Al Jehani lands owners Wathnan quickfire Group double

Hamad Al Jehani and Faleh Bughenaim combined to win the 156th Casino Baden-Baden Goldene Peitsche for the second year running, as the Wathnan handler landed Group races in both Germany and France in the space of barely five minutes on Sunday.

The Qatari natives had joined forces to land the Baden-Baden Group Three with The Strikin Viking last year and repeated the dose with Holguin this time around as the six-year-old made a successful drop back to six furlongs.

Victory in Germany came only minutes after Al Jehani’s Diego Ventura had won the Group Three Barriere Prix Quincey at Deauville and capped a fine 24 hours for the Wathnan team after Brad Cox’s Leading Change remained unbeaten in the Grade One Travers Stakes at Saratoga to outline his Breeders’ Cup Classic credentials.

Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown said: “It was a great night in Saratoga last night and I said to the team out there that maybe the European division can add a little cherry today and we’ve managed to add two little cherries on top – it was a good five minutes!

“Hamad is in rich form and has formed a great team. He’s great to work with and I speak with him many times a day. His team and my team work incredibly hard to get these results and it’s tremendous to see. I’m delighted for Hamad and for the whole Wathnan team.”

Having landed Grade One success together in Canada last October, Holguin was yet another big-race success for Al Jehani and Bughenaim on the international scene, with the duo proving a formidable combination when linking up.

Brown went on: “Falah is a huge part of Hamad’s team and rides a lot of the difficult horses in the morning. Obviously it is difficult to give him too many chances as we’ve got a retained jockey in James (Doyle), but it was a busy day today and this opportunity arose.

“It was great to give him this chance, he works very hard, rides very well and I’m delighted to see him win another big race for us.”

Meanwhile in France, it was Christophe Soumillon who proved the able deputy aboard Diego Ventura after travel issues saw Wathnan number one Doyle rerouted to Goodwood.