Too Darn Hot out of Derby reckoning after Dante defeat to Telecaster

The betting market for next month’s Derby was transformed in the two and a half minutes it took to run York’s Dante Stakes, as Too Darn Hot, last year’s outstanding juvenile, surrendered his unbeaten record to Telecaster, who made his racing debut less than two months ago.

Too Darn Hot, the 9-2 second-favourite for the Derby on Thursday morning, will now miss the race and run instead at Royal Ascot, while Telecaster, who does not have an entry at Epsom, is a 5-1 chance (from 33-1) on the assumption his connections will pay an £85,000 supplementary fee.

The money will get Telecaster back into the Classic, as he was entered as a yearling but scratched by Hughie Morrison, his trainer, in mid-March as he had done little more than canter up the gallops. His progress since then has been remarkable, however, from a close second at Doncaster behind Bangkok – another Derby candidate – via a nine-length win at Windsor to victory in what has traditionally been Britain’s most significant Derby trial.

Telecaster made all the running to win at Windsor and Oisin Murphy, his jockey, settled him much closer to the strong pace set by Turgenev, a stable companion of Too Darn Hot, than the remainder of his opponents. It seemed that the pair had gone off too fast but as it transpired, Murphy had judged the fractions perfectly. Telecaster was still travelling smoothly as he headed Turgenev and Murphy asked him to quicken for home as Frankie Dettori, on Too Darn Hot, tried to eat into his advantage.

Too Darn Hot still had every chance with less than a furlong to run but Telecaster was not faltering and the even-money favourite could not find the extra required to get his head in front. He was a length adrift at the line with another four lengths back to Surfman in third and Japan, Aidan O’Brien’s only runner in the race, fourth.

The verdict on Too Darn Hot was immediate. “Frankie was very clear in the final furlong that it was lack of a race but also that his stamina was giving out,” Gosden said. “We said we were here for a trial today … and the answer is that we will go to Royal Ascot and run in the St James’s Palace Stakes.”

Morrison, though, has a little more thinking to do. “He’s obviously a pretty special horse,” the trainer said. “Three out, I thought we were going to crumble but he outstayed him and outfought him.

“I’ve had nothing like him before. Nothing I’ve got at home will go with him. Obviously [the Derby] is the way you’d like to think, but he’s had more than a racecourse gallop today.

“It’s a big call, he’s proven himself to be a very good horse … but it’s fast ground out there and that takes its toll as well. We’ll give it a few days and see how he is. Let’s hope he’s at the top table.”

Sir Dragonet, last week’s Chester Vase winner, shortened as favourite for the Derby following the news that Too Darn Hot will miss the race and is 11‑4 favourite to give O’Brien his seventh win in the Classic. Telecaster is 5‑1 and two more O’Brien-trained colts, Broome and Anthony Van Dyck, are next in the list at 5‑1 and 8‑1 respectively.