Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum's Labwah (Charlatan) will face some considerable obstacles when she enters the gate for Saturday's $1-million G2 UAE Derby at Meydan Racecourse. Not only will she attempt to become just the second of her sex to beat the boys in the Road to the Kentucky Derby points race (Khawlah, 2011), she will also have to see off an always-deep challenge from Japan, whose runners have taken out the last four runnings.While the filly's Lexington-area breeder Calvin Crain wasn't prepared to make any bold predictions, he knows she's got a puncher's chance if everything falls just right.“You gotta be in it to win it!” he said.The 64-year-old Crain has been partners in St. Simon Place with his son Shane and Tommy Wente since about 2012, but he is listed as the sole breeder for Labwah.“Me and my son are kind of in the shadows and Tommy's more of the face because he's more hands-on,” Crain said. “I own a sod farm (Kentucky Turf Company) and my time is pretty tied up with that. St. Simon has probably 35 to 40 mares. And then I have a couple of my own and I've got a couple with my son.”Hailing from the first crop of her Hill 'n' Dale-based sire, Labwah is a daughter of the stakes-winning War Tigress (War Chant), a mare originally purchase by Crain's close friend, the late Tom Conway, for $80,000 out of the 2011 Keeneland November Sale once her racing days were through.“I was actually with him the day he bought [War Tigress] originally and I did a lot of his breeding for him,” Crain said. “I did a lot of his mares and booked them and everything. She came available in the sale and I knew enough about her from the foals that she threw. I knew she threw nice foals, including a Grade II two winner.”War Tigress's third produce became War Heroine (Lonhro {Aus}), speedy enough to win the 2018 Sweet Life Stakes on this hillside turf course at Santa Anita ahead of a success in the one-mile GII San Clemente Stakes in the colors of Gary Barber.A year before Conway's untimely passing in 2021, Crain seized upon the opportunity to make a play for War Tigress when she went under the hammer at Keeneland November. Offered not in foal to Street Sense, the breeder parted with just $28,000 and the mare–then 14 years old–was his. War Tigress was booked to Improbable for her 2022 produce, but tragedy struck come foaling time.“I bought her because she was open at the time. I thought she would go reasonable and she did,” Crain said. “The first foal that I got out of her was an Improbable, but it died because it was literally so big. We finally got it out, but it was a train wreck. It was really a tough deal.”War Tigress was bred back to Charlatan and Labwah was foaled on Mar. 11, 2023.Explaining the decision to visit the well-received son of Speightstown in his first season covering mares, Crain explained, “I'm a big believer in that old Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer cross. I mean, I don't think you could ever go wrong with it. It's just been proven over and over and over. She was kind of a straightforward foal. We raised them in groups. We don't really baby them. We put them eight, 10, 12 in a group. And she kind of stood out like the good ones normally do.”The filly was entered for the 2024 Keeneland September Sale, but was ultimately withdrawn.“Couple of vet issues, nothing major, but in the sale, they're going to come down on you real hard,” he said. “And her being a filly, I knew she had a lot of residual value being that she was out of a stakes winner and a half to a Grade II winner. So I said, 'Well, I'll just take her to the [OBS April 2-year-olds-in] training sale. I'm going to put a decent reserve on her. If she brings it, fine. If she doesn't, I'll race her.' And of course, she did.”Crain was pleased with the filly's under-tack preview and was cautiously optimistic about the sale.“She's one of those horses that can just go in 12s,” he said. “If a horse just keeps going, you're always going to be there at the end. It doesn't mean you were there at the beginning, but you're going to be at the end. She worked in :21 flat, galloped out strong. She was always pretty smart. You can just tell the smart ones. You can just tell she was laid back, wasn't high strung.” After hammering for $125,000, Labwah joined the Dubai barn of trainer Salem Bin Ghadayer and was a distant fourth on debut going 1400 meters at Meydan Nov. 21. But it's been blue skies since, as she won her maiden in allowance company before the turn of the calendar, stretched out to a mile to make it two in a row on Jan. 16 and enters the Derby off a front-running 7 1/2-length romp in the G3 UAE Oaks on Feb. 20. Crain is thoroughly enjoying the ride from the other side of the globe.“Oh, I mean, it's really exciting because as you know in the horse business, just getting them to the track is a feat in itself,” he said. “Some people don't realize what it takes to breed a graded stakes winner.”War Tigress is the dam of a juvenile colt from the second crop of Essential Quality, but, sadly, the mare passed away from foaling complications a short time thereafter.“She kind of hemorrhaged a little from [the Improbable foaling] and she overcame it, but then it caught up with her two years later,” Crain said.Breeding racehorses can be a humbling undertaking, the highs can be majestic and the lows sometimes seemingly impossible to overcome. To that end, Crain is just happy to be represented on one of the most important nights of racing on the world stage.“When they do show up, be proud of them because you never know where the next one is coming from,” he said. Taking on the boys! G3 UAE Oaks winner LABWAH, trained by @SalemGhadayer, heads to the G2 UAE Derby. Will she emulate Khawlah, the only filly to win it so far? #DWC26 pic.twitter.com/Yi3b2tJSrD— Dubai Racing Club (@RacingDubai) March 17, 2026The post Labwah Carries Hopes Of Breeder Crain Into UAE Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.