Flat jockey Christopher Manuel Avery was born in 1967 and began his racing career with Ian Balding at Kingsclere but subsequently joined Basingstoke trainer Jack Holt.
Holt provided Chris with his first two winners, both in 1989, firstly on Amber Nectar in a Chepstow three-year-old handicap on June 15, and then on Mallau in a Nottingham apprentices’ race on July 24. They were Chris’s only successes from 26 rides that year.
He rode more winners as an apprentice, the last of them on Eiras Mood, trained by Bryn Palling, in a one-mile two-furlong handicap at Chepstow on Bank Holiday Monday, August 30, 1993.
Chris held a professional jockey’s licence for a couple of seasons in 1994 and 1995 but had no success. He had his last ride in Britain when finishing last of thirteen on the Peter Hedger-trained Ceilidh Dancer in a one-mile three-furlong maiden at Sandown Park on August 30, 1995, exactly two years after his last British winner.
Chris moved the Middle East soon afterwards and rode in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. His last full season there was 2011/12, in which he had 32 rides, achieving one second place finish but no winners. His last ride was on Take Your Partner, who finished fourteenth in a six-furlong race at Jebal Ali on March 23, 2012.
