Mick Appleby and Tom Marquand© Photo Healy Racing
Henry Dwyer is relishing a York rubber match after his Royal Ascot heroine Asfoora went down valiantly to Big Evs in a pulsating renewal of the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood.
The Australian raider got the better of Mick Appleby’s Breeders’ Cup champion at Royal Ascot in the King Charles III Stakes, but with Big Evs getting first run on the lighting-fast Goodwood sprint surface the six-year-old was unable to reel in her rival, going down by a short head.
With both Big Evs and Asfoora on course for another showdown in the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes later this month, the Ballarat-based trainer is looking forward to settling the rivalry on the Knavesmire.
Dwyer said: “I’m incredibly proud. She’s done a great job. It’s frustrating to come here and run so well and not actually win, but incredibly pleased that she’s run as well as she has, knowing that she’s come through the two runs well and we’ve got a horse to forward with.
“It went as well as we possibly could have hoped. We got a bump at the 300 (metre) pole which cost us, but it will be great to head for the Nunthorpe now.
“I just think the Nunthorpe is going to be great, back to weight-for-age for her. We’ve lost the battle, but we might win the war later on.
“It was always going to be problematic this race to start with, let alone getting an extra 2lb for winning at Ascot. I’m not making excuses, the other horse is a really good colt, and he’s got that ability to roll forward and control his own destiny, whereas we had to be back, we couldn’t go the early speed and that told late – we just got a bit of interference.”
Despite the defeat, the performance was further vindication of Dwyer’s decision to campaign his star sprinter in Europe this summer and as well as a trip to York later this month, Asfoora’s stay at host Amy Murphy’s Newmarket base could be extended well into the autumn.
He added: “There’s so many options and that’s why we’re here. There were no options for us in Australia to be fair, but here we’ve got six or seven options, we’re not going to run in all of them, but we’ll pick and choose our path.
“Straight to York in three weeks, that’ll be absolutely perfect for her, and then we’ve got the option of the Flying Five at the Curragh and the Abbaye and America potentially. We could even go back to Australia for a race there. We’re just enjoying the experience.”
George Boughey’s ever-consistent Believing – who has become a regular at the business end of these top sprinting contests – was in the mix once again in third.
Having won at the Curragh recently, Boughey has always had his eye on a return to Ireland for the Flying Five Stakes in mid-September.
However, he could now be persuaded to roll the dice with the Highclere Thoroughbreds-owned filly and is another with the Nunthorpe as a possibility.
Boughey said: “She’s just showing her tenacity every time, really. I was a bit worried after a couple of furlongs that she was out of her ground on the fastest five that you run at this grade, but she’s still learning to sprint at this distance, I think.
“She’s carried a penalty there today and probably didn’t have the easiest of runs, all options are open for her.
“Ryan Moore was pretty insistent that she went to the Nunthorpe, but the Flying Five has always been the plan. There’s enough time for her to do both. She will govern whether we do that, if she’s all right it would be no surprise – it’s only 12 days ago that she won the Group Two in Ireland.
“She takes her racing so well – I think she was the only horse at the start without a drop of sweat on her. She’s still upwardly mobile. Credit to Billy (Loughnane, jockey) not giving up – I think she’s still learning really to sprint at that level.”
