Henry Dwyer gains BHA licence as Royal Ascot team takes shape

• Henry Dwyer gains BHA licence in time for Royal Ascot
• Group One winning sprinter his star name heading to Ascot
• Synners Kid and Kochella expected to head to Ascot for Dwyer too

Australian trainer Henry Dwyer has been granted a British Horseracing Authority trainer’s licence, with Asfoora set to spearhead a three-runner Royal Ascot team next week.

Henry Dwyer gains BHA licence as Royal Ascot team takes shape

Henry Dwyer’s British racing project has taken a formal step forward after the Australian trainer was granted a licence by the British Horseracing Authority.

On Wednesday, the Thoroughbred Daily News reported that Dwyer is now set to increase his European involvement. With Royal Ascot again the immediate focal point.

The licence gives his British summer operation a clearer structure after several high-profile international campaigns built around Asfoora.

This is not just a paperwork update. Dwyer has already shown that Australian speed can travel and win at the highest level in Britain and France.

A UK licence now gives him a base from which to build that approach more deliberately.

Honoured to have officially been granted our UK trainer’s licence by the BHA. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed competing at all the major festivals the past two years, an experience we want to share with all our Australian owners.

We plan to purchase and have in work 4-6 horses each… pic.twitter.com/8S2kfihc48

— Henry Dwyer Racing (@HDwyerRacing) June 10, 2026

 

Asfoora remains the headline act

The 7yold Aussie mare Asfoora is expected to line up in the King Charles III Stakes for the third consecutive year at Royal Ascot next week. And priced up around 12/1 to win back her title.

The mare gave the Henry Dwyer stable a breakthrough European Group 1 when winning the King Charles III Stakes in 2024.

TDN also noted she returned last year to finish fifth in the same race. Before adding further Group 1 wins in the Nunthorpe Stakes and Prix de l’Abbaye.

In addition, The Racing Post and Sporting Life had both framed Dwyer’s spring plans around Asfoora’s Royal Ascot reset after her Haydock run, with the trainer keeping the meeting firmly in view.

Wednesday’s licence update now adds a wider business and training angle to that campaign.

Asfoora Career In Numbers

• Runs: 31
• Wins: 12
• Group One Wins: 3
• Age: 7
• Prize Money: £1,835,476

WATCH: Asfoora Winning The King Charles III Stakes in 2024

Three-runner Ascot team planned

TDN reported that Dwyer is likely to have three runners at Royal Ascot next week.

Asfoora is the established Group 1 name, while Synners Kid is being aimed at the Britannia Stakes and Kochella is listed as a possible Albany Stakes runner.

Dwyer said in a social media statement that his team plans to buy and keep four to six horses in work each summer in Britain before repatriating them to Ballarat to continue their careers.

That is the interesting part. This Royal Ascot raid is not being presented as a one-horse European raid.

It looks more like a repeatable model: race at major British festivals, give Australian owners a European campaign experience, then bring those horses back into the stable’s Australian system.