A month ago, Wathnan Racing, the stable of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, raced its first horse at Woodbine. It was a quick success as Haunted Dream (Ire) won the Singspiels Stakes (G3).
Wathnan had become a sudden force in international racing, winning its first major races in 2023 and then the Dubai World Cup this year with Hit Show.
Trainer Hamad Al-Jehani deemed Haunted Dream ready to come back to Canada for the re-instituted Canadian International (G1), which was not run in 2024, 2022 or 2020. In addition, Al-Jehani brought along the newly-invigorated SILAWI (GB), a five-year-old gelding by Dubawi (Ire) who had one win in 20 races in France and Qatar before his year.
Silawi’s style was evident from watching his replays and looking at his form – he was a front-runner. He was coming off a win in the Group 3 Weatherby’s Global Stallions App Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor over 10 furlongs, his second win in five races this season in England.
The formidable runner in the International field was the returning NATIONS PRIDE (Ire), the 2023 winner, world traveler and earner of over $3.7 million. Comparably, Silawi had earned just over $211,000.
Qatari jockey FALEH BUGHANAIM, who rode Wathnan’s The Strikin Viking in the Nearctic Stakes earlier on the card, picked up the mount late on Silawi when Daniel Tudhope could not make the flight. Bughanaim knew what to do from the start of the 1 1/2 mile inner turf race, sending his gelding quickly to the lead and making others chase him.
The pace was solid, 23.69 around the first turn, 47.30, 1:12 and 1:37.53 for the mile. Silawi held a three-length lead most of the way while Canadian champion My Boy Prince, recently second in the Woodbine Mile (G1) stalked along with Nations Pride.
By the final turn, Silawi was still clear and his rivals were under hard rides. Just one fellow tried to make a race of it, the plucky American Tawny Port, who roared from far back and got within a nose of catching Silawi. Nations Pride flattened out and was third ahead of Ontario-bred Dancin in Da’Nile.
My Boy Prince appeared to take a bad step on the grass and was eased, eventually walking off.
Racing with Lasix for the first time, Silawi was easily winning his biggest race of his career and it was his fourth career win in 26 races. A well-bred fellow who raced for breeders Wertheimer et Frere for a few starts to begin his career, Silawi, from the Group 1-winning mare Silasol (Ire) was 10-to-1. He raced the distance in 2:27.52, establishing a course record for a distance that has rarely been run on the inner turf.
“Silawi is a front-runner, and with this racecourse,” Al-Jehani said. “I think with a tighter track, I think you got a huge advantage if you are in front, and we know that the Godolphin horse (Nations Pride), he’s a nice horse, and if we decide to make a different plan, it will be hard to beat him. So, we take that advantage to go forward, and we make the pace from the beginning and follow the plan very well, and I think he deserves to be here in the winning enclosure today.”
This was the first major win away from Qatar for Bughanaim, but it came with a price. He was fined 20% of his earnings, $9,000, by the AGCO stewards for raising his arm above his shoulder in the stretch drive.
All three graded stakes races on the International card were won by invaders. No Nay Hudson (Ire) upset the Nearctic Stakes (G2) at 5 furlongs on the turf and Breath Away (GB) rallied to win the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2).
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