The Foxes claims Dante Stakes to offer lowly Leicester chance of Derby joy

The sound of singing football fans – presumably at the King Power Stadium – which accompanied The Foxes back to the winner’s enclosure after the Dante Stakes here on Thursday did not feel entirely appropriate, given Leicester City’s current struggles to escape relegation from the Premier League.

Wherever the footballing Foxes are plying their trade next season, however, the club’s owners have a serious runner in next month’s Derby at Epsom, after a trial which mainly confirmed that this year’s Classic is one of the most open for years.

Last year’s Dante produced an emphatic winner in Desert Crown who went on to win the Derby as the 5-2 favourite. The first four home this time around were separated by a neck, one-and-a-quarter lengths and a dead heat, and along with The Foxes, the runner-up, White Birch, and possibly The Passenger, joint-third on only his second start, may also go to Epsom with a realistic each-way chance.

But The Foxes will be a fair bet to confirm Thursday’s form at least, as he switched off beautifully for Oisin Murphy before travelling into the race and carving out a lead in a style of a horse who could well improve over the extra quarter-mile at Epsom.

The Foxes was cut to around 8-1 for the Derby after Thursday’s success by most bookmakers – although Coral and Ladbrokes still offer a standout 16-1 - while White Birch is around 16-1 in a market now headed by Military Order, the Lingfield Derby Trial winner, at a top price of 4-1.

Andrew Balding, who trains The Foxes, has already seen his own team, Southampton, relegated to the Championship, but will hope for a much happier reason to remember 2023 on 3 June.

“We’ve gone close in the Derby a few times, but I think he’d be the best chance we’ve had