The St Leger Festival at the famous Doncaster Racecourse is a highlight of the UK flat racing scene. It is the ultimate racing experience in Yorkshire, with thousands of racegoers annually pouring through the gates across the four-day event.
The headline act of the entire festival, and the reason that it exists, is the famous Classic, the St Leger. The race is steeped in history, with some top names such as Nijinksy, Commanche Run and Logician having managed to claim the title. Be sure to follow the fixtures with us at Tonybet!
Below, we look forward to the latest renewal of this fabulous race and the festival surrounding it.
Four days of horse racing excitement
The St Leger Festival is a four-day event, and 2024’s big kick-off will begin on Thursday 12th September. While the St Leger is the golden nugget event of the multi-day meeting, there are plenty of other top races supporting it across the festival.
The St Leger Festival never fails to attract the top trainers from both the UK and Ireland, and they will face off across a host of competitive fixtures. Each day of the festival has a theme, and here’s a look at what to expect.
Day One – Ladies’ Day
The party at the St Leger Festival starts with a bang as it’s Ladies’ Day on Thursday. This means that the day is as much about fashion as it is about racing. It’s a chance for racegoers to get glammed up for the glitzy show around the venue. Ladies’ Day is regarded as being Yorkshire’s biggest social occasion and for the very best dressed lady, as selected by the judges, there is a £1,000 cash prize.
Day Two – Doncaster Cup Day
The racing action heats up on Day 2 of the festival. While there is great anticipation about the St Leger still to come the following day, some of this is temporarily forgotten. The buzz around the racecourse on Friday is because of the Doncaster Cup, one of the most famous longer-distance stayers events in British racing, with Irish challengers always looking to get in on the mix.
Day Three – St Leger Day
This is the big one that everyone has been waiting for, on Saturday. It’s the day of the St Leger, which brings the curtain down on the Classics for the year. This Triple Crown showpiece event is so late into the flat season that everyone wants to get a look at it. This is a very special day at Doncaster that’s not to be missed.
Day Four – Sunday Funday
The action isn’t quite done at the St Leger Festival, as there is plenty more horse racing on the cards for Sunday. This is the day when the party atmosphere gets ramped up. Sunday is more of a family-friendly day out at the racecourse, with music and entertainment going on post-racing.
Doncaster Racecourse
Doncaster Racecourse is a historical racing venue that’s often regarded as being one of the best in Europe, not just the UK. The history of racing at Doncaster goes back to the 1600s, and in 1992 it became the first-ever venue in the UK to host racing on a Sunday, which was permitted on the grounds that there would be no betting at the course. This didn’t stop more than 20,000 attendees from showing up.
With heavy investment in the facilities and a massive five-storey grandstand, the modern Doncaster Racecourse is inviting and easy to get to by car. The racecourse also runs a Service Shuttle from the Doncaster Interchange train station for meetings.
The Doncaster Cup
The Doncaster Cup is a Group 2 race that is run at a distance of 2m 1f 197y. This is the oldest race of its kind and forms the final leg of the Stayers Triple Crown. The Stayers Triple Crown, which is different from the regular Triple Crown, is a big in-season challenge for horses at the longer ‘staying’ distances.
The Doncaster Cup completes the Stayers Triple Crown following on from the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup, and the race has been around since 1766.
Last year was a big occasion for the Doncaster Cup as Hollie Doyle, daughter of former Irish jockey Mark Doyle from Clonmel, became the first female winner of the race. She was on the back of the hugely popular Trueshan, who had gone off as third favourite behind Coltrane, ridden by Oisin Murphy, and Irish challenger Sweet William. Trueshan is expected to appear for a title defence this year in the Doncaster Cup.
Irish horses have done well in recent years, scoring a win in three of the last seven renewals of the famous staying contest. The last Irish trainer to win the race was Willie Mullins, who was delighted to see 2/1 favourite Thomas Hobson get home first in 2018 in a partnership with jockey Ryan Moore.
In the last 20 years of the Doncaster Cup, only three trainers have scored more than one victory, those being Andrew Balding, John Gosden and Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien, each of whom have scored two wins. Favourites in the betting market have historically done well, as seven of the last 10 Doncaster Cup renewals have been won by the favourite.
The St Leger Stakes
The St Leger is the final race of the British Classics, following on from the Epsom Derby and the 2000 Guineas to complete the Triple Crown. However, the St Leger stands as the first of the Classic races to be created, and it was inaugurated in 1776.
The St Leger is the original, but it has inspired other similar races such as the Irish St Leger, Prix Royal-Oak, the Deutsches St. Leger and the St Leger Italiano. As for the race name, the fixture was created by Major-General Anthony St Leger and, therefore, took on his name.
Major-General Anthony St Leger was an Irishman, born in Kildare, who went to England to settle near Doncaster where he married a Yorkshire woman, became an MP for Grimsby and started breeding horses.
Who can run the St Leger?
The St Leger is open to three-year-old colts and fillies only and is run at a distance of 1m 6 1/2 f. Just like all the Triple Crown classics, this is for emerging talents in their first full season as three-year-olds. Fillies get a 3lb weight allowance to compete. Horses of either sex can enter the St Leger, but geldings are excluded.
Who are the St Leger challengers in 2024?
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is likely to have a big hand in this year’s St Leger race as he looks to follow up his success with Continuous in last year’s edition. O’Brien has produced four St Leger winners in the last 12 editions, and Joseph O’Brien even chipped in with a win in 2020 with Galileo Chrome.
Irish trainers have been faring well in this contest, and Aiden O’Brien has a couple of 2024 St Leger contenders in the form of Illinois and the rapidly improving Jan Brueghel. He could also consider Grosvenor Square and Epsom Derby winner Los Angeles for the action.
The most interesting part of the Ballydoyle trainer’s strong crop of horses is seeing which one jockey Ryan Moore takes the ride with. As Moore is the principal jockey for O’Brien’s setup, this will give a good indicator of who the trainer is expecting to launch the boldest bid.
In six of the last seven renewals of the St Leger, the race favourite has finished inside the top two, with three taking a win. The last favourite to win the St Leger was Charlie Appleby’s Hurricane Lane in 2021. Five of the last dozen winners were favourites/joint-favourites.
Don’t miss these other Leger highlights!
The Doncaster Cup and the St Leger are the festival highlights, but there’s plenty of other top racing to catch in the September meeting. Here’s a quick look at some other feature races to look out for in the four-day festival.
- Day 1 – May Hill Stakes, Park Hill Fillies’ Stakes
- Day 2 – Flying Scotsman Stakes, Flying Childers Stakes
- Day 3 – Champagne Stakes, Park Stakes
- Day 4 – City of Doncaster Handicap, Sceptre Fillies’ Stakes
The Sunday Funday is a great experience as it lightens the mood but still also features some superb racing. The Leger Legends charity race is one of the highlights of the Sunday Funday action and it is a popular fixture that supports ex-professional jockeys.
If you are looking to place a bet on this year’s upcoming St Leger or any of the races at the famous Doncaster Festival, then Tonybet has every race covered. You can check out the latest ante-post odds and look through the updated markets on the day of a race. Our racecards have great racing insights and form to help out.
Tonybet’s user-friendly platform on mobile or website makes it easy to find St Leger Festival selections, all of which come with competitive odds. Bet on the Legendary St Leger with Tonybet today!
