York Racecourse

Popmurphy's totesport.com Dante aspirations to be decided on Wednesday

Yorkshire’s hopes of being represented in the totesport.com Dante Stakes on Thursday May 14 could become clearer this week.

The highly-regarded Popmurphy lines up for Wednesday’s Blue Riband Trial Stakes at Epsom, where a good run would see the colt appear in the Group 2 totesport.com Dante, worth £150,000, just over three weeks later.

The once-raced Windsor maiden winner is trained by Middleham-based Karl Burke, who said: “If he puts in a good performance at Epsom, the Dante would be top of the list.

“We would have to supplement him for York, but it’s perfect timing and would give us an indication of just how good he is.

“He is a son of Montjeu, and out of Lady Lahar, so is very well-bred and is a lovely-looking horse.

“He’s not a great work horse, although he did one or two bits of work before his debut which suggested he was well above average.

“I think he beat a couple of decent horses at Windsor and will have improved dramatically for that run.”

The totesport.com Dante is the centrepiece of York’s three-day Dante Festival and is renowned for being a top-class assignment for Epsom-bound colts with North Light (2004), Motivator (2005) and Authorized (2007) all landing it in recent years ahead of the world’s most famous Classic.

If Popmurphy is given his chance he will hoping to bring the trophies back to Middleham, the home of Dante himself. Back in 1945, trainer Matt Peacock sent Dante to York then Epsom to become the only northern trained Derby winner of the twentieth century.

The Dante festival commences on Wednesday May 13 with the Tattersalls Musidora, a recognised Epsom Oaks trial, and culminates with the Group 2 Emirates Airline Yorkshire Cup on the Friday.

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