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Racing returned to the UAE on Friday at Jebel Ali with Mushir recording his first local victory for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Shadwell Farm.

Responsible for three of the 12 runners, it was his blue and white colours worn by apprentice George Buckell that were carried to victory by Mushir.

Mushir was recording a first local success at the 12th attempt.

Riding for his main employer Musabbeh Al Mheiri, Buckell was happy to stalk the pace until committing for home just after halfway.

In front with 300m to run, it soon became clear they had the race in safe keeping, landing an impressive victory in what had appeared a competitive contest.

“He has so much natural speed and burst out of the gates,” said Buckell. “He had so many problems last season we could not really get him spot on and he did most of his training on the treadmill.

“He is like a new horse this season. He should be capable of progressing from this and is a nice sprinter.”

The trainer was celebrating a quick double after a win in the 1600m handicap by Enery digging deep for Fernando Jara to land the spoils.

“He is so consistent and always tries his best,” said Jara. “He ran plenty of good races in defeat last season and really deserved to get his head back in front.”

It was a first victory for Enery since landing a 1400m Jebel Ali handicap in 2013, his only previous UAE success but he did win five times in England.

The opening race of the UAE season was a 1950m handicap and Erwan Charpy and new stable jockey Antonio Fresu made the ideal beginning to their fledgling alliance with the smooth success of Tadmir.

It was a second consecutive win for Charpy’s charge, victorious on the turf at Jinma Lake, in China, over 2418m on his previous outing in April.

Satish Seemar has plenty of new horses in his yard this season and it was one of them, local and dirt debutant Secret Ambition, who opened the trainer’s account for the new campaign.

Elected by stable jockey, Richard Mullen, over Seemar’s second runner, Mountain Lion, was a winner once in England, also over 1400m.

He clearly handles this dirt surface well and, as a three-year-old having only his 11th start, he could be the type to build on this effort.

Champion Trainer Doug Watson, rarely leaves Jebel Ali empty handed but had to wait until the concluding 1200m handicap to get on the scoreboard.

Pat Dobbs was atop Fast Enough who proved exactly that under a patient ride with the pair biding their time in midfield before closing after halfway.

“He is a new horse from the ERA sale and we are still learning about him,” Watson said.

Without a winner from 62 runners last season, Rashed Bouresly saddled his first winner since January of 2015 when Salvadori and Bruno Reis led close home in a 1000m maiden.

Reis is riding in the UAE for the first time since 2011. He rode two winners during that campaign - one at Meydan and one at Sharjah.