Spotlight on the 2017 St Leger

Spotlight on the St Leger

The St Leger Stakes is the final Classic of the season and takes place at Doncaster on Saturday 16th September. The race is confined to three-year-olds. In recent years the two races that have supplied the bulk of the winners have been the Great Voltigeur and the Gordon Stakes with 11 out of 16 winners since 2000 running in one or the other on their previous start. The Epsom Derby can also provide some interesting clues.

Here is a runner-by-runner guide to this year’s renewal on Town Moor.

Capri (A.O’Brien/R.Moore)

Capri is one of four horses that are trained by Aidan O'Brien in the race.

A son of Galileo, Capri took the scalp of Cracksman in the Irish Derby but missed his intended prep race in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last month after suffering a small setback.

O’Brien arrives at Doncaster in search of a fifth success in the world's oldest Classic.

Count Octave (A.Balding/O.Murphy)

Count Octave may be one of the outsiders but he appears to be in great form and was far from disgraced on his latest start at Goodwood.

He needs to make a big leap forward but he has stamina in abundance.

Crystal Ocean (Sir M.Stoute/J.Crowley)

Sir Michael Stoute’s colt emerged as a leading contender for the season’s final Classic when landing the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood last month.

After finishing third to the ill-fated Permian in both the Dante Stakes at York and the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, Crystal Ocean well and truly stepped up to the plate at Goodwood.

Crowley has notably teamed up with Stoute this season to win both the Eclipse at Sandown and the Juddmonte International at York. Can they make it a hat-trick together at Doncaster?

Defoe (R.Varian/A.Atzeni)

Defoe, carrying the silks of Sheikh Obaid Al Maktoum, has emerged as a very likely challenger for this end of season Classic.

The grey colt comes into the race having won all his four starts this season.

He won a handicap at Newbury in May went on to complete a four-timer by taking the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer last time out.

His first and last success were both on soft going which he is likely to experience on Saturday.

Douglas Macarthur (A.O’Brien/E.McNamara)

Ran well in the Epsom Derby but could not live with Cracksman last time out in the Great Voltigeur at York.

Capri is more convincing but it is always difficult to rule any horse out from this yard.

Raheen House (B.Meehan/A.Kirby)

Raheen House enhanced his St Leger credentials with victory in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket's July Festival.

The son of Sea The Stars has had a 65-day break and will enjoy the underfoot conditions.

Rekindling (J.O’Brien/D.O’Brien)

Joseph O'Brien's colt was disappointing in the Epsom Derby in early June, but bounced back to beat last year's Irish Leger hero Wicklow Brave in the Curragh Cup in July.

The son of High Chaparral was last seen chasing home Arc contender Order Of St George in the Irish Leger Trial at the Curragh.

This horse could give the O’Brien sons a fairytale win together.

Stradivarius (J.Gosden/J.Doyle)

Among those hoping for a drier forecast will be connections of Stradivarius, who was eased slightly in the betting this week based on the weather and the jockey bookings.

John Gosden is looking to win the St Leger for a fifth time with Stradivarius, who lowered the colours of Ascot Gold Cup hero Big Orange at Goodwood.

The going was very different that day however and it remains to be seen how the conditions pan out at Doncaster come the off on Saturday afternoon.

The Anvil (A.O’Brien/M.Hussey)

The Anvil has already been employed for pacemaking duties at Epsom and the Curragh so far this season so I think we already know what the outcome is for this one.

Venice Beach (A.O’Brien/J.Heffernan)

Venice Beach led home a 1-2-3 for trainer Aidan O'Brien at Chester back in the summer and could be one to include in any forecast and tricast permutations on this occasion too.

Second, albeit at a distance, behind Cracksman, in the Great Voltigeur at York and looks the stable second string behind Capri but is certainly worth an each-way interest.

Coronet (J.Gosden/L.Dettori)

Frankie Dettori has chosen to ride Coronet over better-fancied stablemate Stradivarius and that immediately had an impact on the betting on Thursday.

The grey daughter of Dubawi was seen last time finishing second to the yard's brilliant Enable in the Yorkshire Oaks and a big run is expected at Doncaster.

Winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, the St Leger has been on the Gosden radar for some time with this filly.

Verdict

A quality field of eleven stake their claim this year but in reality only a handful of them have all the necessary credentials to lift the esteemed trophy.

Defoe has gone from strength-to-strength this season and may have not stopped improving yet. His jockey Andrea Atzeni appears to have an affinity for the racecourse and his results at the track speak for themself.

Roger Varian boasts a 28% win strike rate at Doncaster in 2017 and already boasts a winner at this Festival meeting.

Selection: Defoe