Dante was the last northern-trained horse to win the Derby. His victory in 1945 was the first for the north since 1869.
He was bred at Middleham by Sir Eric Ohlson, who would have sold him but for the horse failing to meet his reserve at auction. He remained at Middleham, but was put into training with Matt Peacock. He won all six starts as a juvenile, including the Coventry and Middle Park Stakes – both run at Newmarket due to the war – which made him the leading two-year-old of that season. Next year he won a little race at Stockton before finishing a neck second in the 2,000 Guineas when evens favourite. He more than atoned for that by winning the Derby, which was still being run at Newmarket even thought he war was over. He never ran again; Peacock pulled him out of the St Leger due to injury, although as it turned out his main ailment was increasing blindness, which may have been a factor in his defeat in the Guineas when challenged on the wrong side.
Dante was by the Italian sire Nearco, which may explain his name. The original Dante (1265-1321) was an Italian writer, poet and philosopher who is as significant to the literature of that country as Shakespeare is to this. Nearco won all of his 14 races on the continent before the war and was one of the most important sires of the 20th century.
The Dante Stakes, for three-year-old colts over a mile and a quarter, was initiated at York’s May meeting in 1958. It has become the most significant Derby trial in Britain, with eleven winners going on to Epsom glory – most recently Desert Crown in 2022. The whole three-day fixture is now referred to as the Dante meeting.