Betfred St Leger report, reaction and free video replay

The son of Justify showed great courage to hang on in the closing stages after he had tracked the pace set by Derby-winning stablemate Lambourn under Sean Levey.

They dominated the first two positions for much of the contest but it all changed in the home straight as another Ballydoyle horse, Stay True, got involved down the outside and Carmers made his challenge.

It turned into a war of attrition on ground that was changed to soft after showers throughout the afternoon and with two furlongs to go Rahiebb began to make inroads from the rear on the inside.

Ray Dawson picked off his rivals on the rail and soon he only had Scandinavia to reel in but with the post looming it was O'Brien's horse who won by a neck from the Roger Varian-trained runner.

Stay True finished third with Lambourn only fourth.

Speaking from Leopardstown O'Brien said: “He’s hardy and Tom gave him a great ride. He stays very well and we were a little worried when the ground went on the slow side but we’re over the moon. He's a typical Justify, very, very genuine and the drier the ground the better you’ll see him and I think there’s plenty more to come. Every week he’s getting better.

“He’s in the Melbourne Cup and that's a possibility. He has to go and get scanned to see if he's eligible but there’s every chance the lads might want to go down there with him.

“Lambourn will be better but ran an OK race. He’s had a tough season. Stay True ran a stormer and they’re good horses. He’s going to improve and ran a lovely race,

Kevin Buckley was representing the winning owners and said: "That was tremendous, three Legers on the bounce we couldn't be more happy. He's improving every time. As Tom said when he got off, he kept giving and trying for him all the way.

"Two Classic winners in England [for Justify] so early in his career is very important. Hopefully we'll look forward to seeing him the rest of the season and next year too."

Marquand, riding for O'Brien with Ryan Moore out injured with a broken leg, said: "He settled into a beautiful rhythm, a nice even tempo and it was tough for him, I was a little bit worried late on trying to fend off good horses, but it was a real show of his tenacity on that ground.

"He's a beautiful mover and I think it's fair to say he's still developing. It's special for me today on the back of Ryan's misfortune, luckily it was me on board today."

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