Racing
Asfoora creates history in France
Aussie sprinter becomes the first Australian-trained horse to win in France.
Asfoora helped herself to another slice of history, overcoming drama in the process, when a winner of the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp on Sunday.
The Henry Dwyer
-trained mare became the first Australian-trained horse to win in France when she won the feature sprint race on the Arc De Triomphe meeting.But she was almost not permitted to take her place in the 1000-metre event.
The seven-year-old arrived on-course without her passport and stewards were not going to let her start without seeing it before a specified time.
Dwyer's team then engaged an Uber driver, on a £200 incentive, to get the passport there on time, which he did – just.
"The dumb Australians forgot to pack the passport, unfortunately, so we had a bit of an issue," Dwyer said.
"But we had an Uber driver do a mad dash from Chantilly with the passport and he got here with a minute-and-a-half to spare, so it could have been a very different tale."
Once cleared to start, Asfoora did what she's been doing since the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1005m) at Royal Ascot last year – denying Europeans in their own sprint races.
Oisin Murphy timed his run to perfect to wear down Jawwal and score a half-length win.
It was Asfoora's second Group 1 of the campaign, to go alongside the Nunthorpe Stakes (1005m) at York in August.
"It means a whole lot, obviously," Dwyer said.
"We came over at the start of last year to England (and) we were trying to chart some new things.
"A lot of Australian horses come over in the European summer for Royal Ascot but not too many continue the preparation, which is what we wanted to do last year, and we fully intended to go for the 'Abbaye'.
"We just thought she came to the end of it when she ran poorly at York. This year we held her back a little bit and wanted to get her to Ireland and France. The ground didn't go in our favour in Ireland, but she was able to cope with it today."
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