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Ed Walker: the inside track on my Dante Festival team
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Fri 9 May 2025
Ed Walker is ready to bring a small but select team to York Racecourse for the three-day Dante Festival, which starts on Wednesday 14 May.
The Upper Lambourn-based trainer acknowledges it will be a “big week” for his Kingsdown Stables operation with prospective runners in stakes races on each day of the meeting.
Wednesday is set to see Miss Tonnerre line up in the Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes, staged over an extended mile and a quarter.
She shaped with a large amount of promise under jockey Tom Marquand when finishing fourth to subsequent 1000 Guineas heroine, Desert Flower, in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster last September.
The daughter of Night Of Thunder had one further race in 2024, taking fourth place in very testing ground in Deauville.
Walker said: “The filly did very little wrong last year – it was a huge run behind Desert Flower at Donny on only her second start. I said to Tom, ‘If she’s good enough, great. If she’s not, don’t give her too hard a time.’ And it was a seriously exciting run.
“She’s done exceptionally well through the winter – I think she’s a really exciting filly. And it was nice to see one of our better three-year-old fillies (American Gal) land a Listed race earlier in the week in France.
“I think this filly’s going to be very competitive over a mile and a quarter on a nice flat galloping track. I wouldn’t want the ground too quick, but it should just be lovely ground I think.”
In Walker’s mind, Miss Tonnerre is more likely to be a contender for the French Oaks (Prix de Diane) than line up for a Classic at Epsom. And, in the same vein, he’s given thought to the French Derby (Prix du Jockey Club) as a possible destination for his Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes entry, Mister Rizz.
Last weekend the Lope De Vega colt had just his second racecourse start when easily scoring in a mile and a quarter maiden at Doncaster. Now he’s being primed for a serious rise in class and a shot at Thursday’s £180,000 Group 2 on the Knavesmire.
Walker added: “It’s a big ask, a big step into the Dante, but he’s bred for the job, he was bought for the job. He’s finished second and first in his only two starts and we’re there to put him in against good horses and see how he gets on.
“We believe he belongs higher than another novice grade of race. And he wasn’t bought to be a handicapper, so we’ll see where we are.
“I think he’s more of a Jockey Club than a Derby horse. He’s got stacks of speed, hence I started him over a mile. I know you need speed to win a Derby, but I just feel he’s more of a 10-furlong horse than a 12-furlong horse.”
On Friday, Walker intends to run Troia in the Listed Sky Bet Fillies (registered as the Michael Seely Memorial Fillies Stakes). The daughter of Kingman will be stepping up to a mile after winning a seven-furlong novice contest at Catterick on her seasonal bow last month.
Walker, who won the Michael Seely with Primo Bacio in 2021, said: “Troia is two from three. Her only defeat was in the Oh So Sharp stakes and I think she’s quite an exciting filly. So, we’ve got a good team heading up there next week.
“I love York – York’s been good to me. We had an amazing day there last August with Celandine and Scenic winning. It’s a seriously hard track to have winners, but that’s what makes it more satisfying when you do.”
The Dante Festival gets underway at 2.10pm on Wednesday. The first race is the Sky Bet Race to the Ebor Jorvik Handicap.
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