St Leger Winners History
The St Leger Stakes is the oldest and the last of the five Classic races to be run in Britain each season.
It has a rich history dating back to 1776 and once held greater significance as the final leg of the Triple Crown after the 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby.
Leger Italiano was established in the late 19th century, and it was originally restricted to three-year-olds. The first winner to complete a Triple Crown (having previously won the Premio Parioli and the Derby Italiano) was Niccolo dell'Arca in 1941.The feat was subsequently achieved by Gladiolo in 1946 and Botticelli in 1954. Leger; year horse.Race held at Newmarket.Record time—3 min 1.6 sec; 1926 record tied in 1934. 1776: Allabaculia: 1777: Bourbon: 1778: Hollandaise: 1779: Tommy: 1780: Ruler: 1781: Serina: 1782: Imperatrix: 1783: Phenomenon: 1784: Omphale: 1785: Cowslip: 1786: Paragon: 1787: Spadille: 1788: Young Flora: 1789: Pewett: 1790: Ambidexter: 1791: Young Traveller: 1792: Tartar: 1793: Ninety.
- Leger is the original Classic, first run at Doncaster in 1776. It is quite daunting when at the course to see the board listing winners going back to the year of the American Revolution. Initially the race took place over two miles at Cantley Common, but in 1779 it moved to its present day home of Town Moor.
- Sir Anthony Saint Leger, Saint Leger also spelled Sentleger, (born c. 1496—died March 16, 1559, Ulcombe, Kent, Eng.), English lord deputy of Ireland from 1540 to 1548, 1550 to 1551, and 1553 to 1556. Considered by many historians to be the most able 16th-century English viceroy of Ireland, he maintained peace in that country by upholding the feudal privileges of the powerful native chieftains.
Nijinsky (1970) was the last horse to win all three races.
Her Majesty The Queen famously won the St Leger with the filly Dunfermline in 1977 while other notable winners include Never Say Die (1954), Oh So Sharp (1985) and Reference Point (1987).
Contents
St Leger History
- 7 Betting on the St Leger 2021
The Race
The St Leger takes place at Doncaster racecourse in September over one and three-quarter miles.
The going can ride soft this late in the season so the emphasis is on stamina.
It is a much stiffer test than the mile and a half Epsom Derby and is more suited to future Gold Cup horses.
Famous St Leger Winners & History
The St Leger Stakes was created as the first British Classic in 1776 and the first Derby winner to succeed here was Champion in 1800.
The distance was cut from two miles to a mile and three-quarters in 1813 with West Australian completing the English Triple Crown in 1853.
Rather like the Derby, it has leant its name to other Classic races around the world including the Irish St Leger and the St Leger Italiano.
Other Triple Crown winners include Ormonde (1886), Flying Fox (1899) and Gainsborough (1918).
Nijinsky became the fifteenth horse to win the Triple Crown in 1970 but the breeding industry has put the emphasis on speed over stamina in modern times.
The last horse to attempt the Triple Crown was Aidan O’Brien’s Camelot in 2012 but he was agonisingly beaten by Encke.
The St Leger Stakes is also the final leg of the Fillies’ Triple Crown after the 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks. Nine fillies have won all three races, the last of which was Sir Henry Cecil’s Oh So Sharp in 1985. Other notable winners of the fillies’ Triple Crown include Sceptre (1902), Pretty Polly (1904) and Sun Chariot (1942).
Derby winner Never Say Die won by a record margin of 12 lengths in 1954. The colt had been the first American-bred winner of the Epsom Classic when ridden to a 33-1 success by eighteen-year-old Lester Piggott. A lengthy ban incurred at Royal Ascot meant that Piggott was replaced by Charlie Smirke at Doncaster.
Piggott rode a total of eight St Leger winners and thirty British Classics. His last St Leger win came aboard Commanche Run for Luca Cumani in 1984. It was his 28th Classic which set a new record and only came about after he had replaced stable jockey Darrell McHargue.
Key St Leger Trials
St Leger France
The Great Voltigeur Stakes at York’s Ebor Festival is the most significant St Leger trial. Eight of the last eighteen winners took part in that race. Rule Of Law (2004), Lucarno (2007) and Logician (2019) won both races.
The Gordon Stakes at Goodwood has also produced St Leger winners including Millenary (2000), Sixties Icon (2006) and Conduit (2008).
St Leger Betting Trends
Favourites have a mixed recent record in the St Leger with four winners in the past twelve renewals. Logician (2019) returned odds-on at 5-6 while Leading Light (2013), Kingston Hill (2014) and Capri (2017) were all market leaders.
