Following on from the tumbling records of Book 1 up the road at Park Paddocks earlier in the week, Newmarket's Rowley Mile venue plays host to a mouthwatering Future Champions Festival, the modern-day curtain-raiser to next week's Champions Day, to conclude a week of legend at the Suffolk outpost.The main events of the two-day feast are Friday's G1 Fillies' Mile and Saturday's blockbuster G1 Dewhurst–won last year by Precise and the ill-fated Gewan, respectively–with nine Group races taking place before the iconic Cesarewitch handicap, first run in 1839.Darkness Falls & Desert Castle Face Off in Dewhurst BlockbusterThe programme's undoubted highlight is a stellar renewal of Saturday's G1 Darley Dewhurst. Aidan O'Brien saddles two as he bids to go one up on icons of yore John Porter and Frank Butters with a record ninth win in the seven-furlong feature.Ballydoyle's duo is headed by G1 Golden Fleece hero Darkness Falls (Camelot), who raised the yard's spirits on Irish Champions weekend, and also features G2 Coventry-winning fellow Rising Star Great Barrier Reef (No Nay Never).“Darkness Falls has come out of Leopardstown very well, his work has been good since and this has been on the agenda for some time,” said Chris Armstrong. “What he did in his maiden win, he backed up in a Group 1 afterwards, so he is in the 'could be anything' category. The Dewhurst is the logical step to see if he can start off on the Guineas route next year. Great Barrier Reef is also in good form since the last day and the plan is now to go up in trip with him.”Ryan Moore, who has collected five prior editions, concurred and added, “Darkness Falls could be a Guineas horse that steps up to a Derby trip. He won his maiden impressively, making all at the Curragh and then won the new nine-furlong Golden Fleece, where he was very impressive. Obviously, he'll be dropping back to seven furlongs, but he has showed a lot of pace and I think he is an exciting colt.”Appleby Duo Seek Trainer's Fourth WinCharlie Appleby is on the hunt for win number four in a race he has won with stable linchpins Pinatubo, Native Trail and Shadow Of Light. This has been the long-term aim for the G2 Champagne-winning Rising Star Desert Castle (Frankel), ante-post favourite for next season's 2000 Guineas and the mount of William Buick, who also caught the eye at the July course in August.Billy Loughnane partners second string Jassas (Dubawi), whose debut form has solidified over time. He flopped when last of five in August's G3 Prix Francois Boutin and may be forgiven that blip after notching a wide-margin confidence booster at Haydock two weeks ago.Mrs Alanood Althani's G3 Acomb second and Champagne fourth Gentle Hurricane (Invincible Spirit), who hails from the Andrew Balding stable, completes a boutique line-up.Musical Times To Call Fillies' Mile TuneQuality runs deep in Friday's bet365-sponsored Fillies' Mile, which has attracted a field of eight headed by Godolphin's G2 May Hill heroine Musical Times (Lope De Vega), who makes her first start since delivering that scintillating 7 1/2-length triumph at Doncaster's St Leger fixture.Charlie Appleby is seeking a second renewal of the straight one-mile test and the undefeated-in-three homebred is trading at odds-on to follow in the hoofprints of the yard's 2024 winner Desert Flower.“Musical Times ticks a lot of boxes,” the trainer commented. “She is pretty versatile when it comes to ground, having won on good-to-soft and a quicker surface, while she can lead or drop in. She has also won over the trip, which is a big bonus, so she looks a worthy favourite and the one to beat.”Balding On FireJeff Smith's two-for-two Rising Star Forbidden Fire (No Nay Never), a daughter of G1 Juddmonte International heroine Arabian Queen, is another exciting prospect from the red-hot Andrew Balding yard and backed up a spectacular debut win at Salisbury in August with a stakes breakthrough in Doncaster's Listed Flying Scotsman last month.“Forbidden Fire is a lovely filly, she's beautifully bred and she always looked like she had some ability,” the trainer said. “She started really well at Salisbury and stepped up on that second time out in a Listed race against colts. The form has worked out well and she's lightly raced with just two starts. I hope there's still improvement in her, but the question mark is probably stepping up to a mile. Her siblings have deceived me in staying further than we ever thought they would, so it's probably worth a go. She's got the class and I'd hope to be very competitive.”Balding will also saddle May Hill runner-up Scommessa Sicura (Cracksman). “Scommessa Sicura has been so consistent this year,” he added. “She's had plenty of racing and she's never run a bad race.”Sioux Nation DelegationSupporting Sioux Nation fillies has been a fruitful enterprise this term, Sun Goddess leading the charge with a trio of Group 1 rosettes, and the sire has two entries here. Victorious Forever's €1.1-million Arqana Breeze-Up acquisition and Rising Star Lex Victoria is two-for-two and tackles one mile for the first time.