Asfoora’s overseas career hangs in the balance after Sandown flop

Champion sprinter Asfoora could have already run her final race in Europe after her disappointing last-place finish as a hot favourite in Saturday’s Group 3 Coral Charge (1000m) at Sandown.

Trainer Henry Dwyer will spend the coming weeks assessing the seven-year-old before deciding whether she has one final international appearance in the Group 2 King George Stakes (1000m) at Goodwood on July 31.

Asfoora finished 8.5 lengths behind Rumstar in the Coral Charge and has endured a frustrating campaign, failing to finish in the placings from four starts. Her best performance came when she was seventh in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot.

Dwyer said the mare had come through her latest run in excellent order, leaving the stable searching for answers.

“We’re just going to give ourselves the next couple of weeks, because she’s booked to go into quarantine on July 31, so she can’t really come home any earlier, anyway… I want to give her a week off in the paddock and reassess after that,” Dwyer told SEN on Monday.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, she’s pulled up super… Oisin (Murphy, jockey) never really knocked her around and she pulled up like she never really had a run, really.”

Despite her disappointing form, Dwyer believes the mare could still produce one final big performance.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, there’s no reason she ran poorly, other than that she just didn’t turn up on the day… she doesn’t want to be there anymore, but I’m also conscious that she does that and has done that previously over the last couple of years and then can come out and run a blinder after it.”

“Given there’s nothing wrong with her, I’m inclined to give her one last hurrah at Goodwood and then she can come home and go to stud, but we’ll make that decision after we’ve given it a week of thought.”

Should Asfoora head to the breeding barn, owner Akram El-Fahkri is considering a number of stallion options, with the Melbourne-based owner keen to support a Victorian-based sire for her first mating.