Afsare could be supplemented for the QEII

Afsare stretches clear of his rivals in the Betfair Celebration Mile under jockey Andrea Atzeni. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Since his first two career starts way back in 2010 which were both over a mile, the Luca Cumani-trained Afsare had been campaigned over nine furlongs or further.

However, earlier this month Cumani dropped him back to a mile in a Group 3 race at Salisbury and he bolted up by six lengths.

Then he went for Saturday’s Betfair Celebration Mile at Goodwood, a Group 2 contest, and he again won very impressively.

Those were his first two Pattern race victories and now aged six, he is starting to look like the real deal as a miler.

His next target is the Nayef Joel Stakes, race six in the Mile division of the QIPCO British Champions Series, at Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire Meeting on Friday 27 September.

If he comes through that in style, he may well be supplemented for Europe’s most valuable mile contest, the £1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on QIPCO British Champions Day, Saturday 19 October, the final race in the Mile category.

Cumani said: "There was some uncertainty we suppose about just what Afsare achieved at Salisbury, but his Celebration Mile win proved he has really developed into a potent force over a mile, all of a sudden developing a lot of speed.

"His next race will be the Joel Stakes at Newmarket.

"Ideally we would like to aim for bigger prizes abroad – the Woodbine Mile or the Shadwell Turf Mile for example – but he takes some knowing and foreign jurisdictions don’t allow anyone other than their own stalls handlers to put horses into the stalls.

"If Afsare wins the Joel Stakes in good style we will have to think seriously about supplementing him for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes."

The supplementary entry fee is £70,000, so it will be a decision that will need to be made carefully, but if he were to finish in the first three, he would more than recoup that outlay.

Up against him could be the two star three-year-old milers, Toronado, who had breathing problems when finishing last in last week’s Juddmonte International just as he had in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, and Dawn Approach.