This was followed by a second place in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Wings of Desire is a chestnut horse bred in England by his owner Carole, Lady Bamford.

Ten days later, with Havlin again in the saddle, started odds on favourite for a maiden over one and a half miles on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Wolverhampton Racecourse.

[5] On 12 May Wings of Desire was stepped up in class for the Group Two Dante Stakes (a major trial race for The Derby) over ten and a half furlongs at York Racecourse.

With Frankie Dettori taking over from Havlin the colt started at odds of 9/1 whilst the Michael Stoute-trained Midterm (winner of the Sandown Classic Trial) was made the 5/4 favourite.

Dettori restrained the colt towards the rear as the outsider Sea of Flames set a steady pace, but began to make progress early in the straight.

After being restrained at the rear of the field by Dettori he was switched to the outside in the straight but was unable to reach the leaders and finished fourth behind Harzand, US Army Ranger and Idaho.

Nigel Riley) & ThoroughBlood (Pty) Ltd (Fred Brons) and was cleared from quarantine in Johannesburg on Valentine's Day, 14 February 2018.