Is Asfoora the most underrated horse in Australia?

Is the Henry Dwyer trained Asfoora getting the level of recognition she deserves?

The seven-year-old mare’s win in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes last Friday at York gave her bragging rights over the host of other top Australian racehorses who have saluted in Britain in the last couple of decades, because she is the first Australian horse to hit Group 1 winning paydirt in different seasons in England.

There has been a well-feted honour role of Australian trained Group 1 and Group 2 winners in Britain since Paul Perry blazed a new trail with Choisir, who took out both the Kings Stand Stakes and Golden Jubilee Stakes in 2003.

In 2012, Ortensia became the second Australian horse to win two times in one campaign in England, landing the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood and the Group 1 Nunthorpe.

Takeover Target (in 2006), Miss Andretti (2007), Scenic Blast (2009) and Nature Strip (2022) all won the Kings Stand while Black Caviar won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (in 2012) … all highly merited wins by some high-profile Australian stars of the turf and their success was duly trumpeted out load back home.

All of those horses came to England, saw and conquered … but they only struck paydirt in one campaign in Britain.

Asfoora has now saluted two years in a row in England … having won the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (in 2024) and now, just last Friday, the Nunthorpe Stakes.

The fact that achieving that feat had never been done before … never mind in back-to-back seasons … underlines the magnitude of Asfoora’s claims to a particular place in Australian racing history.

With just fourteen months in-between his Group 1 wins in England … and six runs in different hemispheres in-between those successes … think of the logistics and travel stress involved in keeping the horse happy … it is to trainer Henry Dwyer’s enormous credit that he has managed Asfoora so masterfully.

And the Nunthorpe win has come with a bonus offer which hands Asfoora an automatic entry into the US$1 million Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) through the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In Challenge.

In addition, the Breeders’ Cup will pay the entry fees for Asfoora to start in the race as well as provide a travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the event.

It is another chance for Asfoora to create history … but it will, of course, all depend on how Asfoora herself copes with any scheduled program.

For now. though, the stable has pencilled in a plan but will keep their options open.

The Flying Five Stakes, at the Curragh, and the Prix de l’Abbaye, at Longchamp, have been identified as Asfoor’s immediate targets.

After that, all things being equal after that, it will be on to Del Mar and the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at the Breeders World Cup Championships, a fourteen Group 1, two-day racing feast which takes place on October 31 and November 1.

That’s the world of opportunity that has opened up for Asfoora.

There might not be the media ramp-up of Black Caviar and Peter Moody or the flood of stories that followed Nature Strip and Chris Waller’s every move … and, make no mistake, that hype was fully justified (and nobody is comparing these horses or their opposition) … but the fact remains that Asfoora is really flying the Australian flag with pride in special circumstances, so it is arguably fair to come full circle and once again ask the question that we set out with.

Is the Henry Dwyer trained Asfoora getting the level of recognition she deserves?