hard pressed to think she'd be winning at Royal Ascot off that.
“But we just saw massive improvement in her from Haydock to the week after, then the week after, and the week after that through to Ascot.”
Dwyer knew the mare needed to “find a few lengths” to be in with a chance, and it was fortunate that she delivered with a 1l victory in the G1 King Charles III Stakes. Two more highly credible runs in England had the team pencilling in a return for 2025.
“It was trial and error last year,” Dwyer said. “But this year we have the lay of the land.”
A return offensive
The G1 Lightning Stakes had been the original jumping off point for this campaign, but as the race loomed closer and closer, Dwyer came to the conclusion that the mare simply wasn’t going to be ready in time.
“She just hadn’t quite reacclimatised,” Dwyer said. “She still looked a little wintery in the middle of summer and had a couple of other little side issues. It all worked out conveniently that we could tip her out and give her more time, which is what she needed.”
Back in the paddock for a couple of weeks, followed by beach training and the water walker, was the key to producing a first up victory like Saturday. While Dwyer finds the mare “pretty adaptable”, but is conscious of her needing a little variety to stay focused.
“I don't think it matters where she’s trained, she's pretty good, but I think with mares in particular, you're just conscious that they can throw the towel in at any given moment and switch off a bit. You don't see too many mares still racing at the peak of their powers at six, rising seven.
“She was lightly raced when she was younger, but after so much travel, you’re half expecting her to pull the pin.”
It was a big weekend for the older mares; at Royal Randwick, the 7-year-old Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock) and 6-year-old Fangirl (Sebring) both added to the Group 1 records with emphatic victories. The 7-year-old Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) bypassed the weekend’s racing in favour of the Queensland carnival. Keeping an older mare going is a delicate game.
Dwyer acknowledged that many don’t get the opportunity to attempt the feats of this calibre of racemare; most have long since headed through the sales ring and joined the broodmare population.
“She's shown she's kept improving and they've (the ownership) been more than happy to race her, so she's going to get that chance,” he said.
“Each preparation, she has always, without exceptions, improved a little bit. In her first preparation, she won a Benchmark 58 race and then a midweek metropolitan race, and then in her next preparation, she came back better, and then even better the next time. I don’t see why she couldn’t even be better again this preparation.”
“Each preparation, she (Asfoora) has always, without exceptions, improved a little bit." - Henry Dwyer
Eyes on Ascot
Returning to Royal Ascot is the only logical thing now. The Sangster, despite being an unideal distance, is the next step, before a possible flight out on May 6.
“There is no other race for her,” Dwyer said. “She’s highly rated now and it’s weight-for-age against her own sex, so it would make sense (to go to the Sangster).
“And I think she is settling better and conserving her energy a bit more. She used to get very lit up before the start and in the barriers and in the race. She probably overused herself for a bit, but I think she is getting more conservative, and that'll give her a chance to get 1200 metres.
“But if she doesn't win, we're not going to say she's not going well in respect to the 1200 metres. As long as she runs well, we’re still on track to go to Europe.”
“As long as she (Asfoora) runs well (in the Robert Sangster), we’re still on track to go to Europe.” - Henry Dwyer
Landing in early May would give Asfoora and the team plenty of time to get ready for Royal Ascot.
“That will give us a chance to get to either Chantilly or Newmarket, depending on where we go, and have a lead up run two and a half or three weeks out from Royal Ascot.”
Dwyer has yet to concretely decide where their training base will be, but the presence of Amy Murphy, with whom the team stayed last year, in Chantilly is a big draw.
“We did Newmarket last year and had a great experience, and we just thought we'd try something different next time, more for our benefit than the horse,” he said. “Amy Murphy has shifted to Chantilly, it gives us the option of going there and she'll be more than accommodating again as she was last year. So if it works, that'd be a great experience to train her there for four or five weeks leading up to Ascot, and then we could flip over to Newmarket for the rest of the summer.
“If we go to Chantilly, there’s a 1000-metre set weights with penalties Group 3 there on June 1, that would be her lead-up race. If she went to Newmarket again, we’d probably look to Haydock for the race she ran fourth in last year, the Temple Stakes.”
What the future holds
And beyond that? Dwyer isn’t sure. Asfoora wouldn’t be seen again in Australia until next autumn after such a big trip. It would be a delicate balance to have her back to her best as a 7-year-old, especially after two overseas campaigns.
“She turns seven in August, she’ll be seven and a half next autumn, which would be the first chance you would have to go back to the races,” he said. “It would make sense to have her covered Southern Hemisphere time over there or bring her back for the spring here and get her covered, but it just depends on what the owners Noor Elaine Farm want to do and how we want to play it from there.
“She's been the horse of a lifetime for them, so they're quite enjoying racing her for the time being.”
"She's (Asfoora) been the horse of a lifetime for them (Noor Elaine Farm), so they're quite enjoying racing her for the time being." - Henry Dwyer
Noor Elaine Farm have a full sister to Asfoora waiting in the wings; she was born in the spring, and dam Golden Child (I Am Invincible) returned to Flying Artie again afterwards.
“He’s (Flying Artie) a pretty good bread and butter stallion, he has the best horse in Hong Kong after Ka Ying Rising,” Dwyer said. “The full sister is a really nice type. I never saw Asfoora as a foal, only as a yearling, and she wasn't overly impressive to start with, but this filly might be the best looking foal the mare has ever produced.”
The filly will head to Dwyer when she comes of age, and it will be exciting to see if lightning can strike twice.
