Desert Fire, ridden by Hector Crouch, wins the Al Rashidiya Group 2 race during the second meeting of the Dubai World Cup Carnival on Friday. Courtesy: ERA

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Team Godolphin were expected to clean up on week two of the Dubai World Cup Carnival and they did in style, winning five of the seven races on a classy night’s action at the Meydan Racecourse on Friday.

Not surprisingly, four wins came on the turf and were headed by a sweep of the twin Group 2 feature races, the 1800m Al Rashidiya with Desert Fire and the 1400m Al Fahidi Fort courtesy Naval Crown.

Desert Fire was trained by eight-time Carnival champion Saeed Bin Suroor, who would go on to complete a three-timer, while Naval Crown raced out of Epsom Derby and Melbourne Cup-winning handler Charlie Appleby’s desert stables in Marmoom.

It was left to Emirati handler Salem Bin Ghadayer and reigning UAE champion trainer Doug Watson to jostle for a share of the Carnival spotlight, which they did with aplomb, the former taking the 1400m UAE 2000 Guineas Trial Presented by Al Furjan By Azizi with the hugely impressive Rawy and Watson quite expectedly picking up the 1200m Dubawi Stakes presented by Riviera by Azizi with in-form sprinter, Al Tariq.

Earlier, in the evening, Appleby got proceedings off to a positive start when he sent out international favorite Silent Speech to secure a two-length victory in the Dubai Trophy Presented by Creek Views by Azizi over six furlongs before his Godolphin team-mate, Suroor unearthed an exciting talent in the form of Island Falcon, a gritty length and a half winner ver fancied New Kingdom in the first running of the 1800m Jumeirah Derby Trial presented by Park Avenue by Azizi.

While Godolphin runners may have ruled supreme it was Ghadayer’s American acquisition Rawy who conceivably delivered the performance of the day when outclassing his six rivals to win the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial in breathtaking fashion.

Rawy broke well under French ace Mickael Barzalona and quickly assumed control of the contest.

At no point did he look like relenting, pulling clear at the 500-metre mark before excelling himself to cross the line two lengths clear of Uruguay’s last-outing Meydan scorer, Quality Boone.