St Leger Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (St Leger Festival)

2025 St Leger Preview

Britain's oldest 'classic', the St Leger, was first run in 1776 and is recognised as the last leg of the 'Triple Crown' comprising the 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby. Camelot in 2012 nearly became the first horse since Nijinsky in 1970 to complete the set having won the 2000 Guineas and Derby but had to settle with the runners-up finish here behind Encke.

Although Camelot nearly accomplished the Triple Crown in 2012, generally now it is very seldom a target for the season's early classic winners. From a breeder's point of view, St Leger winners going on to stallion duties may not have too much influence when it comes to breeding 'speed' and tend to become more prominent sires on the National Hunt scene. Recent examples would be Aidan O'Brien's Milan in 2001 and Brian Boru in 2003, both have sired numerous National Hunt winners.

The St Leger not only is the oldest classic but also is the longest in distance, running over one mile and six and a half furlongs and is open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It has been won by some true legends of the turf down the years, Never Say Die completed the Epsom Derby and St Leger double in 1954 and in the process recorded the still-standing longest-winning St Leger margin of 12 lengths.

St Paddy in 1960 was the first of Lester Piggott's eight St Leger victories which also included the last triple-crown winner Nijinsky in 1970. Lester recorded his final St Leger victory on Commanche Run for Luca Cumani, 24 years after his first success.

Other equine greats to grace the St Leger winners enclosure include Bustino (1974), Her Majesty's Dunfermline under Willie Carson in 1977, the brilliant filly Oh So Sharp for Steve Cauthen and Sir Henry Cecil in 1984, Henry's Reference Point, the last Epsom Derby winner to complete the double in 1987 and another top female User Friendly in 1992.

St Leger Information:

• St Leger Past Winners
• St Leger Trainer Statistics
• St Leger Jockey Statistics

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Doncaster tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? 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 market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2024 when the race had an over-round of 111%. The race in 2012 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 127%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the St Leger, the over-round has been 117%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £117 which is bet.

St Leger Trends:

• 2025 St Leger Trends
• St Leger Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the St Leger next time out then you would have backed a total of 3 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -6.42. Whilst we wait for the 2025 St Leger remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

Over the last 20 renewals, it was Sixties Icon, trained by Jeremy Noseda and ridden by Frankie Dettori who set the fastest winning time in the St Leger, the runner won the race in a time of 2:57.29 when winning the race in 2006. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer A P O'Brien and jockey Frankie Dettori with Scorpion who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 3:19.01 in the 2005 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run St Leger over the last 20 renewals:

1. Sixties Icon (2:57.29) in 2006
2. Logician (3:00.27) in 2019
3. Masked Marvel (3:00.44) in 2011

St Leger Past Winners

Here are the St Leger 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 are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the St Leger have been based:

• GB: 13 winners with an additional 26 placings from 126 runners
• IRE: 7 winners with an additional 11 placings from 66 runners
• FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

St Leger Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the St Leger over the last 20 renewals is A P O'Brien who has won the race six times with those six winners coming from Scorpion (2005), Leading Light (2013), Capri (2017), Kew Gardens (2018), Continuous (2023) and Jan Brueghel (2024). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the St Leger are John Gosden (4 wins) and Roger Varian (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the St Leger, Andrew Balding has sent a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top St Leger trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (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):

St Leger Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the St Leger over the last 20 renewals is Frankie Dettori who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Scorpion (2005), Sixties Icon (2006), Conduit (2008) and Logician (2019). Other jockeys who have recorded multiple wins in the St Leger are William Buick (3 wins), Ryan Moore (3 wins) and Andrea Atzeni (2 wins).

Here are some of the top St Leger jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (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):

St Leger Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +30.96 is when runners had 3 career places in Non-Handicap. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 1 win in the past year, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-59.

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

• 2024: Winner in 4 (7) [7 Runners]
• 2023: Winner in 2 (6,1) [9 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 5 (4,2) [9 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 4 (3,1) [10 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 12 (8,4) [11 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the St Leger is York, there has been a total number of 6 winners of this race who ran at York last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Goodwood, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Goodwood last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 178 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 15 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the St Leger:

• Galileo (4 Wins)
• Montjeu (3 Wins)
• Frankel (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the St Leger despite multiple attempts:

• Camelot (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Sea The Stars (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Sadlers Wells (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Encke in 2012, winning for Mahmood Al Zarooni at odds of 25/1 under the guidance of Mickael Barzalona. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 8 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2025 St Leger.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

• Great Yorkshire Chase

Races in March

• Grimthorpe Handicap Chase
• Lincoln Handicap
• Spring Mile

Races in October

• Doncaster Stakes
• Futurity Trophy
• Futurity Trophy Weekend 5f Handicap
• Futurity Trophy Weekend 6f Handicap