Betfred The Classic Bookmaker Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (St Leger Festival)

Updated: 442 Horse Racing

If you are a fan of horse racing trends then this preview of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap will be perfect for you! Not only do we look at the trends but we look at past winners as well as trainer and jockey records for the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap, a race run over 6½f at Doncaster during the St Leger Festival.

Betfred The Classic Bookmaker Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (St Leger Festival)
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2024 Betfred The Classic Bookmaker Handicap Preview

Introduced in 2009, this class two handicap is run during the St Leger Festival at Doncaster in September of each year, the race is run over six and a half furlongs and is open to runners aged three or older. The race is currently known as the 'Betfred "The Classic Bookmaker" Handicap'.

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Information:

If you are interested in other predictions at Doncaster then head over to the Doncaster tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal races during the Doncaster St Leger Festival section for links to these.

How competitive is the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 13 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2017 when the race had an over-round of 112%. The race in 2012 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 135%, whilst on average over the last 13 renewals of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap, the over-round has been 120%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £120 which is bet.

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Trends:

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 13 if you had followed the winner of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 13 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -4.75. Remember to use the racing predictions along with the information on this page to find a bet on the 2024 St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap.

Over the last 13 renewals, it was Badr Al Badoor, trained by James Fanshawe and ridden by Tom Queally who set the fastest winning time in the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap, the runner won the race in a time of 1:16.62 when winning the race in 2014. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Richard Fahey and jockey Paul Hanagan with Sir Reginald who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 1:20.73 in the 2013 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap over the last 13 renewals:

  1. Badr Al Badoor (1:16.62) in 2014
  2. Hoof It (1:16.72) in 2015
  3. Normandy Barriere (1:17.68) in 2016

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Past Winners

Here are the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2023
1:19.15
Baradar (IRE)
5yo 9-9 (12 of 12) 100/30F
William Buick
George Boughey (GB)
2022
1:18.73
Asjad (GB)
4yo 9-5 (8 of 13) 7/1
P J McDonald
James Horton (GB)
2021
1:19.60
Able Kane (GB)
4yo 8-11 (4 of 12) 9/2
Oisin Murphy
Rod Millman (GB)
2020
1:18.52
Tranchee (IRE)
4yo 8-8 (4 of 11) 7/2
Ray Dawson (5lbs)
David Loughnane (GB)
2019
1:18.09
Enjazaat (GB)
4yo 9-8 (7 of 8) 6/1
Jim Crowley
Owen Burrows (GB)
2018
1:18.91
Von Blucher (IRE)
5yo 8-8 (10 of 9) 25/1
Cam Hardie
Rebecca Menzies (GB)
2017
1:18.23
Amazour (IRE)
5yo 9-7 (4 of 7) 9/2
James Doyle
Ismail Mohammed (GB)
2016
1:17.68
Normandy Barriere (IRE)
4yo 8-13 (5 of 10) 11/4F
Andrea Atzeni
Nigel Tinkler (GB)
2015
1:16.72
Hoof It (GB)
8yo 8-13 (2 of 11) 6/1
Graham Gibbons
Michael Easterby (GB)
2014
1:16.62
Badr Al Badoor (IRE)
4yo 8-10 (4 of 10) 5/1
Tom Queally
James Fanshawe (GB)

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Trainer Statistics

Here are the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap trainer statistics over the last 13 renewals for trainers who have entries in the 2024 renewal, those not listed have not had a runner. (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
William Haggas2-1-1+8.00+5.63
George Boughey1-1-1+3.33+2.08
Charles Hills6-0-0-6.00-2.00
Richard Hannon3-0-1-3.00-1.50
Andrew Balding2-0-1-2.00+0.25
Hugo Palmer2-0-0-2.00-1.00
Michael Appleby2-0-1-2.00-1.28

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Jockey Statistics

Here are the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap jockey statistics over the last 13 renewals for jockeys who have entries in the 2024 renewal, those not listed have not had a runner. (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Silvestre De Sousa4-0-0-4.00-2.00
Sean Levey3-0-2-3.00-0.10
Cieren Fallon1-0-0-1.00-1.00
Daniel Muscutt1-0-0-1.00-1.00

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 7+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +0.75 is when runners were aged 4. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran over 5f on debut, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-26.

Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2023: Winner in 12 (11,10) [12 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 8 (1,7) [13 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 4 (8,11) [12 Runners]
  • 2020: Winner in 4 (8,6) [11 Runners]
  • 2019: Winner in 7 (2,3) [8 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap is Ascot, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Ascot last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 12 winners from a total of 140 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 8 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap, that stallion Acclamation has produced 2 winners (2019,2014).

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap despite multiple attempts:

  • Invincible Spirit (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Shamardal (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Lethal Force (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Pivotal (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 13 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Von Blucher in 2018, winning for Rebecca Menzies at odds of 25/1 under the guidance of Cam Hardie. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 13 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Before placing your bet on the 2024 St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap head over to see which other runners today are being backed by the best racing tipsters today.

