Confirmed runners and riders for the Dante Stakes at York

Gambled-on Derby contender Desert Crown will begin his Classic campaign against eight rivals in the Dante Stakes (3.35) at York on Thursday.

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Classic hopeful was as big as 33-1 for the Derby before Guineas weekend but is now seen as a leading fancy, with most firms making him 6-1 second favourite.

Desert Crown was a comfortable winner on his debut, running out a five and half length victor, but has not been seen since.

Stoute has taken the Dante on six occasions and his last Derby winner, Workforce, finished second before romping home at Epsom.

Full racecard for Thursday's Dante Stakes at York

Another making his three-year-old debut is the James Ferguson-trained El Bodegon who was campaigned in pattern company in France as a juvenile, which culminated with winning the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud at the expense of the current Derby favourite Stone Age.

Aidan O'Brien's runner-up emphatically franked the form of that run after hacking up in the Leopardstown Derby Trial, so it will be interesting to see if Ferguson's runner has trained on and to see how much ability he possesses.

Ferguson said: "We made no secret about the fact that our plan A was to go to the Prix Greffulhe in France. We had a very, very minor setback and I didn't want to send him over unless he was 100 per cent.

"I decided we'd give ourselves an extra four days and run him in England. York does a wonderful job with the ground so it should be good. If it rains, happy days. If not, we'll just have to see how we get on."

James Ferguson's El Bodegon has beaten Stone Age in FranceCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

O'Brien has only declared one for this Derby Trial, Bluegrass, who made a good reappearance behind live Epsom contender Piz Badile in the Ballysax Stakes but doesn't seem to have the same potential as many others in the field.

John Gosden is no stranger to using this as a path to Derby success after doing so with Golden Horn and he – and son Thady – have a live contender in Magisterial.

The son of Frankel made all in a Leicester novice, quickening clear in the final two furlongs and cementing his place in the Classic reckoning, with his owner Bjorn Nielsen hopeful he can finish closer to the front than his unplaced favourite English King did.

Godolphin have been major players in the Classic Trials so far, but with Charlie Appleby providing the firepower, the contender this time is White Wolf for Saeed bin Suroor who won a Southwell mile novice on debut last month.

The rest of the nine runner field are Dark Moon Rising, Kingmax, Masekela and Royal Patronage, who was last seen finishing eighth in the 2,000 Guineas.

Confirmed runners and riders for the Dante Stakes

BluegrassRyan Moore
Dark Moon RisingKevin Stott
Desert CrownRichard Kingscote
El BodegonDaniel Muscutt
KingmaxRossa Ryan
MagisterialFrankie Dettori
MasekelaJason Watson
Royal PatronageJason Hart
White WolfDaniel Tudhope

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday