Doncaster St Leger Festival. Day three – Copybet
The World’s oldest Classic race, the St Leger Stakes, is the highlight of a seven-race card from Doncaster on Saturday.
The St Leger, first run in 1776, has attracted a strong field of seven runners, three of them trained by Aidan O’Brien, who bids for his ninth win in the race and his third in succession.
There’s some strong supporting action, including two Group 2s and the Portland Handicap.
Oxagon – Doncaster
John and Thady Gosden’s OXAGON showed the benefit of his Newmarket debut when routing his rivals at Sandown and he should not be underestimated now stepping up to Group 2 company in the Champagne Stakes.
The son of Frankel finished fifth after a slow start on her introduction at Newmarket at the start of July but broke on terms and proved a different proposition at the Esher track, pulling eight lengths clear of a subsequent Kempton novice winner.
He ran to a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 101 on that occasion, which leaves him with a bit to find with his chief market rival, Gewan, but he remains open to plenty more improvement and shouldn’t be at all inconvenienced by the expected ease underfoot.
Rosario – Doncaster
The Portland is every bit as competitive as you’d expect a 22-runner sprint handicap to be, but there’s a lot to like Roger Teal’s ROSARIO, who has been running better than the bare form figures imply of late.
Placed in Group races early in his career, including in the Group 2 Flying Childers at this St Leger Festival two years ago, he’s not quite as good these days, but has been acquitting himself well in handicap company for much of the season and did manage to win on soft ground at Goodwood in May.
He’s now 3lb below that success, rated 91, and should be capable of cashing in off that mark if breaking on terms, his last two defeats coming after slow starts, including a luckless fifth in the Shergar Cup following the late removal of a blindfold.
Square d’Alboni – Doncaster
Ralph Beckett rarely leaves a big Saturday meeting empty handed and it appears that his SQUARE D’ALBONI has been overlooked in the betting in the concluding 1m2f handicap, the three-year-old the rank outsider of the field at 16/1.
The son of Zarak won three of his four starts as a juvenile, rattling off a hat-trick following a modest introduction, including back-to-back novice victories at Epsom and Salisbury before ending the year with a wide-margin Listed win on heavy ground over 1m1f at Chantilly.
He’s had a rather underwhelming campaign thus far in 2025, but showed he retains plenty of ability when running to a RPR of 101 when fifth in the Listed Glasgow Stakes over 1m3f at Hamilton in June.
This trip of 1m2f is more suitable and he makes a belated handicap debut off a workable mark of 100.