Safety Check locks up impressive hat trick at Dubai World Cup Carnival

Thursday’s eighth meeting of the 2015 Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan Racecourse was arguably one of the best with three feature races, highlighted by the Group 2 Zabeel Mile.

Safety Check will end this year's Dubai Carnival unbeaten after storming home under William Buick in the 1,600 metre feature on turf.

Having posted mixed efforts on the turf in Britain last season, Charlie Appleby’s four-year-old was seeking a third 2015 Carnival victory having won a 1,400 metre handicap on his seasonal debut and the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort over the same course and distance.

With Buick at the helm, Safety Check demonstrated why he is much improved in 2015 by winning in good style, passing the post a length to the good.

The Brendan Powell-trained Dark Emerald, already a dual winner at the track this month, ran another good race to fill the runner-up spot, with Michael Attwater's Empire Storm and Hugo Palmer's Short Squeeze both well beaten.

Saeed bin Suroor's Local Time added to her UAE 1,000 Guineas triumph last time out with another runaway victory, this time in the UAE Oaks.

The Group 3 race run over a distance of 1,900 metres on the dirt was the main support feature race and Godolphin’s Local Time looked hard to beat from the outset.

And so it proved as the daughter of Invincible Spirit made it three from three for the year. Having started favourite, she was not hard pressed in the hands of James Doyle, beating Shahrasal by almost five lengths.

Jessica Long's Swedish raider Volatile was the winner of the Meydan Classic, with Buick again doing the steering.

Good enough to finish third in last season's Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket as a juvenile, the three-year-old made it third-time lucky in Dubai as he got the better of Mike de Kock's Mastermind by a length and a quarter.

In the evening’s other races at Meydan, Price Is Truth came out on top in the Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group Trophy, the unfancied Pit Stop sprung something of a surprise to land the Swaidan Trading Automotive Division Trophy, whilst Silvestre de Sousa saw Mashaaref home and to victory in the Al Naboodah Commercial Group Trophy Handicap.