Dubai: Godolphin are two-handed as they seek to win a fourth Dubai Fillies Mile, the centrepiece of Dubai Future Champions Festival on Friday and Europe’s joint most valuable Group 1 two-year-old race.

Charlie Appleby is represented by the exciting Sobetsu, a two-year-old that he describes as a ‘standout’ filly in my yard, as he seeks a first success in the 1,600metre contest, the winner of which will receive an automatic invitation to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Group 1), at Santa Anita Park in November.

Saeed Bin Surour, who in 2010 sent out White Moonshine to win the Mile is represented by maiden winner Easy Victory.

Appleby is likely to be full of confidence following the Group 1 victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac by Wuheida, Sobetsu’s stable companion.

A field of eight runners has been declared for this one mile contest which is not only the showpiece of Day One of Dubai Future Champions Festival but also Europe’s richest juvenile Group 1 race with total prize money of £533,750.

“I am very pleased with Sobetsu, she is proven on the track, which is a bonus, and I think that she has a very solid chance in the Dubai Fillies’ Mile,” said Appleby of his filly, who is the ante-post favourite.

“Her and Wuheida are the two standout fillies in my yard, two very imposing daughters of Dubawi with hopefully bright three-year-old careers ahead of them. We sent Wuheida to France because Sobetsu was already a winner on the Rowley Mile and it allowed her an extra week of preparation time.”

“If Sobetsu could complete the Group 1 double it would be fantastic for the team and fantastic for Dubawi as well — he’s already a renowned worldwide stallion but it would give a new status to his reputation.

“I appreciate that she has got to get past Spatial, and we very much respect her, but when they met before it was Sobetsu’s debut whereas Spatial had already run, finishing second to Wuheida. Sobetsu really came forward for that first run and was very impressive last time.”

A ten-length winner of a maiden over this very course and distance three weeks ago, Sobetsu will be reopposed by Sir Michael Stoute’s Spatial, a daughter of the 1,000 Guineas runner-up, Spacious, who beat her into third place in another Newmarket maiden.

Other leading candidates are the Aidan O’Brien-trained pair of Hydrangea and Rhododendron, second and third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes on their latest starts and previously second and first in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes.

Further stiff opposition will be provided by Ralph Beckett’s Rich Legacy, winner of last month’s Group 2 May Hill Stakes and subsequently supplemented for this race at a cost of £40,000.

Numerous other highlights on the first day of Dubai Future Champions Festival include Cougar Mountain and Gifted Master, the first two from the recent Group 2 Shadwell Joel Stakes, crossing swords again in the Group 2 £164,550 Dubai Challenge Stakes; Miss Infinity, the Group 2 Shadwell Rockfel Stakes third, heading a field of 13 juvenile fillies in the Group 3 £80,000 visionsport.com Oh So Sharp Stakes; and the popular Weatherbys Super Sprint winner, Mrs Danvers, putting her unbeaten record on the line in the Group 3 £80,000 Newmarket Academy Godolphin Beacon Project Cornwallis Stakes.

The second Dubai Future Champions Festival is the highlight of the Gold Season at Newmarket Racecourses as well as one of Europe’s finest autumn racing Festivals.

With over £2 million in prize money on offer, Dubai Future Champions Festival combines world class two-year-old races with premier older age contests at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse.

It will also be the Autumn Ladies Day featuring the Best Dressed Ladies Competition sponsored by the official Fashion Partner, the Spa at Bedford Lodge Hotel.

Saturday will bring another three Group races, including the only other £500,000 juvenile Group 1 contest, the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes, not to mention the 178th renewal of the £250,000 Betfred Cesarewitch Handicap.