There have also been some shock results here, notably when 25-1 shot Encke thwarted Camelot’s Triple Crown bid in 2012. Harbour Law (2016) was a 22-1 outsider when winning for Laura Mongan and George Baker.
Ability to stay the distance is often an unknown factor here so shock results are always a possibility.
St Leger Stats
- Stamina is the key factor for the St Leger Stakes and thirteen of the last eighteen winners had winning form over eleven furlongs or further.
- Over half had never raced at this trip, although there are relatively few suitable trials.
- Almost all had finished in the first three on their latest outing with around half of them winning.
- All bar four of those eighteen had won a Group race.
- An official rating of 109 or higher is typically required to win this race.
Top Trainers and Jockeys of the St Leger Stakes
Bill Scott saddled a remarkable 16 St Leger winners between 1827 and 1862.
In the modern era, Aidan O’Brien and John Gosden have been the trainers to follow with six and five winners respectively.
Gosden won it for the first time with Shantou (1996) and has since struck with Lucarno (2007), Arctic Cosmos (2010), Masked Marvel (2011) and Logician (2019).
Logician was the latest of six winning St Leger rides for Frankie Dettori. They include Conduit (2008) who finally provided Sir Michael Stoute with a victory in the Doncaster Classic.
Stoute’s beaten runners here include Shergar in 1981 who failed to stay the trip when fourth to 28-1 shot Cut Above.
Betting on the St Leger 2021
Ante-post betting on the St Leger Stakes is available all year round but only really hots up after the Epsom Derby in June.
Trainers are often reluctant to commit to the season’s final Classic with more tempting opportunities over shorter distances. The picture becomes clearer after the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York. The St Leger is one race where some knowledge of pedigree is helpful as very few of the runners will have form over the distance.
Bookmakers usually have some tempting offers for new customers on the St Leger. They can sometimes offer the favourite at a special price for a limited stake. Existing customers can usually get enhanced place terms and best odds if there are 8 or more runners.
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Summary of The St Leger Stakes
The St Leger may have lost some of its gloss in terms of its appeal to breeders but it remains one of the highlights of the flat racing season.
While the Derby winner is unlikely to feature, there are always some exciting staying prospects who go on to feature in the Cup races.
Stradivarius finished a close third in his Classic year before going on to dominate the staying division with three successive Ascot Gold Cups.
St Leger Ky
Bondi Beach (Purple and White) and Simple Verse (Red) battle down the Doncaster straight.
The St Leger Stakes is one of the key races in the three flat season and is open to both colts and fillies. The race takes place in September every year at Doncaster and is the final leg of the English Triple Crown. The race is also the oldest British classic having established back in 1776. This article will look at the some of the greatest St Leger’s in history including when it was won by one of the greats in Nijinsky.
The illustrious British Triple Crown is a feat that not many horses have been able to achieve. The last was in 1970 and was achieved by the great Nijinsky. The horse went into the race having won his previous 10 races in a row so was expected to take all the beating. He travelled easily into the race and only had to be pushed out to win by another legend in jockey Lester Piggott to record his 11th straight win. This meant that Nijinsky had become the first horse in 55 years to win the Triple Crown and no horse since then has managed to achieve this. The nearest came in 2012 when the Aiden O’Brien trained Camelot came second in this race having already won the two previous classics.
Another star of the past to win this iconic race was Ormonde in 1886. Another winner of the triple crown in the process and won with ease by four lengths at a short price of 1/7. This shows the horse was clearly expected to win so was more of a watching brief for punters at the time. You can have your own horse racing bets on some of the key races coming up here. Ormonde was renowned as the ‘horse of the century’ at the time and finished his career having ran 16 times winning on every occasion.
One of the renowned trials for the St Leger is the Great Voltigeur stakes that takes place in august and is run at York. This race was named after another winner of the St Leger in Voltigeur. Voltigeur won the St Leger back in 1850 but is remembered for the strange circumstances in which this occurred. He went into the race well fancied having won the Derby previously and won the race although finishing in a dead heat with a horse called Russborough. The two camps at the time refused to share the winnings and therefore strangely the race was re run. Voltigeur this time made no error and won the race by a length.
St Leger Winners History Biography
The last to make the list of runners is certainly not one of the best winners in history but is one that will be remembered. In 2015, Simple verse won the St Leger under Andrea Atzeni after having a barging match down the straight with Bondi Beach. Simple Verse crossed the line in first but was disqualified after the race following a lengthy enquiry on course with the Bondi Beach team. However the Simple Verse team then appealed against the enquiry and the result was reversed awarding them the race in the process.