The start of a new season on the Knavesmire as the traditional opening meeting, the Dante Festival began on Wednesday 11th May to Friday 13th May. An informative meeting in relation to Epsom, key trials were held at the meeting for the Epsom Oaks and Derby in the form of the Musidora Stakes and headline Dante Stakes. On Wednesday, Emily Upjohn lived up to her hype by streaking clear in the Musidora and becoming the hot favourite for the Oaks and on Thursday, Sir Michael Stoute's Desert Crown won in similarly impressive fashion in the Dante on just his second career start. Both Newmarket trained horses produced displays to shake up the Classic betting markets in the space of 24 hours. Elsewhere, the Michael Dods-trained Dakota Gold landed his sixth win at York on Wednesday to tie the record for most wins on the course with Copper Knight before the imperious Stradivarius joined them on six wins with a memorable performance in the Yorkshire Cup on the Friday. A hugely popular horse who has impressed with his longevity, he has carried all before him and became a three time Yorkshire Cup winner, recorded his eighteenth Group race win which is a new record and his twentieth career win in total. A horse of a lifetime who will be retired at the end of the season which made Friday's appearance at York probably his last ever in Yorkshire. It was an emotional sendoff from the Northern faithful and a pleasure to say I was there.