2008 Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes

DONCASTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 8: Nasheej (No2) rides to victory in the Murphy's Fastflow May Hill Stakes during The Ladbrokes St Leger Festival at Doncaster Race Course on September 8, 2005 in Doncaster, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)The St Leger Stakes is the oldest of the five British Classic races. Dating back to 1776, it has a venerable history – attracting champion thoroughbred racers, including numerous horses owned by the British royals. The St Leger Stakes is also the final leg, after the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby, in the British Triple Crown – last won by Nijinsky in 1970.

The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat race for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, run over one mile, six furlongs and 132 yards. The first three St Leger races were run at Cantley Common, but from 1779 on, the race has been run at Doncaster Racecourse (originally the Town Moor). Colts carry nine stone and fillies carry eight stone, 11 pounds in the race.

See St Leger winners for details of all the horses, jockeys, trainers and owners who’ve won the St Leger Stakes.

2008 St Leger Stakes

The 2008 Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes Festival is due to run from 10 to 13 September, at Doncaster. Each day of the festival will see a total of seven top-notch races, culminating on Saturday 13 September with the 232nd running of the St Leger Stakes. See St Leger tickets for information about ticket prices and options.

Racing on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday will start at 2:05pm. The first race on Friday will be run at 1:35pm. Thursday is Ladies’ Day, with prizes for the best-dressed lady race-goers.

In addition to the prestigious St Leger Stakes, feature races in the Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes Festival include the:

  • St Leger 2yo Stakes and Altium Scarbrough Stakes, on the Festival Wednesday
  • Park Hill Stakes and May Hill Stakes (both Fillies’ Group 2), on the Festival Thursday
  • Ladbrokes Mallard Handicap, GNER Doncaster Cup (Group 2) and Polypipe Flying Childers Stakes (Group 2) on Friday
  • Urban-i Champagne Stakes (Group 2), Ladbrokes Portland Heritage Handicap and GNER Park Stakes (Group 2) on Saturday

For 2008, the prize fund for the St Leger Stakes is a whopping £500,000! For the full, four-day festival, total prize money in excess of £1.8 million is on offer.

St Leger Betting

The 2007 St Leger Stakes saw Lucarno, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Jimmy Fortune, thunder to victory ahead of Aidan O’Brien-trained Honolulu, who was the ante-post favourite.

Aidan O’Brien has won the St Leger Stakes a total of three times, in 2001, 2003 and 2005. For John Gosden, Lucarno’s win in 2007 represented a second St Leger win, after Shantou in 1996.

For the 2008 St Leger Stakes, watch out for three-year-olds trained by the likes of O’Brian and Gosden, as well as for any entries by Jeremy Noseda and Saeed bin Suroor – trainer for the famous Godolphin stables, with a total of four St Leger wins under his belt (most recently in 2004, with Rule Of Law).

Before placing your bets for the 2008 St Leger Stakes, see St Leger betting for betting tips and guidelines.

For live horse race betting we use William Hill, one of the world's largest betting companies.