Asfoora’s retirement has been postponed after her return to form at Goodwood convinced connections to give the Australian sprint star one final Group 1 assignment.
Trainer Henry Dwyer confirmed the seven-year-old will defend her Nunthorpe Stakes crown at York on August 21 before returning to Australia for the spring breeding season.
“See you at York,” Dwyer’s team posted on social media.
Asfoora had been expected to end her career after last Friday’s Group 2 King George Stakes, but a one-length fourth behind American Affair showed she remained capable of competing with Europe’s leading sprinters.
She moved to the front about 200m from home before being overhauled late, producing her strongest performance of a campaign in which she had finished unplaced at her previous four starts.
The run was enough for Dwyer to delay plans for Asfoora to enter quarantine immediately after Goodwood.
She will now return to the scene of one of her three European Group 1 victories, having won last year’s Nunthorpe before adding the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp.
Her first top-level success in Europe came in the 2024 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Asfoora remained in England after her Longchamp victory but struggled to reproduce her best form during the early stages of this year’s campaign, despite reportedly continuing to work well at home.
Goodwood provided the clearest sign that there was still one more run in her, giving connections another chance to finish her international campaign with a major prize.
Victory at York would make Asfoora a back-to-back Nunthorpe winner and provide a fitting conclusion to a European adventure that has already made her one of Australia’s most successful overseas performers.
She remains scheduled to return home after the race and begin her new career as a broodmare.
