Asfoora camp eyeing 'one last hurrah' with star sprinter as retirement looms

Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources or find out more here

The team behind Asfoora are considering "one last hurrah" in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood later this month before the three-time Group 1-winning mare is retired.

The Australian sprinter has endured a disappointing campaign this season, finishing no better than seventh in four outings and failing to beat a rival home when sent off the 9-4 favourite for Saturday's Coral Charge at Sandown. Her connections are now weighing up whether to give her one last run before she heads back home to embark on a broodmare career.

“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," Asfoora's trainer Henry Dwyer said on the Giddy Up With Gareth Hall podcast. "The race that she can run in is that same day, so we’ve got four weeks up our sleeve.

“I want to give her a week off in the paddock and reassess after that. It gives her a chance to have a week off and us a chance to consider the realities of everything, then make a more educated decision after we’ve seen her for a week."

“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.”

Henry Dwyer: trainer of AsfooraCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Oisin Murphy has partnered Asfoora in ten of her 11 starts in Britain and was in the saddle for the mare's last win in the Prix de l'Abbaye on Arc day at Longchamp in October.

Following the disappointing Coral Charge run on Saturday, he said: "There’s no reason she ran poorly, other than that she just didn’t turn up on the day. She does that from time to time and that’s probably showing us that 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."

Last season, Asfoora raced seven times during a demanding international campaign, striking at Morphettville in Australia before claiming big-race wins in the Nunthorpe Stakes and the Abbaye, becoming the first horse in 32 years to complete that prestigious York-Longchamp Group 1 double in the same season.

Read these next:

'He's a cracker' - Rumstar rewrites record books with back-to-back Coral Charge victories 

Four Royal Ascot winners, a Japanese gem and a 200-1 Group 1 hero - why this year's July Cup is one you can't miss 

Sky is to buy ITV's broadcast and streaming arm for £1.6 billion - but what could it mean for racing coverage? 

Looking for free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.