'I’d cause a ruckus in my family if she was sold' - King Charles III heroine Asfoora staying put for racing and breeding career

Offers to buy Royal Ascot-conquering Australian sprinter Asfoora have been forthcoming, but the Group 1-winning mare’s owner has revealed they won’t be entertained.

Akram El-Fahkri returned to Melbourne on Saturday, just days after witnessing his Henry Dwyer-trained homebred Asfoora land the King Charles III Stakes on the opening day of the royal meeting, steadfast in the view that he won’t part with his valuable mare – despite significant interest in the dual-hemisphere stakes winner.

“I am a businessman, but I am telling you quite flatly that she’s not for sale,” El-Fahkri told ANZ Bloodstock News on Monday. 

“It’s not ‘no matter what’ – it would be a brave man to stand between me and a bag of money, and commercial realities have to be considered properly, but I’d cause a ruckus in my family if she was sold.” 

Asfoora is slated to continue her European odyssey in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on August 2 and at York in the Nunthorpe three weeks later, while her performance at Royal Ascot also earned her an invitation to the United States for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar in November.

El-Fahkri, who left the raucous celebrations following Asfoora’s success to his son Joseph and trainer Dwyer among countless others, will remain in Australia for the remainder of his star mare’s international sojourn, leaving duties at York to his brother Daniel to oversee. 

Asfoora powers to success on the opening day of Royal AscotCredit: Patrick McCann

“The caveat there is that she is well and is not being overtaxed by going there [America],” said the owner. 

“One very comforting thing is, she travels like a baby in a pram. Her trip from Australia to the UK was unremarkable. She didn’t turn a hair. I am even reckoning she didn’t lose any weight on the trip.

“Perhaps she’s a late maturer. In her adolescent years, if we could phrase it that way, she was fractious and a little fizzy.”

The extended overseas campaign for Asfoora also opens up the possibility of her being mated to some of Europe and America’s leading stallions, such as Frankel, Kingman or Justify.

When pressed about such a scenario, however, El-Fahkri said it hadn’t been considered.

Instead, the Melbourne businessman and Noor Elaine Farm owner wants to focus on Asfoora’s racing career.

“It is premature to talk that way [sending Asfoora to stud in the northern hemisphere],” he said.

“She is a healthy horse and there’s no reason not to expect that she can race on for another two years.”

Since the birth of Asfoora at El-Fahkri’s Euroa stud, her dam Golden Child has produced three colts, by Akeed Mofeed, resident sire Ilovethiscity and Dirty Work.

She is back in foal to Flying Artie, who stands nearby at Blue Gum Farm. While many breeders would be hoping for a filly, the businessman in El-Fahkri shines through.

“We haven’t bothered [with sex-testing the foal] and I’ll get the surprise when it's born and, more likely than not, if it’s a filly we’ll race her and if it’s a colt we’ll take him to the sales,” he said.

“I wouldn’t mind a colt and if it is, whoever buys him, I’d be more than happy to keep a leg in him.”

El-Fahkri, who owns a taxi firm in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote, among other business interests, visited the UK for the first time and was able to take in the racing town of Newmarket, describing the equine facilities as “second to none”.

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