Surfer has won two straight on Meydan's new dirt track (Andrew Watkins/Dubai Racing Club)

Trained by Satish Seemar and ridden by Richard Mullen, the five-year-old veteran stalked the pace from his rail draw and took command just past the halfway mark. Frankyfourfingers traveled smoothly to challenge turning for home, but Surfer had more in the tank and asserted comfortably in a final time of 1:38 1/5 for the metric mile on dirt.

Haatheq rallied for third, and Gold City reported home fourth. Godolphin's Outstrip was never involved in his dirt debut and ended up 11th of 15.

Surfer, whose resume reads 20-5-5-3, $416,320, was coming off his first stakes win in the December 18 Dubai Creek Mile at this track and trip. He is now in his fourth Carnival, having finished runner-up in both the 2012 Al Bastakiya and 2013 Maktoum Challenge Round 2 as well as third in last year's Maktoum Challenge Round 3. The chestnut hasn't had any luck on World Cup night, finishing unplaced in the 2013 Godolphin Mile and 2014 World Cup, but Meydan's switch from synthetic to dirt could help his cause.

"This horse just loves the dirt," Mullen offered. "He always worked well on it at home and has shown a real liking for it here at Meydan. He ran some great races here on the old all-weather surface but this is really his game.

"We will have to sit down and plan whether to step up in trip or stick to 1600 meters with the Burj Nahaar on Super Saturday (March 7) and the Godolphin Mile on Dubai World Cup night (March 28) possible targets."

True Story romped in his first start as a gelding (Andrew Watkins/Dubai Racing Club)

Defending champion Mushreq settled for second, edging Pilote and Sanshaawes. Godolphin's other runner, Be Ready, trailed in his comeback.

True Story improved his record to 9-3-2-2, $217,549. A resounding seven-length winner of last year's Feilden at Newmarket in his sophomore bow, the son of Manduro was third in the Dante, seventh in the Derby at Epsom and fifth in the Eclipse, before a third in the Rose of Lancaster. He was last seen finishing a close runner-up to Al Kazeem in the August 23 Winter Hill at Windsor.

"He's a little bit of a boy really," Doyle said. "He was on his toes before the race, but that's a good sign. He's settled since they gelded him which has been the making of him. He was well fancied in the Derby and didn't quite stay probably, but he won nicely tonight and I'm sure there's more to come."

Hototo could be on the Al Quoz Sprint trail (Andrew Watkins/Dubai Racing Club)

"I won in England on this horse and it is brilliant to ride a winner at Meydan and at the Carnival," said Hardie, who was recording a first U.A.E. win.

Appleby was not as successful in the about five-furlong turf handicap, where comebacker Ahtoug was sixth as the co-highweight at 132 pounds. Ahtoug had won this same race at last year's Carnival, denying Hototo, but Hototo went one better on Thursday.

The late bloomer Faulkner is undefeated in three starts (Andrew Watkins/Dubai Racing Club)

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed al Maktoum's Faulkner extended his unbeaten sequence to three, all on dirt. Once again rolling from well off the pace with Pat Dobbs, the Doug Watson trainee surged between foes in the final strides of the handicap. Faulkner won going away from Tamarkuz by three-quarters of a length, covering about seven furlongs in 1:25. The rapidly developing five-year-old now has $93,769 in his account.

"We were not the best away," Dobbs said. "From that draw (13) we knew I would need to be patient but he is a nice young, inexperienced horse and one we have always liked."