Asfoora bows out on the Knavesmire after an ‘amazing journey’

Australian mare Asfoora bowed out with an eighth-place finish in the Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes at York, as Henry Dwyer reflected on the “amazing journey” he has had with his stable star.

The eight-year-old was racing for the 35th and final time on the Knavesmire and was far from disgraced as she finished three and a half lengths adrift of American speedster Bacio in defence of the title she won 12 months ago.

She leaves the racecourse with three Group Ones to her name having also won the King Charles III Stakes and Prix de l’Abbaye and Dwyer has no regrets about calling time on her career.

Dwyer said: “We’ve had an amazing journey for three years and sadly all good things must come to an end. She hasn’t won a race this year, but she’s had a lot of merit in her runs and even today she’s run seventh or eighth and she didn’t really appreciate the ground. But she’s tried her hardest and that’s all we can ask.

“We’ve had a great experience and we just need to find another one now. You’ve got no idea how much fun we’ve had. Every trip we’ve been over. I think I’ve been over seven times and back this year, let alone the previous two years.

“Every time we’ve come across we’ve brought a couple of people. Everyone’s got to enjoy the experience, experience the Ebor Festival, Ascot, Goodwood and it’s just opened up a lot of eyes of people in Australia about how good these events are.

“Obviously Australian horses have come before, but us travelling around and going to all the festivals has opened some eyes.

“We’ve had our fair share of luck, we’ve won our three Group Ones and the other horses have had a turn too, they all take it in turns. It’s just the nature of the beast and we’ve been so lucky.”

Starlust ran a gallant race in finishing best of the rest behind Bacio, and even more remarkable is he has returned to Ralph Beckett this year after a spell at stud in Australia.

“It took him a little while to get back into the the rhythm of it again, but he quickly did, quicker than I thought he would actually,” said Beckett.

“I thought it might take five runs to get to where we needed to be. But he loves it here which helps.”

Starlust famously won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2024 and looks like heading to Keeneland for another crack at Bacio.

Beckett added: “We’d love to go back to America, five furlongs round a bend suits him better than anything else.”

Harry Eustace, meanwhile, is turning his attention to the Flying Five at The Curragh after Time For Sandals finished fourth having had no luck in running.

Eustace said: “We’ve had a tough time out of the stalls so we’ve ended up quite a long way back and as happens in racing we’ve just never had any breaks really to be honest, all the way up the straight and deep inside the final furlong.

“I’m incredibly proud of her and she’s back which is lovely because we were treading water for a bit earlier in the season, but we’ve had a good few runs over five and she loves being ridden like that and she handled that ground today no problem.

“I think the Flying Five is an obvious race, the track will really suit. She’s fit, she loves her racing and there would be no reason to bypass that and after that there’s not a huge amount of options for her. She’s in the Abbaye and there’s then Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup, so we’ll see how we go.”