The Dante Festival is a three-day, midweek meeting staged at York Racecourse, in North Yorkshire, in mid-May. The Festival takes it name from its highlight, the Dante Stakes, which is a Group 2 contest run over an extended mile and a quarter and open to three-year-olds, of both sexes, staged on the second day.
The race, in turn, is named after Dante, who won the Derby in 1945 – run that year at Newmarket because of World War II – and was bred and trained in Middleham, less than 50 miles from the Knavesmire. The Dante Stakes is a major trial for the Derby, run at Epsom on the first Saturday in June and has, in fact, produced 11 winners of the second colts’ Classic, the most recent of which was Desert Crown in 2022.
The feature race aside, the Dante Festival also includes 20 other races, including four more Group races. On the opening Wednesday, highlights include the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes, run over six furlongs and open to horses aged three years and upwards, and the Group 3 Musidora Stakes, run over the same distance as the Dante Stakes, but open to three-year-old fillies; the latter is a leading trial for the second fillies’ Classic, the Oaks, at Epsom.
On Thursday, the Dante Stakes is preceded by the Middleton Fillies’ Stakes, run over the same distance, but open to fillies and mares aged four years and upwards. On the concluding Friday, older horses, aged four years and upwards, in the staying division have a chance to shine in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup, run over a mile and three-quarters. Champion stayer Stradivarius, who retired in 2022 with a record 18 European Group race victories to his name, won the Yorkshire Cup three times, in 2018, 2019 and 2022.