Ben Linfoot looks forward to the Dante Meeting at York

Dante looks crucial again

St Paddy. Shirley Heights. Shahrastani. Reference Point. Erhaab. Benny The Dip. North Light. Motivator. Authorized. Golden Horn. Ten winners of the Epsom Derby, 10 winners of the Dante Stakes at York. And then there’s Workforce as well, the only horse to be beaten in a Dante that won a Derby.

It’s no wonder this week’s race at York is considered the Don of all the Derby trials. In the last 20 years the race has produced six Derby winners, making it the pre-eminent trial in that timeframe. Only the 2000 Guineas comes close, if you dare call it a Derby trial, with five Epsom winners coming out of the season’s first Classic – all of those since Sir Percy in 2006.

The Guineas could strengthen that very good recent record this year. Perhaps Churchill will turn up after all. Maybe Eminent will join him. Barney Roy looks unlikely according to the exchanges. But after all the trials run in France and in Ireland and at Chester and at Lingfield the Derby picture remains unclear. It’s down to the Dante, again, to clear things up.

Missing from that list at the top is an Aidan O’Brien Dante-Derby winner. There hasn’t been one. The Ballydoyle maestro traditionally uses Leopardstown or Newmarket or Chester as a springboard for his Derby horses, with York utilised as a sighter. Perhaps it comes just a bit too close to Epsom for his horses. Perhaps it’s just coincidence.

Whatever it is, it hasn’t stopped O’Brien winning the Dante. Saratoga Springs, Septimus, Black Bear Island and Cape Blanco all did the business for him on the Knavesmire, but the best of their finishing positions in the Derby was 10th. Looking at his entries this year, the best of which could be Exemplar, a 33/1 chance for the Derby, a similar story could unfold, if he wins the Dante at all.

But if you can’t rely on O’Brien in a Derby trial, who can you rely on? Well, John Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute when it comes to this race. They have nine Dantes between them, including four Derby winners. And that doesn’t include Workforce, who was beaten by Cape Blanco before winning the Derby in a record-breaking time.

Gosden first won the Dante in 1997 with Benny The Dip and he’s won it the last two years as well, with Golden Horn and Wings Of Desire. He’s going for the hat-trick with Cracksman, a Frankel, a Frankel that needed every yard of the 10-furlongs-and-a-bit of Epsom’s Investec Derby Trial on April 26.

That didn’t look like a Derby-winning performance, but his connections felt he’d improve and the second, Mark Johnston’s Permian, who reopposes again in the Dante, has franked the form since with an easy win in a Listed race at Newmarket.

While the unbeaten Cracksman puts his reputation on the line, Sir Michael Stoute’s Crystal Ocean bids to enhance his. He’s more of a slow burner, an under-the-radar type (until recently), having finished second in a maiden at Newbury on his only start at two.

But he then won a 10-furlong Nottingham maiden in good style on April 22 and the second, Okool, who was two-lengths adrift, boosted that piece of form at the same track 20 days later with an impressive enough win of his own.

That form boost, perhaps, sparked a run of money, perhaps, for Crystal Ocean in both the Dante and Derby ante-post markets. Who knows what it takes these days, really? What we do know is that Crystal Ocean was widely available at 33/1 for the Derby on Friday and now he’s a 12/1 chance.

The son of Sea The Stars will have to step up markedly on his previous form to justify his current Derby quotes. But he could well do just that. Stoute used the Dante as a successful Derby prep for Shahrastani, North Light and Workforce and this fellow is well related, being a half-brother to Crystal Capella, Hillstar and Crystal Zvezda.

Cracksman. Crystal Ocean. Exemplar. War Decree. Rekindling. Forest Ranger. More of O’Brien’s, potentially. It’s shaping up to be an informative Dante, once again. Oh. And then there are the Boys In Blue…

Big week for Godolphin

It’s been a strange old start to the season for Godolphin.

On the one hand it has been very good. Saeed bin Suroor has had 22 winners this year in the UK, a 33 per cent win strike-rate, while fellow Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby isn’t far behind with 17 winners at 25 per cent. They’re very good numbers, even when they’re expected.

