Doncaster St Leger Stakes Preview

St Leger Stakes 1m 6f (Group 1)

The feature race at Doncaster and the final Classic of this year's flat season comes in the form of the St Leger over 1 mile 6 furlongs and it's thrown up another really competitive renewal. It was won last year by outsider Harbour Law for Laura Mongan and it wouldn't be at all surprising to see another outsider go in again this Saturday.

There's a few that have been battling it out for favouritism here starting off with Capri for AP O'Brien, he comes here on the back of his win in the Irish Derby where he saw off Cracksman who has since come out and franked the form in some style with high key wins. Crystal Ocean is also up there for Sir Michael Stoute on the back of his emphatic victory at Goodwood and looks likely to get the trip, a repeat of that run would obviously see him there again. And just below these too in the market at around 5/1 is Defoe for Roger Varian. He's been a revelation this season and has been progressing really eyecatchingly, he took a Group 3 contest last time out at Newbury and looks like he has more to give here. A lot of money has also come for this horse in the past week.

There's two that I quite like here though at greater prices and the first of these is Stradivarius for John Gosden. He comes here off the back of his brilliant win in the Goodwood Cup when seeing off the top class stayer Big Orange in the process. There has been a few alarm bells throughout the last few days regarding him including whethere he'll handle the surface and none more so than Frankie Dettori deciding to ride stablemate Coronet over him. However i'm sticking to my guns though with him, I think he's progressed massively this year and i'm hoping he can go one more and make another bold bid here. He's trading at a best priced 9/1 which I feel is a really generous each way price.

The other one that I like here is Raheen House for Brian Meehan and Adam Kirby. He's a bit of an outsider in the field trading at a general 12/1 but he's a really tough sort which has shown throughout the duration of this year. He toughed it out to win a Group 3 last time out at Newmarket and he shouldn't have any issues getting the trip here. He's far from the classiest in the field but as said previously, he's as tough as they come.