Berkeley Square on target for Cup repeat; international honour for Henry Dwyer

DAN O’Sullivan revelled in winning his hometown Ballarat Cup with Berkeley Square last year and now he’s keen to make it two in a row.

The Miners Rest-based trainer will again target the $500,000 Listed feature race on 6 December with his ultra-consistent six-year-old stayer.

Berkeley Square, a three-time stakes winner, including at Group 2 level, will be aiming to become the first horse since Kiwia in 2018-19 to go back-to-back in the Cup.

Warri Symbol (1982-83), Valadero (1976 and 1978), Royal Symbol (1958-59) and Great Queen (1952-53) are others among a select few to have gone back-to-back or won two Cups.

O’Sullivan has plotted an almost identical path to the 2025 Cup as last year, with the one obvious exception seeing him favour the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) this year, in preference to the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) last year.

The outcome was almost like-for-like, with the gelded son of Territories second last year at Bendigo, and third last month at Geelong.

He was third in last year’s Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, a month out from the Cup, and fifth on a similar heavy 8 in this year’s race earlier this month.

O’Sullivan indicated Berkeley Square would likely be a month between runs heading into the Cup.

“There is a race at Caulfield (this Saturday), but I think we will just wait and go straight to the Cup now,” he said.

“He was good in the Queen Elizabeth – the rain just beat us.

“It got very heavy and it just didn’t suit him.

“He got a long way back on the ground and it was just too tough for him on the day, but all his runs this time in have been fairly good.

“He’s paying the price for being an ultra-consistent horse and has gone up in the weights, but he hasn’t come back down.”

Currently rated 102, Berkeley Square hit a career-high rating of 106 following last year’s Ballarat Cup triumph.

He will enter this year’s Cup at the same rating as this time last year.

“Hopefully we are going in with the same weight,” O’Sullivan said.

“It (his rating) might just work in our favour.”

O’Sullivan is confident Berkeley Square is travelling as well as last year.

“The only difference is he hasn’t won one (a race) this time in, that’s all,” he said.

“He was great in the Geelong Cup.

“Had that been a day earlier when the track was firmer … and they went very steady that day … but he boxed on really well.

“The horse of Paul Preusker’s that won (Torranzino) finished fourth in the Melbourne Cup, so it’s been a pretty good form race.”

The fifth placegetter at Geelong, Whisky On The Hill, subsequently went on to win the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

“He (Berkeley Square) has been really consistent throughout his career,” O’Sullivan said.

 

“He probably had the one campaign, where he was a bit disappointing and only had a couple of starts, but overall from the time he first started racing, he’s been very consistent.

“He’s ticked over nearly $2 million in prizemoney and he’s not done yet.

“Hopefully we can get that done Ballarat Cup day.”

Another Ballarat Cup win would be pure bliss for O’Sullivan, whose previous best in the race was a second in the 2020 COVID year with Affair To Remember, and who currently has 15 horses in work.

“When I think back now, I might not have enjoyed last year as much as I should have,” he said.

“This year, I might make the most of it, hopefully.

“The horse deserves to win another good race and it’s always nice to win your hometown cup, so let’s see what we can do.”

This year’s Cup comes at an absolute peak in time for the Ballarat racing fraternity, which is riding a wave of momentum following the Melbourne and Caulfield Cup-winning exploits of the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Half Yours and the trainer-jockey combination of Thomas Carberry and John Allen’s VRC Oaks success with Strictly Business.

Asfoora Crowned Europe’s Best Sprinter

BALLARAT trainer Henry Dwyer’s winning roll with international sprinting sensation Asfoora has hit another high note overseas.

Dwyer’s three-time European Group 1 winner was last week crowned European Champion Sprinter at the Cartier awards in London.

The seven-year-old daughter of Flying Artie claimed both the Nunthorpe Stakes and Prix de l’Abbaye from five European runs this season, adding to her success in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June last year.

Currently spelling in England, Asfoora will embark on her third European campaign in 2026, in what shapes as her final racing preparation before she is retired to become a broodmare.

“She’s going to have a good three months out and then we’ll gear her up for the early races next year,” Dwyer told Racing.com’s Ed Sadler on his Sadler Sessions podcast.

“That Haydock Temple Stakes that she ran in the first year, we might go there,” he said.

“There’s a race at Newmarket on the Rowley Mile course called the Palace House Stakes, which is a five-furlong (1000m) Group 3.

“They’re all set-weights-and-penalties races, they’re not handicaps; she’s not going to get too much weight.

“She’ll go to Royal Ascot again, obviously, if she’s up and well and then we might try and find another couple of races for her.”

Asfoora became the third Australian-bred horse to receive the Cartier sprinter award following Black Caviar (2012) and Starspangledbanner (2010).

A winner of more than $3.5 million in stakes, the mare boasts a career record of 10 wins, three seconds and two thirds from 24 starts.