Dubai: Silvestre De Sousa will hope to upstage master tactician Kieren Fallon when the two Godolphin pilots clash in Thursday’s Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (G2), the opening day’s highlight of this week’s July Festival at Newmarket, England.

Brazilian-born De Sousa partners veteran stayer Cavalryman in the 2,400m contest, while six-time British champion Fallon rides the up and coming Excellent Result. Both horses are trained by long-serving Godolphin handler Saeed Bin Surour.

The pair take on six rivals, including the two favourites — four-time winner Arab Spring and former Royal Ascot scorer Hillstar, who are trained by Sir Michael Stoute.

South African-born Stoute has a tremendous record in the race, with nine wins including two seasons ago, when he sent out Fiorente to take a classy renewal of the contest against the highly accomplished Joshua Tree and Red Cadeaux. Stoute’s other wins came with Shardari (1986), Rock Hopper (1991), Saddlers’ Hall (1992), Little Rock (2000), Gamut (2005), Papal Bull (2007), Doctor Fremantle (2009) and Crystal Capella (2011).

The Princess of Wales’s Stakes, which was established 1894, is one of British racing’s most valuable and prestigious all-age races and remains a key event on the country’s calendar.

De Sousa has been vying for Godophin’s top rides with Fallon this season and will seize the chance to test precisely how special the Irishman is in what will unquestionably be a tactically run race.

Cavalryman makes his European bow having been last seen in action when contesting the two-mile Dubai Gold Cup (G2) at Meydan in March, where he was only beaten a neck by Certerach. The eight-year-old son of Halling was looking to post back-to-back wins in the contest, having triumphed in 2013.

Bin Surour remains confident that his globe-trotting star still has the ability to compete with the best and feels that he will run a big race on Thursday.

“He’s a horse who thrives on racing and, after the short break since Meydan, he has been training well and should run well fresh,” he said. “He’s a nice horse to have in the stable and on his day he can really show how good a stayer he is. There are some nice horses in the race, but I hope he runs well.

“Excellent Result is a much younger horse but has got a lot of stamina in him. He’s been training well and races like these are perfect for him. I’m looking forward to seeing how he runs.”

Thursday’s seven-race card also features the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy, a challenging 2,600m contest for aspiring three-year-old stayers.

Hartnell, trained by Mark Johnston for Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, looks to have a leading chance.