Under the banner of Wathnan Racing, the mare ‘RB Mary Layla’ (Al Murtajiz × Retch Kinka) secured her first Group 1 victory by winning the Liwa International Stakes, a race for purebred Arabian fillies aged 4 years and older over 2000m, held at the Latist racetrack in France yesterday evening. She was trained by Alban de Mieulle and ridden by jockey Olivier Dondini.

Five fillies aged between 4 and 6 years participated after the late withdrawals of the fillies ‘Hajma’ (Al Murtajiz) and ‘Geneva’ (Azadi).

This significant win marked a strong comeback for the five-year-old mare ‘RB Mary Layla’ after underwhelming performances in her previous two starts in Dubai and Doha.

Prior to this, she had already achieved three Group 2 titles, one Group 3 title, and two classified wins in the United States over distances ranging from 1200m to 1700m in the past two years, followed by two wins in Qatar over 1750m and 2100m. With this victory, ‘RB Mary Layla’ increased her total wins to 11 and became a Group 1 winner, maintaining Qatar’s dominance in this race over the last three years, following wins by ‘Noor Al Mory’ for Shadwell Racing in 2023 and ‘Al Doha’ owned by His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani last year.

At the Latist track on Monday evening, ‘RB Mary Layla’ started calmly, settling in a rear position, specifically fourth place next to the filly ‘Bianca de Ghazal’ (Al Murtajiz), as the pace was slow, led by the front-runner ‘Noor Al Mory’ (Azadi), who was the favorite to win. Positions remained unchanged entering the final bend, where the pace quickened and intensified. ‘RB Mary Layla’ was still last but running strongly. Jockey Dondini shifted her outward at the 500m mark, allowing her to accelerate and close in on the leader ‘Noor Al Mory,’ competing fiercely for the lead.

In the last 200m, ‘Noor Al Mory’ briefly regained the lead with a slight margin, but ‘RB Mary Layla’ finished powerfully, increasing her momentum to surpass ‘Noor Al Mory’ and take the lead alone in the final 75m, holding on to win by a quarter length. ‘Noor Al Mory,’ owned and bred by Shadwell Racing, finished second under trainer Xavier Thomas-Demoutet and jockey Aurélien Lemaitre, while ‘Bianca de Ghazal,’ owned by Nasser bin Abdullah Al Mesned and trained by Xavier Thomas-Demoutet with jockey Faleh Bougnim, came third by a length.