Trainer Henry Dwyer left Goodwood wondering what could have been after his superstar mare Asfoora suffered a small bump en-route to an agonising defeat in the Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes.
The Group 1 King Charles III Stakes winner was an 11/4 chance to confirm her superiority over Royal Ascot rivals at Goodwood on Friday, but it wasn't to be for Henry Dwyer's six-year-old mare, who went down by a short-head to the Mick Appleby-trained 13/8 favourite Big Evs crossing the line.
As expected on this downhill speed favouring track, Asfoora failed to go blistering the early tempo set by the Czech raider Pontoss and Big Evs. Held up off the front runners by Oisin Murphy, the pair suffered a slight bump from Rogue Lightning as the pace began to lift approaching the final furlong, something Dwyer believed was probably the difference in the winning margin over the line.
"Big Evs was able to control his own destiny, whereas we were stuck behind a couple and got a bit of a bump at around the 300 (metres). I think that's probably cost her the win, but she's run great," explained Dwyer.
Although ruing what could have been for his Royal Ascot heroine, Dwyer was clearly immensely proud of her performance and bookmakers were quick to react, with Paddy Power making her 3/1 favourite (from 9/2 favourite) to gain revenge on Big Evs in the five-furlong Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes staged at York on the 24th August.
"I am very proud of her and very happy with Oisin's ride. You could just tell, about 100 metres from the start of coming down the hill there, she just came off the bridle. She is a quick mare, but they went a bit quick for her early," said the Ballarat-based handler.
He added: "The leaders here just have such an easy time of it early, because they run downhill for the first 400 (metres). It levels out a bit after that, but if they're going quick early, they get an easy time. She's gone terrific – I couldn't have hoped for her to go better, just disappointed not to win, having gone so well. Everyone has been so great to us, and we've very much enjoyed the experience."
