It is hard to be any more impressive than Sobetsu (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was over the Rowley Mile Sept. 17 and Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' cuts a fearsome figure in Friday's G1 Dubai Fillies' Mile back at Newmarket. The relative of Generous (Ire) scored by 10 lengths on her second start over this course and distance and now that stablemate Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) has captured Sunday's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac trainer Charlie Appleby is entitled to be optimistic. “It was a big step from her first to her second run and you could say this is a huge leap, to group one company but we always had the Fillies' Mile in mind for her and it was always our intention to run here this week,” he said. “We felt she had already proven herself on the Rowley Mile and, by coming here instead of Chantilly last weekend, it gave her more time between runs.” Appleby continued, “Sobetsu and Wuheida are the two stand-out fillies in my yard, two very imposing daughters of Dubawi with hopefully bright three-year-old careers ahead of them. If Sobetsu could complete the group one 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.”
Sobetsu was third on debut behind Cheveley Park Stud's Spatial (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) over seven furlongs on the July Course here Aug. 26, with that rival previously finishing runner-up to Wuheida on debut over the same track and trip 20 days earlier. “We're very happy with her,” Cheveley Park Stud's managing director Chris Richardson said. “Obviously there's a lot of hype about the form and the way the form of her races have turned out. It's all been boosted in every which way. We like her. She's a filly with a future.” How they measure up to the established pattern-race fillies remains to be seen, with this race the preserve of the already proven performers of late. All of the last 10 heroines had achieved black-type prior to this test and the three benchmark runners this time include a pair from Ballydoyle successful in the last two renewals. Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) went down by a head to Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G2 Debutante S. over seven furlongs at The Curragh Aug. 21, only to reverse the form when in that same position in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. back over the same course and distance Sept. 11. Rhododendron may have been compromised by the way the latter race was run and looked to be in need of this extra furlong when staying on to be third, with the fifth-placed Promise To Be True (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) providing a boost to the form by filling the runner's-up spot in the Marcel Boussac. Aidan O'Brien said of his pair, “They are in good form, both of them. There wasn't much between them when they met the time before and there wasn't too far between them in the Moyglare either. The trip and ground shouldn't be a problem, either. We always thought they would get further than seven furlongs.”
Qatar Racing's Rich Legacy (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) won one of this race's key pointers, the G2 May Hill S. at Doncaster Sept. 8, with another Appleby representative Grecian Light (Ire) (Shamardal) back in second and the subsequent winner Urban Fox (GB) (Foxwedge {Aus}) in third.
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