Faleh Bughenaim didn’t come to Woodbine to ride in the Canadian International, but a stroke of luck put him in the winner’s circle.

The Qatari-born jockey actually came to Canada to ride another horse, The Strikin Viking in the Nearctic Stakes, where he was not a factor. However while here, he learned that jockey Danny Tudhope wasn’t able to take the ride on Silawi due to travel issues and he would get the assignment in the $750,000 race instead. It paid off in a gutsy wire-to-wire score.

Sent off at odds of 10-1, Silawi went to the lead right from the gate in the 1 ½-mile turf classic. It seemed a bit quick early with a half-mile in 47 1/5 seconds. However, the five-year-old gelding just kept on going. In the stretch, he was easily able to hold off even-money favourite Nation’s Pride. H

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