Abu Dhabi: Al Ain Racecourse’s final meeting of the season on Thursday was highlighted by the Dh250,000 Al Ain Mile, with Salem Al Katbi saddling the first two home in the 1,600-metre feature.

Shane Karlsson was aboard the winner, Najm Alemarat, on whom he had won the course and distance prep two weeks earlier.

Karlsson was soon at the head of affairs before Alameer, second in the prep, took over at halfway. He was eased out of the race though just before the home turn and Najm Alemarat was able to regain the initiative. Stable companion RB Smokin Rich and Tadhg O’Shea loomed as the main danger, but were unable to pass.

“He dug deep for me in the closing 300 metres,” said Karlsson. “It is great to be given this kind of opportunity and to win the biggest race of the season here at Al Ain is brilliant.”

The fixture also included the concluding rounds of the Al Ain Sprint Championship — a 1,000-metre dash — and the Al Ain Marathon Series, over a mammoth 5,100 metres, the longest flat race ever staged in the UAE.

Al Katbi and his Al Asayl team also supplied the first two home in the final race of the marathon series. This time it was Royston Ffrench aboard the winner, Burj Khalifa, who denied stable companion Munzade and Oisin Murphy in a real war of attrition.

“Obviously it was an unknown trip for all of us, jockeys and trainers alike,” said Ffrench. “My fellow is definitely more of a stayer than a speed horse as he has shown here.

“He was brave and really knuckled down when I needed him to.”

The Thoroughbred equivalent of the Al Ain Mile was turned into a procession by Ghaamer, a 1600-metre all-weather handicap winner on the same card last year for Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, and Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

Drawn wide, he broke well under Ffrench and the pair were soon bowling along in front. At the top of the straight Ffrench, initiating a double, had his 10 rivals in trouble and the pair skipped clear to post an easy victory.

“He loves to be out in front,” said Ffrench. “Once I was able to get across to the rail I always knew I had plenty of horse left underneath me and he put the race to bed a long way out.”

The concluding round of the sprint series was won by Ain Jaloot, recording a sixth success from his seven most recent outings having been placed superbly by his trainer Eric Lemartinel.