Trainer Henry Dwyer cautiously optimistic about Asfoora’s King Charles III Stakes defence at Royal Ascot

Star sprinting mare Asfoora will again fly the flag for Australia at the Royal Ascot carnival next month.

Asfoora launches inthe Group 3 Irwin Stakes in April. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

Trainer Henry Dwyer has conceded Royal Ascot-winning Group 1 mare Asfoora could be vulnerable in her King Charles III Stakes title defence next month.

Asfoora will be floated to Sydney this week ahead of her long haul flight to Europe on Thursday.

Dwyer ideally wanted Asfoora in England already but could not get a suitable flight for the $2.5m prizemoney earner and short-course specialist which stunned Royal Ascot last year.

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“Last year we saw a huge improvement from Haydock (4th in a Group 2) to Ascot … we’re not really going to get that opportunity this year (racing two weeks after arrival) so we’re going in as we are and she probably keeps improving after that,” Dwyer said.

“Last year we went over and thought the Nunthorpe at York in late August was going to be her race and I think we cooked her a bit by that stage, she had a big preparation.

“This year with the later start for her … maybe that will be her peak this time and I think that’s the right race for her, the right track for her, and acclimatization wise it would make sense she’s better by then.

Trainer Henry Dwyer with his star mare Asfoora. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

“I’m looking at that, we used Goodwood as a lead-up to York last year, she probably should’ve won at Goodwood, she was a bit unlucky not to, so that’s on the radar again, and then off to York.

“Whatever happens after that is a bonus.”

The astute Ballarat horseman has prepared Asfoora primarily for another European odyssey and said the experience last year helped on and off the track now 12 months on.

“It was a weird feeling last year because we were the Australian but we weren’t a hyped Australian and I probably did my best to dull it down a bit because I didn’t want to spruik her and then go no good, which was a real possibility,” Dwyer said.

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“Whereas this year we know she measures up so it’s a lot easier, we know the lay of the land … this year we know exactly what track we want to work on every morning and last year we were finding our feet, those first few weeks.

“She’ll be in the same stable as she was last year, she’s been to each of the race tracks, she’ll be more settled because of that, I think it’s a good scenario for us.

“My worry last year with Ascot was a stiff five furlongs (1000m) up the hill there, the worries were unfounded, she coped with it no dramas, it’s more like an 1100m which I think is her pet distance and she handled it last year so she can probably do the same this year.”

Originally published as Trainer Henry Dwyer cautiously optimistic about Asfoora’s King Charles III Stakes defence at Royal Ascot