Dwyer counting down to Nunthorpe with Asfoora

Round three of sprinting rivalry with Big Evs looks like being one to savour.

Henry Dwyer has sprint queen Asfoora in A1 condition ahead of her tilt at the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes.

A trip to York is the next leg on the Royal Ascot heroine’s British tour, and her team are confident of adding to her King Charles III Stakes victory at the summer showpiece after her recent near-miss at Goodwood.

The Australian ace continues to be put through her paces in Newmarket, having become part of the furniture at Amy Murphy’s Southgate Stables, with the five-year-old set for one final piece of work on Monday morning before her shot at Knavesmire sprint honours.

“All the videos I’ve seen from the gallop the other morning looked tremendous,” said Dwyer.

“From all our metrics and data, she looks to be going as well as she possibly can and I think she might have improved a little bit from Goodwood.

“I think just the travel has really settled her down and I think that’s been manifested by how she’s racing. She just seems a different horse mentally which has helped her. She’s able to take a sit and relax and then conserve her energy for the end of the races.

“She’s thriving, she’s eating everything in sight and holding her condition because of that. I really think she’s just as good as she can possibly be, so I’m very excited about heading to York with her.”

Asfoora has been a star for connections this summer
Asfoora has been a star for connections this summer (David Davies/PA)

At Goodwood Asfoora had to give way to Mick Appleby’s Breeders’ Cup hero Big Evs, who flipped Ascot form on its head to shade a short-head verdict.

However, Dwyer feels his filly lost little in defeat and is looking forward to renewing the sporting rivalry with the son of Blue Point and his likeable connections.

“Goodwood was always going to be a nice race for her,” added Dwyer. “But with the penalty, with the little freshen-up before it post-Ascot, and – as we saw – just that little downhill run, she sort of struggled with the first half of the race.

“But if you take that out of the equation and she settled two lengths further forward, she probably wins the race. So that means back on a level track, assuming we begin well and get in the right barrier and the right spot, we should be pretty hard to beat.

“It’s a good healthy rivalry. Big Evs and her are quite evenly matched – they’re one-all and it will be a really good rematch again.

“I had the chance to catch up with Paul (Teasdale) and Mick at Goodwood – we had a beer afterwards and compared notes. It was good so I look forward to seeing them again at York.”

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