Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, who flew in from the US especially to take the ride, the Doug Watson-trained five-year-old outlined potential Saudi Cup credentials with a dominant win from the front, easing to a three and a half-length success over stablemate Golden Goal.

“It’s a pleasure to be here and thanks to connections for bringing me over,” said Gaffalione. “He took control early and he seems a lot stronger this year. I have a tonne of confidence in this horse and the way he ran today I don’t think stepping up in distance would be a problem.”

Winning trainer Doug Watson added: “I take everything with a little bit of pressure, so I’m glad it’s over! He showed today that he’s pretty classy and he should improve for the run. I’ll leave it up to everyone else to decide if we go to Saudi.”

Isolate is a son of the little-known sire Mark Valeski (by Proud Citizen, by Gone West). The stallion was a Grade 2 winner at Belmont in 2012 for trainer Larry Jones and owner-breeder Bret Jones. The horse now stands at a small stud in Arkansas.

The other blacktype dirt race on Friday’s card was the Listed Entisar Stakes over an extended mile and it saw a remarkable performance from Atletico El Culano who came from a seemingly impossible to position to win on the line.

Ridden by Jose da Silva for owner-trainer Julio Olascoaga, the seven-year-old was a Grade 1 winner in Uruguay in 2021 but had been winless in seven starts at Meydan over the past 12 months.

He had plenty of work to do here as well but arrived with a sustained run well inside the final furlong to deny Military Law by a head.

“In our stable this was probably the horse that most deserved a win,” said Olascoaga after his third success of the campaign.

“He got the job done today with his characteristic of coming from behind from a strong pace. It was a well-timed ride by Jose, who also suggested to remove the blinkers during the week.”

The Carnival continues on Friday, January 5th when the Group 2 Zabeel Mile is the feature.