![\"Gallant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f036deb4bcaa4e3898e84cfe6de54d45f67ebf00.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Gallant sprinter Asfoora has taken trainer Henry Dwyer around the world.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
A long way from Paris<\/p>\n
Less than a week after becoming the first Australian trainer to win a group 1 in France, celebrating with an elaborate meal of \u201csnails, foie gras and frog legs\u201d, down-to-earth horseman Henry Dwyer was stopping for a chicken pie at Dunkeld\u2019s Izzy\u2019s Caf\u00e9 on his way to the Hamilton Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love those country cup meetings, I have been going to them since I was a kid,\u201d Dwyer explained on Sunday.<\/p>\n
It has been a whirlwind 18 months for the popular Dwyer who caught the racing world by surprise in June last year when his mighty mare Asfoora won the 1000m group 1 King Charles Stakes.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
Since then, he has shaken hands with King Charles, won a group 1 in York and followed up with Asfoora\u2019s history-making victory last week\u2019s Prix de l\u2019Abbaye at Longchamps.<\/p>\n
But the contrast of dining out in Paris and being at Hamilton Racecourse on Saturday afternoon was not lost on Dwyer.<\/p>\n
He said the philosophy behind his Ballarat-based boutique training operation had always been about doing things differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to think with a team of 50 that you are going to be winning Melbourne Cups and trainer\u2019s premierships and that sort of stuff, so you pick things you can do, and we thought that was an achievable goal, taking Asfoora over there and winning a group 1,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we never once thought we would win three groups 1s. \u201d<\/p>\n
Not bad for an unwanted yearling who was passed in at the sales.<\/p>\n
Dwyer said Asfoora had been left in the UK for a spell, with the view of setting her for another tilt at Royal Ascot next year before retiring her to the breeding paddock.<\/p>\n
For the record, Dwyer\u2019s runner Chasing Aphrodite was beaten a head in Saturday\u2019s Hamilton Cup, while he picked up an earlier race with Northern Barrage, a six-year-old gelding winning just his second race in 22 starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not going to be going to Europe and winning group 1s, obviously, but they (winners) can just come from anywhere and that\u2019s the exciting part of it,\u201d Dwyer said.<\/p>\n
![\"Brayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/b086e25c6ed02eedc962ea8729e785b9ef65d8f0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Brayden Star, right, wins the Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u2019The soundest horse ever\u2019<\/p>\n
The fallout from last year\u2019s Melbourne Cup safety protocols, which saw five horses scratched across eight drama-filled days, continues to resonate even 12 months later.<\/p>\n
On Saturday at Caulfield, one of those horses, Brayden Star, won the 2400m group 2 Herbert Power Stakes.<\/p>\n
The seven-year-old gelding had been ruled unfit to race in last year\u2019s Melbourne Cup by Racing Victoria vets because CT scans showed he was at \u201cheightened risk of injury\u201d and \u201cunsuitable to complete\u201d.<\/p>\n
At the time, co-trainers Trent Busuttin and Nat Young said they were \u201cperplexed\u201d by the ruling.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no sugarcoating it, our team is very disappointed as our horse has never been so outwardly happy, healthy and in great form,\u201d Brayden Star\u2019s ownership group said in a statement.<\/p>\n
But there were no such concerns on Saturday after their competitive stayer finished first past the post.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe\u2019s the soundest horse you\u2019ll ever see,\u201d Busuttin said of Brayden Star.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s never had a shot of cortisone, obviously, the Melbourne Cup is different standards, the scans are what they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we were flat as anything when he was scratched out of the Cup because we knew there was nothing wrong with the horse. And as you can see, there\u2019s nothing wrong with him now, so it\u2019s just straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Racing Victoria continues to maintain that its strict safety protocols have ensured the Melbourne Cup has been fatality free since they were introduced in 2021.<\/p>\n
No follow-up to horse death<\/p>\n
If a horse dies in a race and there\u2019s no footage or no subsequent review, does it really die in a race?<\/p>\n
Racing Victoria continues to tread a tightrope between genuine animal welfare concerns and brand protection in its ongoing dealings with mid-race fatalities.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Ciaron Maher-trained gelding Chorlton Lane was the latest horse to be euthanised on course after suffering a severe leg injury during the group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.<\/p>\n
There is no suggestion or findings that the untimely death was anything but a racing incident, but, once again, there was no public proof.<\/p>\n
Footage of Chorlton Lane suffering his injury has typically disappeared. As is common practice at the industry\u2019s media arm, Racing.com, horse falls and horse deaths are edited out of replays. Racing\u2019s form of censorship.<\/p>\n
But even more concerning is that the public is told after every one of these racing fatalities that the \u201cincident will be referred to the RV Veterinary Services Department\u201d, and yet no findings are ever released.<\/p>\n
Racing Victoria was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/988cf3bed3e93df2b7c17a810ae1a7a892a67ed2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
John Kanga has resigned from the board of the Melbourne Racing Club.Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n
Kanga leaves spare seat on panel<\/p>\n
John Kanga\u2019s shock resignation will continue to cause ripples across the racing industry throughout the spring.<\/p>\n
Kanga had been earmarked to sit on a five-member panel, alongside billionaire owner Jonathan Munz, to interview candidates in coming weeks for two vacancies on the Racing Victoria board.<\/p>\n