Hi all,
Doncaster’s four day St Leger Festival gets underway on Thursday afternoon. It’s Ladies Day on day one. The highlights being the Betfred May Hill Stakes for juvenile fillies and the Betfred Park Hill Stakes, for older fillies and mares, which is run over the same course and distance as the St Leger.
The Group 2 Betfred Doncaster Cup is the feature race on Friday. Recent York winner Coltrane will bid for back to back wins in the race. The Group 2 Carlsberg Danish Pilsner Flying Childers Stakes is part of the undercard.
The Betfred St Leger and the final British Classic of the of the 2023 flat season. Just nine were left in the race at Monday’s final confirmation stage but this year’s renewal has an open look. The St Leger is the feature race of Saturday’s card which also contains the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, the Group 2 Park Stakes, and the competitive Portland Handicap.
This year’s festival ends on Sunday with what has been called the St Leger Community Funday. The headline race on the card is the Group 3 Sceptre Fillies’ Stakes (3.35) which also includes the Listed Scarbrough Stakes (4.10).
Doncaster is one of the fairest racecourses in the country. It’s a left handed, galloping track which dries out quickly.
Low numbers can be favoured in races on the straight mile when the ground is soft or heavy. But mostly there’s isn’t much in the way of a draw bias.
There was 21mm of rain at Doncaster on Tuesday which turned the going to soft all over. There could be 6mm of rain on Thursday, but Friday and Saturday should be mainly dry.
For each of the four days I will be going through the card and my betting advice can be found after each day’s main piece.
Continue reading “Victor’s Doncaster St Leger Festival Day 1 Preview – Thursday September 14th 2023”