Paris, France (AFP) — Favourite Asfoora became the first Australia-trained horse to win a French Group One when she won the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Sunday.

Ridden by Irish jockey Oisin Murphy and trained by Henry Dwyer, the seven-year-old sprinter added to her Group One successes at Royal Ascot last year and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York then failed to fire in Ireland last time out.

It was not a victory without a hitch as the horse had turned up at Longchamp with the wrong passport — the one she arrived with was of a horse that had been bought by Chantilly-based English trainer Amy Murphy at the sales on Saturday.

However, all was resolved as a neighbour collected the correct passport and gave it to an Uber driver to deliver to the racecourse.

“I am about to put a search out on Twitter (X) with a big love heart to ask him to the party this evening,” said Dwyer.

“He did an unbelievable job, I have done back and forth to Longchamp all week and it has taken an hour and over, he did it in 50 minutes!”

On the track Murphy was in awe of Asfoora’s ability.

“She is unbelievable,” said Murphy.

“It is a fantastic effort by the connections, she was epic today,” added the 30-year-old.

Dwyer had learnt a few words of French when as a 21-year-old backpacker he arrived in Paris years ago as he bashfully admitted: “baguette fromage jambon’ (cheese and ham baguette)” and “un, deux, trois” (one, two, three).

Fortunately, he reverted to English at the post-race media conference.

“Means a whole lot,” said Dwyer.

“We had thought of the Abbaye last year but she had gone off form.

“This time we trained her differently.

“I stand to be corrected, but I am pretty sure it is the first Australia-trained horse to win in France.

“I always wanted to do things never done before, not to be smart, but I not going to win titles and everything, but this is a nice niche to have.”

The El-Fakhri family, owners of the Noor Elaine Farm Property Limited, had travelled from Melbourne to watch their star.

Akram El-Fakhri, the patriarch of the family, is having such a remarkable time with the horse that he is going to race her on next year and not sell her in the sales at the end of the year.

That gave Dwyer, adorned with an Akubra hat, pleasure and equally delighted not only his air miles have grown hugely over the past two years but that it has involved making history.

“It adds a new chapter,” he said.

“It is not a hop, skip, and jump, I have been over six times this year, but boy has it been worth it.”