The mare became the eighth winner from down under to score at the royal meeting, capturing the King Charles III Stakes for Henry Dwyer
The Aussies have struck again in a major Royal Ascot sprint.
With just a single runner from down under travelling to the five day royal meeting this year, 2023 was predicted to be a fallow year despite the formidable record of Australian sprinters.
The mare Asfoora lacked the Group 1 pedigree of previous challengers and she was beaten into fourth place on her British debut at Haydock. Yet in the King Charles III Stakes she defied the doubters when driven to victory by Oisin Murphy to become the sixth Australian winner of the 5f sprint, and eighth to win at the meeting.
By defeating Regional and Big Evs, she delivered an emotional success for trainer Henry Dwyer and owner Akram El-Fahkri, boss of a Melbourne taxi firm who was raised on a farm in Lebanon.
Dwyer said: “I’m really struggling for words. We’ve come a long way from Ballarat but it’s been an amazing experience from start to finish. It was a bit of an audacious plan. We got a bit of stick for bringing her over because she wasn’t seen as one of our better sprinters.
“We were just so confident she was textbook, wheelhouse five furlongs and she’s proven that today. We just didn’t have the races for her in Australia.”
Dwyer studied accountancy at university but chose a training career, setting up in Ballarat, Victoria, where he has a string of 40.
“I fully expected to be broke by the age of 30,” he said. “I was incredibly lucky to have a couple of Group 1 winners in my first year. t’s been a bit of a dry spell since then in terms of Group 1s.
“This mare deserved one. She has had so much go against her in the Group 1s in Australia. To get a Group 1 at home is great, but to be at Royal Ascot and get a Group 1 is just amazing.
“There are a group of 40 or 50 of my owners from home who are here that would saw their left leg off to have a runner at Royal Ascot and won’t get the opportunity. I just want them to feel a part of this.
“We’ve got a good stable but it’s very hard to find these sort of horses. It’s an absolute luxury to have them.
“For Akram to entrust me with training her, it’s such a gamble bringing her over. It’s an incredibly expensive trip. We are getting a bit of help from Royal Ascot and Akram is paying up for it. We’ve more than paid our way.”