Naval Crown and his owner and breeder, Godolphin, were the stars Friday of the second racing program of the 2022 Dubai World Cup Carnival.  Godolphin won five of the card’s seven races, sweeping the top three placings in two races and the top two in another. Trainer Saeed bin Suroor had a three-win night and trainer Charlie Appleby won two, including the Group 2, $180,000 Al Fahidi Fort with the talented 4-year-old Naval Crown.   Naval Crown could be following in the hoofprints of recently retired Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile winner Space Blues, though he has a long way to go to hit that horse’s level. Space Blues generally excelled in races at 6 1/2 or seven furlongs, the latter the distance of the Al Fahidi Fort, and Naval Crown appears to have the same preference. That, at least, was the position taken by Appleby after jockey William Buick guided Naval Crown through a tight mid-stretch hole, the colt powering his way to a one-length win in his first start since July.    “We purposely put him away mid-season last year,” Appleby said.   :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play like a pro with free Formulator, DRF's premium data product Naval Crown finished fourth in the 2000 Guineas last May and could have the $1.5 million Turf Sprint – won in 2021 by Space Blues – on the Saudi Cup undercard on his agenda. By Dubawi out of Come Alive, by Dansili, Naval Crown was timed in a course-record 1:22.02 for the 1,400 meters.   On the program’s other turf stakes race, the 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8 miles) Al Rashidiya, another Group 2 worth $180,000, Godolphin swept the top three placings with Desert Fire much the best, Hector Crouch riding for bin Suroor. Royal Fleet finished 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner, closely followed by Art Du Val as 9-year-old war horse Lord Glitters closed decently for fourth in a race off which he should improve. This was the first stakes win for 7-year-old Desert Fire, a homebred son of Cape Cross. English jockey Crouch called the victory the most important of his career.   Front-runners dominated the dirt action Friday, inside speed going 3 for 3 and winning each race by open lengths. Al Tariq won the lone dirt stakes race by taking the Dubawi, a Group 3, 1,200-meter race, by two lengths, and his victory was not all about a track bias. Al Tariq, a 6-year-old Oasis Dream gelding trained by Doug Watson, spent most of his career racing on turf, but has found a home on dirt the last two UAE racing seasons. Al Tariq has won two races in a row and four of his last five, and he comfortably held clear second-place Freedom Fighter, an American import making his first local start. Al Tariq clocked 1:11.75.  Godolphin’s Rebel Romance, winner of the 2021 UAE Derby, was heavily favored and top-weighted in the nightcap, a 2,000-meter dirt race, but he failed to come close to the lead and faded to eighth in his first start since last March. Instead, it was another Godolphin runner, Dubai Icon, who went straight to the front and widened, thanks to the speed-favoring nature of the surface, to win by more than eight lengths.