Business & Money | Monday 10 October, 2016 4:29 am |

 Newmarket Racecourses welcomed 21,557 visitors through its gates over the two-day Dubai Future Champions Festival, up almost 10% on the inaugural two day Festival in 2015.

 

Though conditions were overcast for the final day, the ground was perfect and those present were treated to an enthralling renewal of the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes.

 

Billed as a battle between Godolphin’s impressive Gimcrack Stakes winner Blue Point, Ballydoyle’s National Stakes scorer Churchill and Seven Heavens, the unbeaten son of Frankel, it provided another top-level one-two for Aidan O’Brien as Churchill led home stablemate Lancaster Bomber.

 

Churchill is now 6/4 favourite for next May’s QIPCO 2000 Guineas and 7/1 to do the Guineas/Derby double.

 

Classic clues were also abound in the Listed Dubai Zetland Stakes and the John Gosden-trained filly Coronet planted herself firmly in the picture for the Investec Oaks, beating stablemate Cunco by a neck in a thrilling finish, and setting a new track record for juveniles over the 10-furlong trip.

 

Group 3 Vision Autumn Stakes winner Best Solution will likely head to Dubai, with the Godolphin-owned colt taking in a trail before a tilt at the UAE 2000 Guineas, according to trainer Saeed Bin Suroor.

 

It was a notable day, too, for Hughie Morrison, whose handicap blot, Sweet Selection, landed a gamble in the Betfred Cesarewitch Heritage Handicap under champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa.

 

Sweet Selection is due to go up 17lb in the handicap after today.

 

The Retraining Of Racehorses parade, which included two of Godolphin’s Dubai World Cup winners and Ascot Gold Cup winner Colour Vision, along with seven other re-trained racehorses, was a popular precursor to the racing.

 

Likewise, Flavours Of Dubai, which offered racegoers amazing Dubai and Middle East-inspired foods, provided a tempting and tantalizing taste-bud experience, which went down a storm.

 

Amy Starkey, East Regional Director for Jockey Club Racecourses, said:“We have had a fantastic Dubai Future Champions Festival and we are proud that it is cemented in the calendar as one of the most popular meetings of the year and the European juvenile finale of the season.

 

“We have built on the solid foundation of the inaugural Festival last year and to achieve a crowd of well over 20,000 over the two days in its second year was very pleasing.

 

“The changes made to the autumn programme in recent years, culminating in delivery of this meeting, has added strength, depth and balance to our programme, and a testament to that is the quality of the card and how the racing has played out over the last couple of days.

 

“The additional customer experience elements to the Festival have been made possible by the tremendous hard work of both the Newmarket and Dubai team. Flavours of Dubai proved hugely popular with several racegoers reporting that they consider it to be ‘one of the best things’ they had seen on a British racecourse.

 

“The Retraining Of Racehorse parade added a different dimension to the event, and I am sure that Bernadette O’Connor, the winner of the incredible prize of an 18-night cruise from Mauritius to Dubai, worth £15,000, will have a fantastic time.

 

“On the track, we saw some exceptional performances. Churchill was very impressive in the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes and it will be interesting to see if he can land the QIPCO 2000 Guineas here next spring.

 

“The Betfred Cesarewitch provided a fantastic close finish and both Coronet and Best Solution appears to have Classic potential.

 

“There is much to look forward to and further work to continue to build the Festival is required, but we are delighted with the second Dubai Future Champions Festival.”

 

“Through the partnership of Dubai and Newmarket Racecourses, Dubai Future Champions Festival has established as a key event in both the racing and community calendar, showing further support and commitment to a wide range of different aspects in the racing industry as well as the local community in which both businesses operate.”