Dante (horse)

Dante
Sire	Nearco
Grandsire	Pharos
Dam	Rosy Legend
Damsire	Dark Legend
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1942
Country	Great Britain
Colour	Brown
Breeder	Sir Eric Ohlson
Owner	Sir Eric Ohlson
Trainer	Matthew Peacock
Record	9: 8-1-0
Earnings	₤11,990
Major wins
Coventry Stakes (1944) Middle Park Stakes (1944) Derby Stakes (1945)
Honours
Dante Stakes at York Racecourse

Dante (1942–1956) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was the last horse trained in northern England to win the English Derby. In a racing career which lasted from the spring of 1944 until June 1945 he ran nine times and won eight races. He was the top-rated British two-year-old of 1944 when he was unbeaten in six races including the Coventry Stakes and the Middle Park Stakes. In 1945 he was beaten when favourite for the 2000 Guineas but won the Derby, despite being afflicted by an eye condition which eventually left him completely blind. He was retired to a successful stud career before dying in 1956.

Dante was a brown horse with a small white star and one white foot, bred and owned by Sir Eric Ohlson at Manor House Stud in Middleham in North Yorkshire. His dam, Rosy Legend won four races in her native France before being sent to England as a four-year-old. In 1941 she was covered by the stallion Nearco and conceived the foal who would become Dante. In Autumn she was offered for sale following the death of her owner, Lord Furness and was bought for 3,500 guineas by Ohlson. She later went on to produce Dante's full brother Sayajirao, who won the St. Leger Stakes in 1947.Nearco went on to be the Champion sire in 1947 and 1949, and one of the most important sires of the 20th century.

Dante was sent into training with Matthew Peacock at Middleham.

At age two, the colt went undefeated in six starts, and became "the idol of the North". In June he won the Coventry Stakes by four lengths. The race was run at Newmarket Racecourse instead of its customary venue of Royal Ascot because of wartime restrictions. In Autumn, he returned to Newmarket and won the Middle Park Stakes by two lengths. In the Free Handicap, a ranking of the year's best two-year-olds, Dante was rated the best British juvenile of 1944, one pound ahead of Court Martial.

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