Silawi holds off Tawny Port in Canadian International

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - England’s Silawi barely held off a charging Tawny Port in capturing Saturday’s $760,000 Canadian International in front-running style in course-record time at Woodbine.

Jockey Faleh Nasser Bughenaim let Silawi roll from the start and they outran the expected pacesetter, My Boy Prince, for the lead while setting a fast pace in the 1 1/2-mile turf event.

Nations Pride, the favored Godolphin runner and defending champion in the historic stakes, stalked in second under Billy Loughnane while My Boy Prince and Haunted Dream took up the chase in third and fourth.

Silawi opened up a three-length lead on the far turn as Tawny Port began to mount an inside rally. Tawny Port’s bid fell a nose short as Silawi prevailed in course-record time of 2:27.52 over the little-used distance. The previous record of 2:28.69 was set by Twowaycrossing last Saturday.

Nations Pride faded to third. He was followed by Dancin in Da’nile, Haunted Dream, Tosen Wish, English Actor, Raptor’s, Roscar, and My Boy Prince.

Daniel Tudhope was named to ride Silawi by trainer Hamad Al Jehani, but Bughenaim picked up the mount after Tudhope failed to get a flight from England. Bughenaim rode stablemate The Strikin Viking to a fourth-place finish earlier on the card in the Grade 2 Nearctic.

“It was a lucky day for me,” Bughenaim said. “He’s one of the best horses we have in our yard in Newmarket. He won a Group 3 in England. Today, we went up two steps with him to a Grade 1. I had orders to go a nice pace with him. From the middle of the bend, I asked him to go, and he accepted that.”

Silawi ($22.90) earned $450,000 in his first race with Lasix. The 5-year-old son of Dubawi is owned by Wathnan Racing, which also sent out the more-fancied 3-1 second choice Haunted Dream, who won the local prep for the race, the Grade 3 Singspiel.

“Silawi is a front-runner, and with a tighter track, it’s a huge advantage if you’re in front,” Al Jehani said. “(Nations Pride) is a nice horse, and if we decided to make a different plan, it would have been hard to beat him. It’s an advantage to go forward. We followed the plan very well, and I think he deserved to be here today.”

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