Muscutt Snr will be monitoring son’s performance at York

Around 4.30pm on Thursday, Peter Muscutt will be glued to his TV set. The KwaZulu-Natal trainer will be eager to see how his son, Daniel, fares on Derby hope, Canberra Legend, in the Dante Stakes at York.

Daniel Muscutt — the all-weather champion this year — has quickly fitted into the premier league of racing in the UK and his opponents at the Yorkshire track will include established stars such as Frankie Dettori, William Buick and Oisin Murphy.

When he kicked off his career, young Muscutt, now 28, said: “I don't think I was ever going to do anything else [but be a jockey] — I had the bug from day one.”

The grade 2 Dante Stakes is regarded as an important trial for the Epsom Derby which this year will be sponsored for the first time by Betfred. Canberra Legend is a 14-1 chance for the mile and a half race but that price will shorten if the colt runs well on the Knavesmire.

Canberra Legend is trained by James Ferguson and the son of Australia cost 350,000 guineas as a yearling.

“It’s no secret that Mr Ho spent a lot of money to buy this horse and I was very grateful he decided to send the horse to me,” said Ferguson in an interview with Timeform.

“For us he’s very exciting. He’s done his final piece of work and hopefully we can get to York in one piece and enjoy the day. He’s a joy to train and — like a lot of Australia’s progeny — he has a very good mind,” he added.

Charlie Appleby will saddle Flying Honours in the Dante and pundits will be keen to see how the colt fares after last weekend’s Lingfield Derby Trial victory by his stablemate, Military Order.

Bookmakers were impressed by the win of the full-brother to Derby winner, Adajar, and Military Order is the ruling 4-1 favourite for next month’s Derby.

William Buick was full of praise for the Lingfield winner. He said: “He’s won very well and shown plenty. He’s a very straightforward, intelligent and honest horse and showed some qualities that you need at Epsom.

“At this stage of his career, he’s very much like his brother Adajar. You always learn plenty in these races and I think we’ve learnt a lot.

“A race around a track like Lingfield doesn’t really play to his strengths. But as soon as I was in position, he was there for me. He’s come through this test great and did everything right. It’s another tick in the box for him,” said Buick.

In the Dante, Dettori has been booked to partner John Gosden’s runner, Epictetus, and the colt heads the market at 3-1. Flying Honours is on offer at the same price.

It looks significant that Sir Michael Stoute has supplemented Passenger for the race — he will be ridden by Richard Kingscote and is priced at 4-1. Next in the betting is The Foxes with Oisin Murphy booked to ride Andrew Balding’s three-year-old.

Aidan O'Brien always has a strong band of three-year-olds and the Irish trainer could run his unbeaten colt, Continuous. The Dante is off at 4.35pm (SA time) on Thursday.