Asfoora joins Australian racing greats with stunning win

Ascot: Victorian sprinter Asfoora has joined some of the greatest names in Australian racing, upstaging the best of Europe with a stunning victory in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Henry Dwyer-trained mare became Australia’s sixth winner of the race, etching her name into the record books by a length to follow in the footsteps of Choisir (2003), Takeover Target (2006), Miss Andretti (2007), Scenic Blast (2009) and Nature Strip (2022) in what was formerly the King’s Stand Stakes.

A dual Group 2 winner in her home country, the five-year-old was the only horse to make its way to the Northern Hemisphere from Australia for the five-day carnival. She had previously finished fourth on her British debut in the Temple Stakes at Haydock last month.

But ridden by Irish jockey Oisin Murphy on a quicker surface, she hit the front about 150 metres from the winning post and galloped all the way to the line for a commanding victory in front of King Charles and Queen Camilla, finishing a length ahead of the Edward Bethell-trained Regional and $3.75 favourite Big Evs a further half-length away in third.

An emotional Dwyer conceded after the race it had been “a bit of an audacious plan” to travel to one of the world’s most famous race meetings.

“It is sublime and some great names from Australia who have won here have trained over 150 Group One winners and that’s only my third. To do it in Europe, and at Royal Ascot, is brilliant,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way from Ballarat, but it’s been an amazing experience from start to finish. We got a bit of stick for bringing her over because she wasn’t seen as one of our better sprinters.”

But Dwyer said he was confident she was a textbook example of a horse which could win the race, over 1000m, and she had not had the opportunities to do so in Australia.