Prix de l'Abbaye De Longchamp report and reaction: Asfoora wins at Longchamp

There was considerable drama before the horses even entered the stalls for the five-furlong Group 1 as connections of Asfoora revealed they had to have the star mare's passport delivered to the course via Uber after key documents had been mistakenly left at the stables where she had been housed since shipping to France.

Trained by Henry Dwyer and ridden by Oisin Murphy, Asfoora was only given the green light to run a few minutes before the off-time but that didn't put punters off as she was sent off the well-supported 9/4 favourite.

Asfoora, winner of the Nunthorpe at York earlier in the year and seventh in the Flying Five at the Curragh when last seen, travelled sweetly on the heels of the leaders from her low draw (stall three). Murphy angled her out to take the measure Jawwal in the final furlong and she sealed the win with a smart turn of foot.

Rank outsider Jawwal (80/1) stayed on well for second, with third going to 14/1 chance She's Quality.

Asfoora was the first ever horse based Down Under to win a Flat race in France.

Dwyer said: "It's just surreal really, just surreal.

"We had a couple of pre-race issues [with her passport] that we had to work through and were within about a minute and a half of not running. I had the driver on a retainer of £200 to get it here in time!

"We started this whole journey and it was just all about doing new things and racing; life's experiential and racing's experiential and we're trying to experience new things. I've never been racing in France and here we are winning a Group 1 on Arc day.

"We were confident that it was fresh ground as opposed to chopped out soft ground - sorry, I shouldn't say we were confident, we were hopeful - that she might be okay [on the ground] and it turned out she was."

Murphy said on Sky Sports Racing: "She was fantastic. The sprint course is a fair bit drier than the round course as it's a fresh track. She was basically on the bridle throughout. So I didn't have to ask her very much.

"She was lucky to have a plum draw but her condition was the best it's been, in the build-up to this race she still has her summer coat and it took some amount of management. So big thanks to everyone behind the scenes.

"She used to be naughty in the stalls and now she's not. She used to be bad in the preliminaries and on her toes, now she's not. I suppose if the rider's quiet and relaxed then often the horse might be."

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