“It's a big step up to come out of maiden and novice company straight into a Group 1,” said racing manager Chris Wall. “We want to know how good she could be and where we stand in the overall scheme of things, so we know roughly what we will do with her next season. She's obviously shown herself to be a filly with plenty of class and it will be interesting to see how we stack up. This filly is relaxed and you can switch her off. Her form looks good and the second to her at Kempton came out and won well at Ascot the other day. She should stay a mile without any difficulty and, hopefully, she can show a bit of speed at the end and get involved in the finish.”Coolmore's sire ascendant also has Rogues Gallery Racing's Rogue Passion, who stepped forward to garner Deauville's G3 Prix d'Aumale, downing G1 Jean-Luc Lagardere hero Amusingly and G1 Marcel Boussac runner-up Data, for the Ed Bethell barn five weeks ago.“The phone has been alight for her and we've had a few big offers now, but we are one race away from a life-changing offer so we are going to take a chance,” said syndicate founder Tony Elliott. “We wouldn't have been keen to take on Sun Goddess, but I'm really keen to take on Musical Times, so we will see what happens. She ran in France last time and the form couldn't have worked out better. We were going to supplement for the Marcel Boussac, but she scoped dirty and we couldn't go. She's scoped clean now, she worked last Saturday and we are pretty sure she has improved. Win and we are in the big league.”O'Briens In The HouseFishdance's Dancing Destiny (Magna Grecia) represents the Joseph O'Brien juggernaut firing on all cylinders with one Listed win and four Group places already in the bag. Her form includes a neck second to G1 Marcel Boussac heroine Green Empress in the G2 Debutante and a third to Sun Goddess, albeit over eight lengths adrift, in last month's G1 Moyglare. O'Brien steered Together Forever to victory in 2014 and saddled Iridessa in 2018 and Pretty Gorgeous in 2020.Aidan O'Brien, who has snagged a record seven wins, arrives from leftfield this year and relies on the Dundalk maiden scorer Haven (Wootton Bassett) and five-race maiden Exceptionally (Into Mischief).Friday's UndercardFriday's supporting races include the G3 Newmarket Academy Godolphin Beacon Project Cornwallis, with Rising Star and G2 Flying Childers second Flann Sunna (Blue Point) eyeballing one dozen speedsters in the five-furlong dash, while Richard Hannon trainee Dark Issue (Dark Angel) offers each-way value in the 16-runner G3 Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp.Forbidden Fire's stablemates Flora Of Bermuda (Dark Angel) and Never So Brave (No Nay Never) hold the key to the seven-furlong G2 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards Challenge, while the opening day's stakes action concludes with the Listed Godolphin Under Starters Orders Boadicea and G3 Newmarket Pony Academy Pride. Juddmonte's Oaks runner-up Legacy Link (Dubawi) and G1 Coronation runner-up Touleen (Lope De Vega) share top billing in the latter.Autumn SplendourAidan O'Brien has sent out just one prior winner, Delacroix in 2024, in Saturday's G3 Emirates Autumn and relies on Wootton Bassett's Champagne second Sergei Diaghilev this time around.Charlie Appleby has collected a record five editions and goes for a sixth with the Billy Loughnane-ridden Doncaster maiden winner Al Jabbar (Sea The Stars).Godolphin also has the Roger Varian-trained Rock Montreal (Blue Point) engaged. The 2025 Book 1 millionaire was a last-out second behind Fillies' Mile hopeful Forbidden Fire in the Listed Flying Scotsman, with William Buick boasting an unmatched six victories in the race.Marco Botti sends Scuderia Sagam's G3 Somerville Tattersall runner-up Notable Dream (Bayside Boy) back across town for a third time and the 40,000gns Book 3 graduate bids to become his freshman sire's second Group winner in yet another deep contest.Saturday's UndercardSaturday's card also features the ten-furlong G3 Native Trail Zetland, a contest won by Pierre Bonnard last season, with G2 Beresford third Drumbeat (Wootton Bassett) attempting to secure a fourth rosette for Aidan O'Brien.Andrew Balding takes aim at the G3 Modern Games Darley and is responsible for three of the nine-furlong contest's five contenders. The trio includes Wathnan's 2025 G2 Royal Lodge runner-up Humidity (Ulysses), who makes his first start in over a year after chasing home Bow Echo last September, and G2 Joel second The Lost King (Kingman), who will line up as favourite.Ian Williams and Billy Loughnane join forces once again as the 2025 winner Beylerbeyi (Invincible Spirit) attempts to become just the second dual, and first back-to-back, winner of the Club Godolphin Cesarewitch.Going ContinentalThe weekend's continental stakes action centres on Saturday's G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte at Chantilly and Sunday's G3 Wettstar Preis des Winterfavoriten at Cologne.Juddmonte's G2 Lowther and G2 Mill Reef-placed Jolivette (Wootton Bassett), the G3 Dick Poole winner Acclamation Star (Acclamation) and the G3 Prix Eclipse runner-up Scythe (Victor Ludorum) launch an international assault on the former.Stall Mandarin's Listed Grosser Junioren-Preis second Laveran (Torquator Tasso) bids to become his freshman sire's first black-type winner and encounters the G3 Zukunfts-Rennen third and fourth, Tango Dancer (Alson) and Taylor Made (Rubaiyat), in Germany's premier juvenile contest.The post Mouthwatering Cesarewitch Meet In Store; Darkness Falls, Desert Castle And Musical Times Head All-Star Cast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.