St Leger: Date, history, famous winners & more

The St Leger is the longest of the British Classics at one-mile-six-and-a-half-furlongs and the Town Moor race serves as the ultimate stamina-test for the graduating three-year-old class.

Following on from the 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Oaks and Derby at Epsom, the St Leger is the final piece of the Classic jigsaw in the UK for the best three-year-old colts and fillies' around.

2025 St Leger date

This year’s St Leger Festival will take place from Thursday 11th September to Sunday 14th September 2024, with four days of high-class racing highlighted by the St Leger itself on the Saturday afternoon.

It is often said that 'The fastest horse wins the Guineas; the luckiest the Derby and the best horse wins the St Leger', but who will be victorious in the Doncaster showpiece this time around?

2025 St Leger venue

The St Leger Festival is staged at Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire. Racing at Doncaster dates back to the 16th century and it is therefore one of Britain's oldest tracks.

The left-handed, pear-shaped track is just under two miles in circumference, mostly flat and is affectionately known as Town Moor.

St Leger history

The St Leger is the oldest of Britain's five Classic races and can be traced back to 1776. The race as we know it now has been around since 1906, when it was closed to geldings.

The likes of Newmarket, York and Ayr have stepped in to fill breaches at various times when Doncaster has been unable to stage the race, mostly owing to redevelopment.

The biggest St Leger shock was Theodore at odds of 200/1 in 1822, while the widest-margin win came in 1954 as Never Say Die scored by 12 lengths.  

St Leger Festival key races

Day one includes the Group 2 May Hill Stakes over a mile as well as the Weatherbys Scientific, a top two-year-old Sales race with a prize pool of £300,000.

On the Friday, the action is spearheaded by the Group 2 Doncaster Cup for the stayers, alongside the Flying Scotsman Stakes and the Flying Childers Stakes.

Saturday is all about the big one, with St Leger completing Britain's Classic jigsaw for another season and boasting a prize pool of £700,000 in 2023. The Champagne Stakes and the Park Stakes are on the support bill alongside the famous Portland Handicap on St Leger Day at Doncaster.

For the first time in 2023, the St Leger Festival finished on a Sunday, with the inaugural St Leger Community Funday, which included the Leger Legends Charity Race for ex-professional jockeys, as well as the Group 3 Sceptre Fillies' Stakes.

St Leger most successful jockey

Bill Scott holds the record for the most St Leger wins with nine, scoring on Jack Spigot (1821), Memnon (1825), The Colonel (1828), Rowton (1829), Don John (1838), Charles the Twelfth (1839), Launcelot (1840), Satirist (1841), Sir Tatton Sykes (1846).

Frankie Dettori's win on Logician in 2019 was his sixth St Leger success and makes him the most prolific rider of his era.

St Leger most successful trainer

That accolade is in the possession of John Scott (brother of Bill) who amassed an incredible 16 wins and was dubbed 'The Wizard of the North'.

He saddled Matilda (1827), The Colonel (1828), Rowton (1829), Margrave (1832), Touchstone (1834), Don John (1838), Charles the Twelfth (1839), Launcelot (1840), Satirist (1841), The Baron (1845), Newminster (1851), West Australian (1853), Warlock (1856), Imperieuse (1857), Gamester (1859) and The Marquis (1862) to St Leger glory.

Aidan O'Brien (eight) and John Gosden (five) are among the most successful trainers in the modern era.

St Leger famous winners

Logician broke the track record in 2019 when maintaining his then unbeaten record to win for John Gosden and Frankie Dettori in a time of 3mins 00.27seconds.

The St Leger is also the final leg of the British Triple Crown for any horse that can win a Guineas race at Newmarket, the Oaks or Derby at Epsom and this Doncaster event.

The great Nijinsky in 1970 remains the most recent Triple Crown winner, though Camelot came closest in 2012 for Aidan O'Brien as he finished second to Encke at Doncaster after his wins at Newmarket and Epsom.

St Leger recent winners

Here are the winners of the St Leger since 2012.

Year	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
2012	Encke	Mickael Barzalona	Mahmood Al Zarooni
2013	Leading Light	Joseph O'Brien	Aidan O'Brien
2014	Kingston Hill	Andrea Atzeni	Roger Varian
2015	Simple Verse	Andrea Atzeni	Ralph Beckett
2016	Harbour Law	George Baker	Laura Mongan
2017	Capri	Ryan Moore	Aidan O'Brien
2018	Kew Gardens	Ryan Moore	Aidan O'Brien
2019	Logician	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden
2020	Galileo Chrome	Tom Marquand	Joseph O'Brien
2021	Hurricane Lane	William Buick	Charlie Appleby
2022	Eldar Eldarov	David Egan	Roger Varian
2023	Continuous	Ryan Moore	Aidan O'Brien
2024	Jan Brueghel	Sean Levey	Aidan O'Brien