Friday 13th May 2022

Author: Jordan Yates (EvRacing_)

Dante Festival 2022

Welcome to my preview for concluding day of the Dante Meeting and I’ll be starting my preview off with the 2:25 which is a Listed Fillies’ Stakes over a mile. All eyes will be on impressive Ascot winner Grande Dame, however, I’ve sided with Perfect News at 7/2 for William Haggas and Tom Marquand. She made her seasonal reapparance when finishing fourth in the Nell Gwyn at Newmarket behind Guineas winner Cachet which is solid form to say the least. It’s likely that she’ll improve from that outing and looks set to tackle this distance.

The 3:00 is next and it’s a Class 2 Handicap that’s contested over a mile and two and a half furlongs. I think this revolves around the Tom Clover trained Rogue Bear who’s a 9/4 chance under Jack Mitchell. He signed off last season with two victories at Nottingham and has made a fine start to this campaign, finishing third in two of the most competitive handicaps of the season in the Lincoln at Doncaster and the Spring Cup at Newbury. He’s still on a competitive mark and looks to be a huge player here if handling the trip.

Moving onto the 3:35 we have the Yorkshire Cup which is a Group 2 contest for the stayers over a mile and six furlongs. Stradivarius is one of my favourite horses of probably all-time, and he’s five out five at York including two wins in this race back in 2018 & 2019, so he’s very much the one to beat. I’ve actually gone against him though, as I’ve sided with the Dermot Weld trained Search For A Song who’s currently trading at a best price of 3/1. Whilst Strad isn’t getting any younger or better, I think there could well be more improvement to come from this Irish raider and I think she’s got a big chance here. She made a fine seasonal reappearance when second behind the very smart Kyprios in a Listed race at Navan last month, and she’s also got course form having won a Listed race here at the Ebor Meeting in 2019.

The 4:10 is where I’ll be signing off which is a Class 3 Handicap that’s ridden over a mile and three furlongs. As eight-runners are currently set to go to post here, I’ve taken a each-way play on Speycaster here at 6/1 for Ralph Beckett and Rob Hornby. He was progressing nicely last year, signing off with a win at Chelmsford in November, before returning to the track at Nottingham in April where he finished third of nine after going off the 16/5 favourite. He’ll need to come forward from that if he’s to turn around the form with Al Qareem, but I think there’s considerable progression yet to come from him of which he could showcase here.