Dubai Future Champions Festival

Newmarket Racecourses is proud to be staging the inaugural £2 million+ two-day Dubai Future Champions Festival at the Rowley Mile during the heart of the Gold Season.

The Festival is being staged on Friday, 9th and Saturday, 10th October, with the Group 1 feature races showcasing fillies on the Friday and the colts on the Saturday. The two-day event is quite simply the highest class racing for young horses anywhere in the world, attracting the very best equine talent.

Friday is Autumn Ladies’ Day featuring Fashion at the Festival sponsored by The Spa at Bedford Lodge Hotel whereby ladies can show off their autumn finery to the judges of the Best Dressed Ladies competition. London based designer Jane Taylor has partnered with Newmarket Racecourses as official milliner for the event too and has designed a fabulous capsule collection that will be on show on the Friday. There is also a range of free on-course entertainment on both days including a bouncy castle, inflatable slide and a bucking bronco, as well as music throughout the day with an opera singer and harpist.

The Race for Excellence exhibition will also return to the Rowley Mile for both days of Dubai Future Champions Festival, showcasing the shared development story of Dubai and its horse racing heritage for racegoers to enjoy for free.

Accompanying the Group 1 Dubai Fillies’ Mile, worth £500,000 in prize money, on the seven-race card are the Group 2 Dubai Challenge Stakes, the Vision Old Rowley Cup Heritage Handicap, Group 3 Dubai Cornwallis Stakes, the Group 3 Vision Oh So Sharp Stakes, the Listed Dubai Pride Stakes and the Vision Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

The newly sponsored Vision Varsity Race will take place ahead of racing on Saturday. The second running will see historic sporting rivals Oxford and Cambridge Universities battle it out Newmarket’s straight mile to see who can claim this year’s crown – the Bearstead Perpetual Challenge Trophy. Will it be the light blues of Cambridge again or will the dark blues of Oxford take all?

Students go FREE to both days of Dubai Future Champions Festival provided they are in possession of a valid NUS card on the day. The Minstrel and Pretty Polly Bars on the first floor of the Millennium Grandstand will be areas dedicated to students and up to 15% off certain drinks will be offered again on the basis of valid student identification. The fun won’t stop after the last race either, Après Racing, Newmarket’s official racing after party, will include acts from Swagger following racing on Friday and a special guest to be announced for the Saturday.

On the track, racegoers can enjoy the famous £250,000 Betfred Cesarewitch, first run in 1839 and the only horse race run across two counties – Cambridgeshire into Suffolk. Joining it on an eight-race card are the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes, also worth £500,000 in prize money, Group 3 Darley Stakes, Group 3 Vision Autumn Stakes, the Dubai European Breeders’ Fund Fillies’ Nursery Handicap Stakes, the Listed Dubai Zetland Stakes and the Listed Vision EBF Stallions Boadicea Fillies’ Stakes.

Dubai Future Champions Festival is the highlight of a high quality programme of events at Newmarket Racecourses this autumn. For more information and to book tickets for these fantastic two days please visit www.newmarketracecourses.co.uk or speak to a member of our dedicated team on 01638 675500.