St Leger
Doncaster St. Leger festival: All you need to know
Doncaster’s St Leger Festival features numerous Group races and competitive action over four days, culminating in the final Classic of the season, the St Leger itself.
If you’ve found yourself wondering ‘what is the Doncaster St Leger festival?’, then this is the essential and all you need to know guide for one of the most important meetings of the Flat racing season.
What date is the St Leger 2024?
The St Leger festival is scheduled for four days starting on Thursday 12th September 2024 and finishing on Sunday 15th September 2024. The big race, the St Leger Stakes, will take place on Saturday 14th September 2024.
The latest horse racing betting odds at William Hill
Previous St Leger Winners
The St Leger holds the title as being the oldest of Britain’s five Classic races, first being run in 1776, four years earlier than the Epsom Derby.
It is contested over 1m6f at Doncaster and forms the final leg of the Triple Crown, with the earlier legs being the 2000 Guineas and the Derby.
It is usually won by a strong staying horse, and there have been many great champions crowned in the past, including Nijinsky, Dunfermline and Oh So Sharp.
Here is the full list of winners.
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Continuous | Aidan O'Brien | Ryan Moore |
| 2022 | Eldar Eldarov | Roger Varian | David Egan |
| 2021 | Hurricane Lane | Charlie Appleby | William Buick |
| 2020 | Galileo Chrome | Joseph O'Brien | Tom Marquand |
| 2019 | Logician | John Gosden | Frankie Dettori |
| 2018 | Kew Gardens | Aidan O'Brien | Ryan Moore |
| 2017 | Capri | Aidan O'Brien | Ryan Moore |
| 2016 | Harbour Law | Laura Mongan | George Baker |
| 2015 | Simple Verse | Ralph Beckett | Andrea Atzeni |
| 2014 | Kingston Hill | Roger Varian | Andrea Atzeni |
| 2013 | Leading Light | Aidan O'Brien | Joseph O'Brien |
The Doncaster Cup
While the St Leger is the oldest Classic, the oldest race run at the festival, is the Doncaster Cup.
The event was first established in 1766, and it was originally called the Doncaster Gold Cup. It pre-dates Doncaster’s St. Leger Stakes by ten years, and is Doncaster’s oldest surviving race. It was only in 1776 though, when it was moved to its current location of Doncaster racecourse.
During the early part of its history the race was contested over 4 miles. It was shortened to 2 miles and 5 furlongs in 1825 and reduced to 2 miles and 2 furlongs in 1891. It was cut by another furlong in 1908 and restored to its previous length in 1927.
For a period, the Doncaster Cup was classed as a Group 3 but then was promoted to Group 2 in 2003.
The Doncaster Cup is one of Britain’s leading events for stayers. It is the final leg of the Stayers’ Triple Crown, preceded by the Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup. The Doncaster Cup is the only British race where the winner has ballot-exempt entry to the Melbourne Cup.
The race is currently held on the second day of Doncaster’s four-day St. Leger Festival.
Staying legend Stradivarius has etched his name onto the Doncaster Cup twice in recent years (2019 and 2021) and his adoring public will have missed him in the 2023 contest, who was won by another fans’ favourite in Trueshan.
What to wear at the Races?
If the spectacular racing on offer isn’t enough to get you excited, then the fashion almost certainly will. Many racegoers would like to dress up and enjoy the day at Doncaster in style regardless of rules and the women will be vying to win the competition for Best Dressed Lady.
Latest Odds for the St Leger
It’s an Aidan O’Brien monopoly in the G1 St Leger Stakes market this year, he has the current market leader in Illinois, the winner of the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot. A proven stayer over this distance, he’s expected to put in another good performance.
Aidan O’Brien’s Jan Brueghel is second favourite, an unbeaten G3 Gordon Stakes winner at Goodwood. This is his first try at 1m6f and he looks like he will relish the step up in trip.
Third in the betting is Grosvenor Square, again of Aidan O’Brien. Perhaps the most intriguing runner in the field, after being stepped up to the 1m6f trip he has just been touched off by G1 winner Tower of London before completing a 20-length rout of the G3 Irish St Leger trial. Aidan O’Brien has trained seven winners of this race and could we be expected to see another this year.
The Classic winner You Got To Me for Ralph Beckett has been supplemented for the contest. The Irish Oaks winner nearly completed a G1 double before just being touched off in the Yorkshire Oaks by Content, after doing her best work late on, which could see the step up to the extra distance suit.
Check out all the latest horse racing betting odds at William Hill
