totesport Dante Stakes - Group 2 (2:40pm)
| Distance: 1 mile 2 furlongs | Prize Money: £150,000 |
| Race Type: Group 2 | Age: 3 |
| Rating: | Stalls: |
| Channel 4 |
The totesport.com Dante Stakes is a Pattern race at Group 2 level and it is one of the top 50 races in the country. Therefore it always attracts a string of top quality thoroughbreds. Like the Derby, the race is restricted to three-year-olds and is known as a Derby ‘trial’. The winner of last year’s totesport.com Dante, Tartan Bearer, went on to be a close second behind New Approach in the Derby. Each of the horses carry the same weight of 9st, so it’s a true test of pure ability. If you think you know the winner then place your Derby bet before you are proved to be correct as the odds of the winner will tumble ahead of Epsom.
Dante was the only Northern trained winner of the Derby in the 20th century and the premier Classic trial run here on Knavesmire certainly lives up to his name, for in the fifty years since the race began, no less than nine York winners have gone on to glory at Epsom – three of them in the past five years – with last year’s winner Tartan Bearer coming a close second. Several of the leading candidates for June’s Classic are bound to appear here again this May.
In 2007 it was Authorized who cruised to victory here at York under Frankie Dettori before the colt went on to give the Italian-born rider his very first Derby success. Trained at Newmarket by Peter Chapple-Hyam, he had won the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster as a juvenile and he scorched clear in the home straight at Epsom to win by five lengths. There followed a close second against older horses in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown before the colt returned to Knavesmire to win the Juddmonte International in which he had a length to spare over Dylan Thomas. The latter went on to take the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris where Authorized was sent off favourite, but it proved not to be his day.
Two years earlier it was Motivator trained by Michael Bell who strutted his stuff on Knavesmire, showing a smart turn of speed to comfortably take the race under Irish jockey Johnny Murtagh and they too had five lengths to spare when going on to win at Epsom.
North Light gave Sir Michael Stoute a totesport.com Dante victory in 2004 and the colt went on to Derby glory under Kieren Fallon. The line-up in North Light’s year was vintage for he was chased home by Rule of Law and Let the Lion Roar with the trio going on to fill the first three places at Epsom. Four months on and it was Rule of Law who came out best in the final Classic of the year, the Ladbrokes St. Leger.
The only recent totesport.com Dante winner who failed to shine at Epsom has gone on to make his mark in the staying division; the Aidan O’Brien trained Septimus took the prize in 2006, but found the ground not to his liking at Epsom. He came back in 2007 to win three of his four races. After finishing second to stable companion Scorpion in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, he took the Weatherby’s Insurance Lonsdale Cup here at York and added the Doncaster Cup to put himself into the top bracket in the stamina category.
Godolphin won with Moon Ballad in 2002 when Jamie Spencer was on board and he also steered the colt into third place at Epsom, but the following spring he achieved lasting glory in taking the world’s richest race, the Dubai World Cup. Bollin Eric, who chased him home at York, went on to give Yorkshire trainer Tim Easterby his first Classic win in the Ladbrokes St Leger.
Sakhee, was another to prove an international star, he was trained by John Dunlop and carried the colours of Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum when he won the totesport.com Dante in Millennium year and was then caught well inside the final furlong by Sinndar in the Derby. He joined Godolphin and won three of his four races the following summer, including the Juddmonte International here at York and the Arc in Paris before being beaten in a photo finish to the Breeders Cup Classic in New York.
The proud history of the contest includes St.Paddy, steered to glory at Epsom by Lester Piggott in 1960 as the first colt to complete the Dante – Derby double, while Shirley Heights carried the colours of Lord Halifax to victory in both races in 1978. Shahrastani and Reference Point did it in the 1980’s with Erhaab (1994) and Benny the Dip eleven years ago all helped to weave more strands into a tale which began when Dante made the trip from Middleham to glory in 1945.
Can this year’s winner follow in such famous footsteps? History suggests the odds will favour the victor yet it also holds a stark message for the vanquished; no totesport.com Dante also-ran has ever won the Epsom Derby.
| No | Horse | Age | St | Lb | Draw | ||||||
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1 | Cape Blanco (IRE) | 9 | 0 | (1) | ||||||
| Jockey: Johnny Murtagh | |||||||||||
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2 | Chabal (IRE) | 9 | 0 | (4) | ||||||
| Jockey: Frankie Dettori | |||||||||||
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3 | Circumvent | 9 | 0 | (3) | ||||||
| Jockey: Paul Hanagan | |||||||||||
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4 | Coordinated Cut (IRE) | 9 | 0 | (2) | ||||||
| Jockey: Jamie Spencer | |||||||||||
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5 | Fair Trade | 9 | 0 | (6) | ||||||
| Jockey: Jimmy Fortune | |||||||||||
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6 | Workforce | 9 | 0 | (5) | ||||||
| Jockey: Ryan Moore | |||||||||||
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