Royal Ascot winner Asfoora targeting Robert Sangster Stakes

Henry Dwyer intends to tackle the Adelaide Racing Carnival with star mare Asfoora, the Ballarat trainer pinpointing the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes as a landing spot for the Royal Ascot winner.

Asfoora, ridden by Oisin Murphy, wins the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot. Picture: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Henry Dwyer intends to tackle the Adelaide Racing Carnival with star mare Asfoora, the Ballarat trainer pinpointing the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes as a landing spot for the Royal Ascot winner.

Asfoora, which won the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last June, was en route to a first-up run in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington on February 15, but a setback has seen Dwyer forced to alter his mare’s Autumn plans.

“She was heading to the Lightning Stakes but we’ve just had a little bit of a setback with her, nothing major, but just enough to have to pivot a little bit,” Dwyer said.

“We’ve backed off her and sent her to the beach for a couple of weeks, we’ll bring her back into work in 2-3 weeks time and look to take her to Adelaide all being well.”

The Sangster, now worth $1 million, is for fillies and mares over 1200m, and is one of two $1 million features alongside the Australasian Oaks on April 26.

“The Sangster is weight-for-age so she’ll be on level weights with her own sex, she’ll obviously be the highest rated runner in the race but she won’t be giving away any weight,” he said.

“1200m has always been a bit of a concern with her, she’s best suited to 1000-1100m, but I just thought if she’s ever going to get 1200m it would be against her own sex.”

One for Australia! 🇦🇺 Asfoora wins the King Charles III Stakes at Royal @Ascot! pic.twitter.com/QmVXaTLF2A

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 18, 2024

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Dwyer has circled the Group 3 R N Irwin Stakes (1100m) on April 12 as an ideal lead-up run for Asfoora, which last raced on August 23 when fourth in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, the last of four globetrotting runs in the UK last year.

“We would look to give her a lead-up run there 2-3 weeks earlier in the Irwin, she’ll get in pretty well there and she’ll need a lead-up run if she’s going to 1200m,” he said.

“We’ve got a bit of time up our sleeve, but we’ll look to run her over there and if her form warrants it, we’ll look to head overseas again.”

Royal Ascot beckons again for Asfoora, now a six-year-old, and Dwyer would be intent on kicking off her UK campaign there after beginning last year’s campaign at Haydock Park.

“We probably wouldn’t look at doing that this year, if we run in Adelaide it’s closer to Ascot, she’d be dropping back to 1000m anyway so we wouldn’t need to have the miles in her legs in the warm-up runs.

“We’d kick her off at Royal Ascot, go to Goodwood again, which was the next run last year, and York again.”

King Charles III (left) speaks with Henry Dwyer (right) after winning the King Charles III Stakes. Picture: BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images

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Dwyer could also entertain runs in Ireland and France after England, but another overseas campaign hinges on what the mare shows in Adelaide.

“It’s all hypothetical, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge, we’ll see how she comes up and work out if we want to go over there or not,” Dwyer said.

“We won’t be going over there unless she’s going as well as she can – she’d have to prove that in Adelaide.”

Asfoora may be on a collision course with smart mare Charm Stone, which ran second in the $2 million Magic Millions Cup on January 17.

Co-trainer Michael Kent Jnr has indicated the four-year-old is being targeted at the Sangster, along with $1 million The Goodwood (1200m) in Adelaide.

Dan O’Sullivan’s gun filly Too Darn Discreet also appears bound for Adelaide’s Autumn Carnival, with the stable bookmarking the Australasian Oaks as the filly’s target race.

Originally published as Royal Ascot winner Asfoora targeting Robert Sangster Stakes