Dwyer not giving up on Asfoora just yet

Henry Dwyer is confident Asfoora is not ready to “put the cue in the rack” just yet as he prepares to reach for the trusty blinkers the Australian ace wore to great effect last season when she heads to Royal Ascot for a third time next month.

The antipodean speedster is practically a Newmarket resident these days such has been her regular presence on the European sprinting scene in recent seasons.

Running in Lemos De Souza’s name, Asfoora has failed to hit the heady heights racing fans have become accustomed to in her two starts so far this term, finishing last of 12 in the Temple Stakes at Haydock and failing to show her usual zest.

However, Dwyer – who made a flying visit to witness her Temple Stakes outing and will be listed again as the seven-year-old’s trainer at Ascot – refuses to believe her best days are in the past, instead presenting conditions on Merseyside as a possible reason for a below-par display.

Dwyer said: “She seems to have pulled out of Haydock pretty well and has trotted up and seems fine, there are no underlying issues or soundness issues going on and I just feel she was going through the motions a bit at Haydock and a little bit flat.

“As an older mare you are always conscious they want to put the cue in the rack and have had enough but I really don’t think that’s the case with her and I think she just looks after herself a bit when conditions are not right.

“They obviously switched tracks and it happens, but that track was pretty choppy and rough. She’s pretty adaptable when it comes to track conditions, as long as it’s not choppy and most of the time those soft tracks can be a bit choppy at those festivals she’s been running at.

“It always looks like she doesn’t handle a soft track but it’s really just the choppy nature of them and that’s what I think was the issue at Haydock.”

Asfoora improved significantly from her run in the Temple Stakes to land the King Charles III Stakes in 2024, while she was fifth in the five-furlong Group One in her second appearance at Royal Ascot 12 months ago, before famously striking in both the Nunthorpe and the Prix de l’Abbaye later in the year.

She sported blinkers for those outings in 2025 and the headgear is set to be reapplied at the summer showpiece, with Dwyer also planning to “mix-up” the mare’s training programme to ensure she arrives in Berkshire at the peak of her powers on June 16.

Dwyer added: “I think we’ll just push ahead towards Ascot and the plan was always to put the blinkers back on there which we think will illicit some improvement and more so she probably just needs to be switched on a little bit more.

“We always thought she would take a few runs to reach peak fitness but I don’t think it was fitness that beat her at Haydock. If it was fitness she runs well and then blows out late and finishes third or fourth.

“I don’t think she had much of a crack and she’s pulled up after the race suggesting she hadn’t exhausted herself too much.

“We might mix up her training a little bit and maybe start working her somewhere and maybe just getting her mentally wanting to be there.

“It will be a beautiful track at Ascot on the first day of the meeting and that will also be a major help.”