Dante Festival: The Horses are coming

RAHIEBB READY FOR BOODLES YORKSHIRE CUP

14th May

Roger Varian is hoping tomorrow’s £180,000 Boodles Yorkshire Cup will be the ideal launchpad for “exciting horse” Rahiebb’s 2026 campaign.

Last September the Frankel colt almost bagged a Classic, going down by just a neck in the St Leger at Doncaster.

The Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned Rahiebb also made the frame in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.

And it’s possible Rahiebb may return to the Royal Meeting next month as he is entered in the Gold Cup.

But for his first run of the season he is scheduled to tackle just short of a mile and six furlongs in Group 2 company on the Knavesmire

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Newmarket-based trainer Varian confirmed: “I’m intending to run Rahiebb in the Yorkshire Cup. He’s obviously an exciting horse to have in the camp this year.

“He had a largely progressive season last year, culminating in running a close second to Scandinavia in the St Leger.

“That was a career best for the horse and I’m very hopeful he can build on that this year. He’s got the profile of a horse who should improve with age.

“I’ve been delighted how he’s matured physically over the winter. The Yorkshire Cup’s a lovely place to get him started. The track and the trip will suit him and he’s versatile when it comes to ground conditions.

“He’s a big horse and it might be that he needs his first run back. But I anticipate him running very well and it should be a springboard to a good season ahead.

“We think stamina is his forte and we can dream about him developing into a Cup horse.”

Jockey Ray Dawson rides Rahiebb, who will line up against six rivals. The field includes last year’s King Edward VII Stakes hero Amiloc and Epic Poet, runner-up 12 months ago in the Boodles Yorkshire Cup.

Varian will also be represented in the Sky Bet Fillies’ Stakes (registered as the Michael Seely Memorial Fillies’ Stakes), a mile-long Listed race. He will saddle Botagoz, an unbeaten daughter of Mehmas who made a successful reappearance at Nottingham last month.

The other Listed race on the card is the Design Tonic Out Of This World Spaces At The Races EBF Marygate Fillies’ Stakes. Ten two-year-old speedsters will head to post for the five-furlong contest.

Friday’s action gets underway at 1.45pm with the Yorkshire Equine Practice Handicap.

CRISFORD TEAM REPRESENTED BY PROGRESSIVE MARE IN AL BASTI EQUIWORLD DUBAI MIDDLETON FILLIES’ STAKES

FIELD OF EIGHT FOR AL BASTI EQUIWORLD DUBAI DANTE STAKES

Training partnership Simon and Ed Crisford are on a fact-finding assignment with hat-trick seeker Fairy Glen in this Thursday’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies’ Stakes at York.

The five-year-old mare showed her versatility and class earlier this year in Dubai where she won back-to-back Group 2s at nine furlongs and two miles, respectively.

Fairy Glen has since returned to the Crisfords’ training base in Newmarket ahead of her summer campaign which begins with a race offering a record prize fund, the £165,000 Group 2 on the Knavesmire.

The extended mile and a quarter race has a star-studded feel and is headed by multiple Group 1 winner Fallen Angel.

Also in the five-strong field is course specialist See The Fire, who won last year’s running of the contest by no less than 12 lengths.

“It’s a high-quality renewal,” assessed Ed Crisford, who is looking forward to Fairy Glen’s return to action on British soil.

“This is her first run since the Gold Cup in Dubai. She improved massively over the winter.

“We want to run her to see how she gets on in Europe over this trip – but with a view that she could be stepping back up in trip in the future.

“York is a track we believe will suit her very well and it will be very interesting to see how she gets on in this company.

“She seems in super form and she’s done very well. The weather hasn’t been great here, hasn’t really warmed up properly yet. Nevertheless, she seems to have taken it all in her stride.

“We’ll learn a lot on Thursday where we’ll be going next, trip-wise and everything like that. Hopefully the ground is not too quick – it has been so dry everywhere.”

“She’s high quality. She has been running over a further distance but has got speed and we saw that in Dubai.”

Eight runners have been declared for the other Group 2 on the middle day of the festival, the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes.

The prestigious race has seen eleven previous winners land the Epsom Derby, the most recent being Desert Crown in 2022. Worth £180,000, has attracted runners from a clutch of powerhouse stables, including Christmas Day and Action from trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle base.

Joint-trainers John and Thady Gosden (who were responsible for Golden Horn the 2015 dual winner) will also have two in the race in the shape of unexposed pair Guildmaster and Wise Prince.

Likewise, Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby will be double-handed with Al Zanati and King’s Trail declared.

Kingsclere handler Andrew Balding will be represented by Item, winner of both his races at two, whilst Yorkshireman William Haggas sends Morshdi, successful in last month’s Feilden Stakes at Newmarket.

