Amongst some enticing four-race Group 1 action at The Curragh on Sunday (14 September), brilliant mare Asfoora will make racing history when she becomes the first-ever Australian-trained runner on the Flat in Ireland when she runs in the G1 Flying Five Stakes (1000m).

Another first is that jockey Dylan McMonagle takes over as her partner as Asfoora faces 15 rivals. McMonagle looks set to become 2025 Irish Champion Jockey with a blitz of winners over the last few months that shows no signs of slowing down.

Memories of 2025 Northern Hemisphere defeats for Asfoora – at Royal Ascot and Goodwood – disappeared in less than a minute as her raw speed returned leaving her 16 rivals floundering in last month’s G1 Nunthorpe Stakes (1000m) at York.

That stunning victory ensured that the seven-year-old will not yet be making the about 19,000km return journey to trainer Henry Dwyer’s Ballarat base near Melbourne, Australia.

Dwyer says of Asfoora’s up and down European experience: “It is an incredible buzz to be validated with what you think. A few people were doubting her and it’s hard to keep faith when they’re not winning. But we made sure never to lose it. I hope and think that she comes into the Flying Five even better than she was at York.”

The ground was fast at York and, though her supporters won’t want the predicted slow ground to turn muddy, her record suggests surface versatility.

Two races later it will be stamina, not speed, that is expected when McMonagle partners Al Riffa for his boss Joseph O’Brien in the G1 Irish St. Leger (2800m), Al Riffa having made an impressive introduction to staying events when the dual G1 winner landed the G2 Curragh Cup over this course and distance in July. A Sunday victory would make a G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) dream look legitimate.

Stiff rivalry will come from Illinois (Christophe Soumillon) – in cheekpieces for the first time – and the Rossa Ryan-ridden Amiloc, out to stretch his unbeaten tally to six.

It is easy to feel sympathy for the superbly tough and consistent Illinois as he is yet to win a Group 1, the most recent frustration coming in July’s Goodwood Cup Stakes (G1, 3200m) when he gave a stone (14lbs) in weight to stablemate Scandinavia – favourite for Saturday’s G1 St Leger Stakes (2921m) at Doncaster – only to be beaten less than a length.