But on the other hand it feels like they’ve been picking up scraps when O’Brien hasn’t been around. When he has, like in the 2000 Guineas, they were put in the shade. At Chester last week, Saeed bin Suroor was left making excuses for Tamleek, who didn’t handle the track, when a well-backed fourth behind O’Brien’s one-two-three in the Chester Vase.

Then, when he did get one over O’Brien in the Lingfield Derby Trial, Best Solution running out a good winner under a 5lb penalty while Ballydoyle’s Sir John Lavery floundered back in sixth, there seemed to be a collective shrug from onlookers. ‘Don’t think we’ve seen the Derby winner there,’ they thought, if I’ve gauged the public reaction correctly.

Yet the feeling is, while O’Brien has already trialled his major Derby contenders, Godolphin are just taking the wraps off theirs. They run four in the Dante, one for Bin Suroor (Benbatl), one for Appleby (Wolf Country), one for Kevin Ryan (Syphax) and one for David Elsworth (Swiss Storm).

“I feel it’s a good opportunity to establish a pecking order,” John Ferguson, Chief Executive and Racing Manager, told godolphin.com. “Not only do we have Epsom coming up, there is Chantilly and Royal Ascot to follow. This is a great chance to see where we stand with all of them.”

And it’s not just in the Dante where Godolphin will be hoping to strike a blow this week.

In the Duke Of York Stakes they will try to unearth a high-quality sprinter for the summer with either Jungle Cat, Comicas or Baccarat. In the Middleton Endless Time could attempt to regain the winning thread. In the Yorkshire Cup Twilight Payment might emerge as an Ascot Gold Cup contender. And that’s before the maidens and the handicaps.

Godolphin traditionally do well on the Knavesmire. They’ll be hoping for more of the same this week. And if they could win the feature, for the first time since Moon Ballad in 2002, they might finally have an Epsom team to go to war with as they continue the pursuit of their first Derby.

William the Conqueror

If it wasn’t for a foot injury there might’ve been an 11th Dante-Derby winner at the top of this page. William Haggas’ Shaamit was set to trial at York before the foot problem occurred, but he still went on to land the Epsom Classic on his seasonal reappearance in 1996, following in the hoofprints of Lammtarra who did exactly the same the year before.

While Shaamit never ran at York, his trainer has made a habit of returning to his home county to mop up some big prizes at this track, particularly at the Ebor meeting in August.

Yet this year hopes will be high he can storm the Dante meeting as well. Haggas has made a lightning start to the campaign, winning 28 races at 35 per cent, and his team remain in great order judging by what we saw at the weekend when Fastnet Tempest won the Victoria Cup before Rivet ran a belter in the French 2000 Guineas.

High among his list of hopefuls this week is Battered on the opening day. He was just that in the betting for a nursery at this track last October, just coming up short, and he bids to recoup some of those losses in the Conundrum HR Consulting Handicap with Ryan Moore booked on the back of a promising enough run at Lingfield.

Another one bound to be well-fancied is Al Neksh in the Sky Bet First Race Special Handicap on Wednesday, with Frankie Dettori doing the steering, while Victory Bond could run for the first time since being gelded in the Hambleton Handicap on Thursday. 

Cheveley Park’s On Her Toes is going to have strong form claims in the Listed race for fillies’ on Friday if she makes her seasonal reappearance, while Dal Harraild is a fascinating contender for the Yorkshire Cup on his first go at a trip beyond a mile and a half. He was considered a Melrose possible last year, but only now is his stamina tested beyond middle distances for the first time.

But the one I’m intrigued by the most is Tasleet in the Duke Of York Clipper Logistics Stakes on the opening day. He was fourth on debut at York and then won the valuable DBS Premier Yearling Stakes at the Ebor meeting later on in his juvenile campaign before solely running over seven furlongs in two starts at three.

He returned over that trip at Leicester last month, too, shaping as though he’s retained his ability despite being so lightly-raced over the last year or so. 

I like him dropping in trip and I like those first-time cheekpieces as well. Haggas has previous at York when it comes to dropping a horse from seven to six with first-time headgear on in a big sprint: see Sholaan, Bond Tyres Trophy, June 16 2012.

It’s a tough race for him, but he’s very interesting. As are the rest of the Haggas team. The Newmarket-based handler regularly hits the target at York every single year. The way his horses are running, it would be a surprise if that’s not the case again over the coming days.