Asfoora overcomes passport scare to ace the Abbaye for Australia

Asfoora continued her glorious European tour with an authoritative success for Australia in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines – but only after a late dash from an Uber driver enabled her to line up in Paris.

Winner of the Nunthorpe at York in August, Henry Dwyer’s star mare was ridden by Oisin Murphy as the 9-4 favourite and after leaving the stalls quickly took up a handy spot on the inside in a field of 17.

From there she travelled well along the Longchamp turf, eventually accelerating to take up the lead in the final strides and claim victory from 80-1 shot Jawwal.

A mislaid horse passport had given connections of Asfoora a serious scare, as without it she could not have run.

Dwyer explained: “The roof of the mouth is a touch dry and we’re very happy that she got to the post. We had a couple of complications before the race as the silly Australians forgot to bring the horse’s passport.

“We got a man in an Uber to bring it from Chantilly, we put him on a retainer of a few hundred euros to get here for 2.30pm and he got it here by 2.33pm, so he can keep his retainer!

“I’m going to put something on Twitter (X) and try to track him down. I’ve got his name and I’ll put it on there with a big love heart and say if he can find us he’s more than truly welcome to join us in the celebrations tonight!

“I’ve driven back and forward from Chantilly to Longchamp four times in the last three days, it’s never taken me shorter than an hour and he did it in 52 minutes – he was on a good retainer, though!”

On the victory itself, Dwyer said: “It means a whole lot, obviously.

“We came over last year to England wanting to try new things. A lot of Australian horses come over for the English summer and run at Royal Ascot, but not too many continue and we fully intended to come to the Abbaye last year. We just felt she’d come to the end of it when she ran poorly at York.

“This year we held her back a little bit and wanted to get to Ireland and France. The ground didn’t go in our favour in Ireland and it didn’t completely today, but she was able to cope with it.

“I’m pretty sure she’s the first Australian-trained horse to win in France, so that was always a bucket list item, just to do things that haven’t been done before.

“I’m not a massive trainer who is going to win trainers’ titles and Melbourne Cups, so to try to do something different is what motivates us, I suppose.

“Today adds a new chapter. I think this is my sixth trip this year and it’s obviously not a hop, skip and a jump to get here, but at the end of the day when you’re lying on your death bed, you’re not going to think back about the things you didn’t do, it’s the things you did do and that’s what it’s about – experiences.”

On future plans, he said: “She was entered in the Sceptre sale at the end of the year with Tattersalls, but at the last minute Akram (El-Fahkri, owner) decided he’d prefer to race her on.

“She’s obviously won three Group Ones over here in the last year and a half and he’s enjoying immensely the opportunity to do that. Akram has raced a lot of horses over a lot of years, and a lot of good ones in fairness, and he’s stumbled across one of the best mares in the world and his theory is you don’t desperately need the money why would you sell?

“He’s looking forward to racing her on next year, all being well.”

Murphy, meanwhile, was quick to salute the training effort of Dwyer and his team.

He said: “They’ve done a terrific job with her because at the beginning of the season she wasn’t flying. I rode her about a week ago on the Rowley Mile, maybe about eight or nine days ago, and it was the best she’s ever felt.

“They don’t work her very hard so it can be easy to get carried away, but I truly believed she was in the form of her life.

“That sprint track took the rain really well, it was probably good to firm before it arrived – or even faster. She was able to cruise through the race with a good draw, I got a bit of space when I needed it and I never really had to get serious with her.

“She’s truly a star, and the people connected with her are the same.”