FANSHAWE AND EUSTACE TARGET GROUP 2 PRIZE AT YORK

KIND OF BLUE AND TIME FOR SANDALS

ON COURSE FOR GO LOCAL STORES MINSTER STAKES

Racing returns to York on Wednesday when a list of stars will be in action at the traditional curtain-raising, Dante Festival.

Among those set to line up is Kind Of Blue, who is being aimed at the Group 2 Go Local Stores Minster Stakes, the £165,000 sprint highlight of the opening seven-race card.

In autumn 2024 Kind Of Blue announced himself as a sprinter from the top drawer when, as a three-year-old, he won the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot.

And this spring the Blue Point entire is showing all the right signs on the Newmarket gallops after a less than straightforward 2025 campaign.

Trainer James Fanshawe said: “It’s gone much smoother than last year. We kept on getting interruptions in 2025 and we could never really get a clear run at him.

“The aim was to go to York last year and it didn’t happen. But touch wood, this year he’s had a nice clear run, is moving well, has been working well, so I’m very happy with him.

“I think he’s actually grown up a lot. In his training at home, he’s been great – he’s been really straightforward to train this year.

“His action is really good. That is what we’ve been concentrating on and keeping him moving well. So far, so good. With regard to his temperament, he just enjoys his work, he is an enthusiast – he might be a bit fresh first time out.

“It will be good to get him out. He did a nice bit of work on the Watered Gallop last week and when he has had a clear run with things, he’s a good colt. Hopefully, he will run well next week.”

Fellow Newmarket trainer, Harry Eustace, has already got a first run into Time For Sandals ahead of the six-furlong contest on the Knavesmire.

Last year’s Group 1 Commonwealth Cup heroine contested last month’s Abernant Stakes at Newmarket where she finished fifth of fourteen, beaten less than two lengths.

Eustace said: “I thought she went through the race as well as we could hope; probably just a little ring rusty, first run after a long time off.

“But she has come out of the race very well. She is mentally much sharper which is really what we were looking for. We know the ability is in there and I think everyone felt after Newmarket that six at York would be ideal.”

Time For Sandals has already shown a liking for course and distance, having been runner-up to Celandine in the 2024 Group 2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes.

Eustace added: “A fast six on a track like that hopefully plays to her strengths. Raceday conditions, if we could get quick ground, it would be ideal.”

Last week the Sands Of Mali filly worked for the first time since her Newmarket outing. Eustace plans to give her another routine piece of faster work this Saturday.

He said: “Once she is there, less is more with her. Everything we have seen is very positive. As long as we come through smoothly on Saturday, we are all roads to York next week.”

At today’s six-day entry point, a total of 17 horses remain in the Go Local Stores Minster Stakes.

The three-day Dante Festival runs from Wednesday and the opening race is the 1.45pm British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes.

SEA THE STORM SET FOR TATTERSALLS MUSIDORA STAKES

YORK SPECIALIST ELMONJED HOLDS ENTRY FOR GO LOCAL STORES MINSTER STAKES

Newmarket-based trainer William Haggas plans to head to his beloved York Racecourse on Wednesday for the opening card of the prestigious Dante Festival.

The proud Yorkshireman ended up Champion Trainer on the Knavesmire for 2025, when he just pipped Andrew Balding for the title. Haggas also finished top of that pile in 2017 and heads into the Blue Frog bedding backed contest with enthusiasm once again.

He said: “The fact we happened to be leading trainer last year was a bonus for us – it was great. I love going racing at York; all my staff do, all my owners do.”

The Dante Festival looks set to be a busy three days for Haggas’ team. On the first day, he intends to send Sea The Storm for the Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes.

The Sea The Stars filly, who joined his Somerville Lodge string for the 2026 season, notched up a second career success last month when scoring by a neck at Wetherby.

An extended mile-and-a-quarter assignment at York is the next step as connections seek to establish which races she may contest later in the season.

Haggas confirmed: “We’re going to run Sea The Storm. She won a novice race with a penalty at Wetherby, wasn’t very impressive but she has some good form.

“She won a maiden five lengths for David Menuisier and then went to Germany and was second in a Group race.

“So, she’s perfectly entitled. She’s had a run, stays nicely – I think that’s a good fit for her.

“She’s entered everywhere. She’s in the French Oaks as well, so we’ve got lots of ideas for her.”

On the same card Haggas could also be represented in the Go Local Stores Minster Stakes. He has three-time York winner, Elmonjed , entered in the record value Group 2 sprint, now worth £165,000.

Haggas said: “Elmonjed will run if the ground is quick. He’s good at York, but not good enough to win a race like that. But he does run the track very well and sometimes that can be a favourable thing.”

The three-day Dante Festival begins on Wednesday and the action will get underway with the 1.45pm British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes.