Nic Doggett takes a look at the St Leger at Doncaster and how the picture has changed since Scandinavia's win in the Goodwood Cup.
These days, the St Leger feels like the third child, perhaps conceived by accident five years after the first two. Not necessarily unwanted, but just on the fringes somewhat. It completes the sweep of Classics, but the race has lost some of its lustre over the years.
Gone are the spring days of the Guineas, the box tree-trimming sunshine of the Derby and Oaks, replaced instead by the threatening clouds of a September contest that feels more Carling Cup than FA Cup, more BDO than PDC.
But - like the now extinct British Darts Organisation - the St Leger was the original. It was the race to win when first conceived in 1776, just ahead of The Oaks (1779) and The Derby (1780), but several decades before the 2000 Guineas (1809) and the 1000 Guineas (1814).
Clearly racing has changed since then, but why has the St Leger’s star faded?
Breeding habits x racing schedules x prize money, you feel, have all played a significant part in the race’s apparent decline.
Nijinsky in 1970 was the last horse to complete the ‘Triple Crown’ of 2000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger wins, while Oh So Sharp landed the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger in 1985.
A foot abscess meant Kazzia couldn’t bid for history in 2002, while Sea The Stars’ trip to Longchamp for the 2009 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe rather than Doncaster was sealed as soon as he dropped back in distance for the Coral-Eclipse.
Camelot was the most notable in recent history to attempt to emulate Nijinsky, finding just party pooper Encke too strong in the 2012 renewal on Town Moor. Since then, his fellow Ballydoyle residents Minding (2016) and Love (2020) have won their first two Classics but failed to bid for a third.
Is it time to change the distances of the Derby and Oaks (to a mile and a quarter) and the St Leger (to a mile and a half) to ensure more horses try?
No, is the clear and obvious answer.
To win three Group 1 races from a mile to a mile and three quarters in the same three-year-old year is what separates the exceptional horses from the great ones.
Leger winners still not in fashion
While Guineas winners often quickly head to stud - usually trained by the men who help direct the large breeding operations, but if not then soon bought into by those behind the scenes with deep pockets – St Leger winners have often stayed in training to continue as ‘Cup horses’. Today’s three-year-old stayer is tomorrow’s Ascot Gold Cup winner, after all.
And, if not kept in training, they usually head to National Hunt stallion duties, deemed not quick enough to be commercially viable products for a continent that still priorities speed over stamina, precociousness over toughness. For recent examples, see 2017 winner Capri (who stands for just £2,500 at Willow Wood Farm), 2018 winner Kew Gardens (£3,000 at Batsford Stud) and 2019 winner Logician (£3,500 at Shade Oak Stud).
Even Hurricane Lane, who won the 2021 renewal and then ran a blinder when third in the Arc less than a month later, stands for just €5,000 at Grange Stud.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be this way.
Japan's leading sire in 2024 was Kizuna (for the first time), a Japanese Derby winner who won the Prix Niel before his fourth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He stayed in training and duly raced over as far as two miles in two renewals of the Tenno Sho. His sire Deep Impact went one place better in the Arc (before being disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance) and then won the Tenno Sho.
Kizuna was also the leading sire of two-year-olds in Japan for the second time in 2024, though it should be noted that he sits a fair way behind Epiphaneia – the Japanese St Leger winner who went on to win the Japan Cup – in this year’s current standings. Epiphaneia currently stands for 12,000,000 JPY (about £60,000) at Shadai Stallion Station.
It's hard to imagine a horse with his profile being given the same chance at stud here.
Scandinavia looks the obvious Leger option for O'Brien
In contrast to the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which permits geldings to run, the St Leger – like the Arc - does not. However, to validate this stance, it really could do with if not another Nijinsky, then another Camelot. Another trier.
Does this year have such a horse?
Alas, no.
But it does have two future ‘Cup horses’ in its midst, both trained by Ballydoyle conductor Aidan O’Brien.
The Sir Simon Rattle of ‘The Lads’ Philharmonic Breeding Orchestra, O’Brien has found himself with a ‘Cup horse’ interloper this term, with Scandinavia becoming just the second three-year-old to win the Goodwood Cup since Lucky Moon’s success in 1990.
He showed both tenacity and stamina to overhaul last year’s St Leger winner Illinois late on in Tuesday’s race and has now leapfrogged stablemate Lambourn to the head of the betting for Doncaster.
“You would imagine he looks a ready-made Leger horse.”
“He was always going to be an Irish Derby horse, a Leger horse.”
Along with dedications to the stable staff and references to ‘The Lads’, the Venn diagram of O’Brien post-race quotes covers both Scandinavia and Lambourn. Incidentally, the first was after Scandinavia’s Goodwood win, the second following Lambourn’s Derby success.
As you’d expect, Lambourn has since added the Curragh prize to his own le(d)ger. Perhaps further clues can be gleaned from when the microphone has replaced O'Brien's post-race telephone call, in this case following Lambourn’s win in Ireland.
“He could be a King George or an Arc type of horse. The way he races, I'd imagine he'd race that way regardless of the trip. You'd imagine he'd get further but he has lots of class."
Class. Sadly – for Town Moor racegoers and those who love the St Leger – the best of the best rarely head to Yorkshire in September, but Paris a month later. After all, a Derby winner who adds the Arc is a much more attractive stallion proposition than one who tags on the St Leger.
A classic awaits for Lambourn, but it’s surely one without a capital C at Longchamp.
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