St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Trend Shortlist

Doncaster will host the 2024 renewal of the St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap which will be run at 4:15 pm on Sunday 15th September 2024 and these are the runners who perform best based on the trends along with the trainer and jockey and their record in the race (Runs-Wins-Places Win LSP / EW LSP):

  • 15/15 Baradar (5/1)
    • George Boughey (1-1-1 +3.33 / +2.08)
    • Billy Loughnane (0-0-0 0.00 / 0.00)

Others: Orazio (14/15), Tacarib Bay (14/15), Brewing (13/15), Kings Lynn (13/15), Rhythm Master (13/15), Spangled Mac (13/15), Flaming Rib (12/15), Knebworth (11/15), Silver Samurai (10/15) and Baldomero (7/15).

*Trainer & Jockey numbers are Runs-Wins-Places Win LSP / EW LSP, Runners, Odds and Trends Passed/Failed correct at the time of posting (6:41 pm Friday 13th September 2024), if no odds were available at the time of posting then forecasted odds are used.

Other Principal races during the Doncaster St Leger Festival

Here is the schedule for the four-day St Leger Festival for races which we cover with blogs, each race will be linked to the race blog and detail last year's winner in the table below.

Thursday at St Leger Festival

There are a couple of Group 2's which take centre-stage on the opening day of the St Leger Festival, the £120k May Hill Stakes where the two-year-olds feature and then the £150k Park Hill Fillies Stakes where the older fillies compete.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:50
Carrie Red Fillies Nursery
Ghost Run (GB)
2yo - 5/1
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy
14:25
Doncaster 2yo Stakes
Hallasan (GB)
2yo - 15/2
Charlie Appleby
William Buick
15:00
May Hill Stakes
Desert Flower (IRE)
2yo - 1/1
Charlie Appleby
William Buick
15:35
Park Hill Stakes
Nakheel (FR)
3yo - 10/1
Owen Burrows
Jim Crowley
17:50
St Leger Festival Class 3 1m4f Handicap
Kildare Legend (IRE)
3yo - 100/30
James Ferguson
Daniel Muscutt

Friday at St Leger Festival

On Friday, the feature race of the day is the Group 2 Doncaster Cup which is part of the British Champion Series and carries a £140k purse. The Flying Childers Stakes is another race on Friday which carries a decent purse, £130k on offer for the two-year-olds.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:50
Mallard Handicap
Legendary Day (GB)
5yo - 12/1
Adrian Paul Keatley
Mark Winn
14:25
Flying Scotsman Stakes
Dancing Gemini (IRE)
2yo - 5/1
Roger Teal
Lewis Edmunds
15:00
Flying Childers Stakes
Big Evs (IRE)
2yo - 9/4
Michael Appleby
Tom Marquand
15:35
Doncaster Cup
Trueshan (FR)
7yo - 100/30
Alan King
Hollie Doyle

Saturday at St Leger Festival

The feature race of the festival, the St Leger takes place on Saturday, another race which is part of the British Champion Series, this Group 1 carries a purse of £700k. The three races before the St Leger all carry decent purses too, the Champagne Stakes (£150k), the Portland (£100k) and the Park Stakes (£140k).

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:50
Champagne Stakes
Iberian (IRE)
2yo - 3/1
Charles Hills
Tom Marquand
14:25
Portland Heritage Handicap
Annaf (IRE)
4yo - 7/1
Michael Appleby
Rossa Ryan
15:00
Park Stakes
Sandrine (GB)
4yo - 11/2
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy
15:40
St Leger
Continuous (JPN)
3yo - 3/1
A P O'Brien
Ryan Moore
16:15
PJ Towey Construction Handicap
La Yakel (GB)
4yo - 13/8
William Haggas
Tom Marquand
17:25
St Leger Festival Class 2 Mile Handicap
Liberty Lane (IRE)
3yo - 11/2
K R Burke
Clifford Lee

Sunday at St Leger Festival

Sunday is a bit more low-key, only one class one race which is the £85k Sceptre Stakes for the fillies over 7f and there are also a couple of decent handicaps carrying good purses of £70k and £65k.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:40
City of Doncaster Handicap
Poet Master (IRE)
3yo - 9/2
K R Burke
Sam James
15:15
Sceptre Stakes
Matilda Picotte (IRE)
3yo - 6/1
Kieran P Cotter
Oisin Murphy
16:15
St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap
Baradar (IRE)
5yo - 100/30
George Boughey
William Buick

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this St Leger Festival Class 2 Sprint Handicap Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for Flat Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster competition assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for flat racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful flat racing blogs for OLBG.

Other Principal Races at Doncaster Racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Doncaster racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in January

Races in March

Races in October

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