Asfoora bidding to get back on track in Temple Asfoora may be an Australian sprinter, but she is such a feature in the top sprints in Europe these days you could be forgiven for viewing her as one of the home team ahead of the William Hill Temple Stakes at Haydock. Her stay in Newmarket has been a bit more permanent this year, so much so that she appears next to the name of Lemos de Souza on the officials racecard, although she is very much on loan from Henry Dwyer, who will be back in time for Royal Ascot. All being well this year will be her third appearance at the Royal meeting, having won the King Charles III Stakes in 2024 and finished fifth last season, after which she went on to win the Nunthorpe at York and the Prix de l’Abbaye in France, endearing herself to the Parisian public by becoming the first horse trained in Australia to win a Group One in France. Her reappearance saw her finish down the field in the Palace House Stakes on Guineas weekend under Oisin Murphy, who has built up a very successful partnership with the mare and hopes the ground on Merseyside keeps drying out. The champion jockey said: “Hopefully the ground dries up as much as it can for her. The weather forecast is positive on that front. “She has a lovely draw next to the speed horses (Night Raider and Jakajaro) and hopefully she’ll take a big step forward from Newmarket.” Karl Burke’s Night Raider looked a reformed character first time out this season when winning the Palace House. His ability has never been in doubt and having been gelded over the winter, he put all his energy into going as fast as he could and nothing could live with him. “He always showed a lot of speed. He’s always been an impressive workhorse, but it’s (gelding) definitely helped him mentally as much as physically, and I think in the stalls it’s helped him,” said Burke. “He jumped real quick there the other day, and when he jumps quick and gets into a rhythm very early, then he can use that stride. “The statistics that Wathnan (owners) take showed that his stride length actually increased this year from last year, which was very interesting. He’s in good form.” He added: “Richard Brown of Wathnan thinks I’m a lunatic for thinking about six furlongs still. He thinks he’s an out-and-out speed five-furlong horse, but he won twice over seven on his first two racecourse appearances. “I think now that he’s a little bit more tractable that he should be getting six. He has an entry in the July Cup, but we’ll get the Temple out of the way first and then Royal Ascot and then think about that.” Burke also runs the mare Beautiful Diamond, who had no luck in France last time out. “She missed the break, but she actually slipped. She lost her hind legs as they jumped and then she banged her hip as well,” said Burke. “She was a bit sore on her hip when she came back. So there was a genuine reason. As you say, the race was over as soon as the stalls opened. We wanted a jump and go handy in that race, that’s how she runs. “I think it’s fair to say all these sprinters, there’s not much between any of them, really. So on any given day, a slip out of the stalls can make all the difference.” Last year’s winner Mgheera, Jim Goldie’s Royal Ascot hero American Affair and Robert Cowell’s bang-in-form Jakajaro are others with strong claims in the Group Two feature.
