Abu Dhabi: The mood before the penultimate race at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club on Sunday suddenly turned sombre after Al Asayl Stables jockey, Gerald Avranche, was stretchered from the paddock into an ambulance.

Avranche, a top RB Dixie Burning, was seen falling to the ground in the parade ring, with the horse landing on top of him. The jockey ended up with two fractures to his pelvis.

The race was then delayed for just over half an hour — and it looked like it would be a disappointing winless night for trainer Eric Lemartinel.

However, Tadhg O’Shea brought some cheer in the Al Asayl camp towards the end, by winning the last race on Snaffy, and he immediately attributed the success to his fellow jockey.

“It was upsetting to see Gerald getting injured … it was a very bad incident. I wish this win would give some relief for everyone in the stables,” said O’Shea, who now has stretched his victory tally to 42, five more than Patrick Dobbs in the UAE jockey’s championship standings.

O’Shea said he would do everything in his power to seal the title this season.

“Pat is riding plenty of winners. I will go flat out too to get a few from the remaining meetings,” asserted O’Shea.

In the feature event of the evening — the Khalifa Handicap race for Thoroughbreds over 1600m — Satish Seemar-trained Invincible Strike was the first to come out of the stalls under Fernando Jara. The duo virtually finished the race unchallenged. Coming in second spot was Tides Rise ridden by Harry Bentley — 4.25 lengths adrift.

“I was always going to be positive on him. He has made it easy to do that as he flew out of the stalls. I have ridden him twice over further and he has bowled along in front happily on both occasions. He does stay further so I was happy to commit for home and it was a good win on a nice spare ride,” said Jara, who thus also completed back-to-back wins. In the previous race too, he had steered the Musabah Al Muhairi-trained AF Ssayeb to claim the Wathba Stud Farm Cup.

This was another homebred winner and the 22nd success of the season for owner-breeder Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda, who also provided the second, AF Ashras. Both first and second are sons of Al Nabooda’s own sire, AF AL Buraq.

“Musabah Al Muhairi is pacey and quick from the gates so the low draw was ideal. He showed a good attitude at Sharjah last time, so I was happy to be positive as I knew he would respond for me,” said Jara.

The evening also saw a double for Nacer Samiri under two different jockeys — Bentley and Royston Ffrench. Bentley won the Mizzna Conditions Race, ridding Haizoom to victory by a short head over Deyaar ridden by O’Shea, while Ffrench led Da’Areen to an authoritative win in the next race, the Hamdan Handicap.

Results: Race 1: Delma PA — Maiden 1400M (a7F) — Turf Dh80,000: 1st Bushrah Al Reef (A Al Hammadi) Sam Hitchcott, 2. Mawahib, 3. Zena Al Maras. Distance: 1.25 lengths, 2. Time: 01:34:76

Race 2: Al Falah PA — Handicap 1400M (a7F) — Turf Dh80,000: 1st Madjanthis (E Oertel) Harry Bentley, 2nd Monawer, 3rd Rb Burning Ash. Distance: NK, 1.25. Time: 01:33:16.

Race 3: Mizzna PA — Rated Conditions 1600M (a8F) — Turf Dh80,000: 1st Haizoom (N Samiri) Harry Bentley, 2nd Deyaar, 3rd Bashayer. Distance: SH, 4. Time: 01:47:85.

Race 4: Hamdan PA — Handicap 1600M (a8F) — Turf Dh85,000: 1st Da’Areen (N Samiri) Royston Ffrench, 2nd Bouthayna Al Reef, 3rd Namrood. Distance: 4.25 lengths, 0.75. Time: 01:44:87.

Race 5: Wathba Stud Farm Cup For Private Owners Only PA — Handicap 1200M (a6F) — Turf Dh80,000: 1st Af Ssayeb (Al Muhairi) Fernando Jara, 2nd Af Ashras, 3rd Tm Ac-Dc. Distance: 0.75 lengths, 3. Time: 01:19:14.

Race 6: Khalifa TB — Handicap 1600M (a8F) — Turf Dh100,000: 1st Invincible Strike (S Seemar) Fernando Jara, 2nd Tides Rise, 3rd Deerfield. Distance: 4.25 lengths, 5.25. Time: 01:35:32.

Race 7: Al Dinari PA — Maiden 1600M (a8F) — Turf Dh80,000: 1st Snaffy (E Lemartinel) Tadhg O’Shea, 2nd Laheeb, 3rd Brooklin Jet D’Azrak. Distance: 3.25 lengths, NK. Time: 01:49:11.