Jamie Lynch's guide: Betfred St Leger

This year marks the 250^th anniversary of the Betfred St Leger, and to think that a Derby winner has it in his sights says everything about the race’s ongoing pulling power, renewed by Aidan O’Brien, who is the driving force one again this year with a stack of entries at this stage, spearheaded by Christmas Day and Pierre Bonnard who have hunted in pairs all along. But Ballydoyle is by no means the only stable targeting Doncaster, as seen with a trainer-tiered look at the big race:  

O’BRIEN, A.

Focus less on a Derby winner running in the St Leger and more on what sort of Derby it was. Of Aidan O’Brien’s 12 Derby winners, CHRISTMAS DAY ranks below Lambourn on official ratings, sharing bottom spot on 118 with Anthony Van Dyck. Lambourn came to the St Leger last year because, frankly, he wasn’t good enough for the elite Group 1s at 1½m, and the same rule applies to Christmas Day, but there has always been something of the stayer about him, more so than Lambourn, while his stride frequency – as low as 2.07 strides per second for some of the Voltigeur at York – is enviable economy for a stayer and a very neat trick to be able to play at this particular party.  

The penalty he had to carry at York was one of the reasons that PIERRE BONNARD finished ahead of him for the first time from four match-ups, the pair by Camelot but from non-Coolmore families. Impressive and imposing to look at, Pierre Bonnard may still be improving, and his final furlong has been faster than Christmas Day’s in both the Irish Derby and the Voltigeur, hinting at greater depths of stamina.

The other Ballydoyle entrants for the St Leger are would-be influencers, there less for the race and more for the pace, a collective blunt instrument, to filter not finesse for the benefit of the primary pair, both out-and-out gallopers who are near to St Leger-winning standard already.

O’BRIEN, J.

O’Brien Senior’s dynamic Donny duo have a couple of lengths head start on Joseph’s ENCELADUS based on his rating of 112, but that mark may undersell the Gordon Stakes, as it has in the past: Jan Brueghel was 114 prior to his St Leger win, the same rating as Cystal Ocean and Highland Reel out of Goodwood, while Ulysses was just 111. More often than not, the Gordon acts as a graduation, and Enceladus is a fast learner. Besides, he’s just fast, relative to most 1½m horses. At Royal Ascot he topped 41 mph, a good bit quicker than either Christmas Day or Pierre Bonnard have recorded over that trip this year, and propelling that power is an average stride length of 27 feet.

His mechanics explain his progress as well as proposing more, and the blend of speed within his mix is a potential antidote to the Ballydoyle brand of hard running.

Stablemate HIGHWAYMAN has gone from meek, maiden miler to a middle-distance monster, and he relished the St Leger trip in overturning a squad of sexier rivals in the listed Vinnie Roe Stakes at Leopardstown. It’s still a far cry from a classic, however, and the Irish Cesarewitch off 101 would be a much more realistic option.

GODOLPHIN’S HEAVY LIFTER

DEL MARO is one of just three Charlie Appleby horses to have raced more than four times in 2026 (one of the others is the two-year-old Al Hudaiba), and they’ve included two Derby trials and, in a way, two St Leger trials, pipped by Limestone at Royal Ascot before beaten favourite in a messy Bahrain Trophy. He’s 10 lb shy of the Coolmore couple coming via the classics, likewise by Camelot, but the more you ask of Del Maro the more he gives, remembering the Queen’s Vase when he almost broke 12 seconds for the final furlong, which is really motoring for Ascot.

BALDING’S LONGSHOTS

One place ahead of Del Maro in the Bahrain Trophy was GALIYAN, who had gone off favourite for the Queen’s Vase, a faith in him that perpetuated through to the Great Voltigeur, only for him to run his worse race, perhaps due to the rain-softened ground at York. It’s not just his regard but who’s holding it, Andrew Balding the only one from Britain keeping up with Aidan O’Brien this year.

What price would Infraad be if he was a surprising supplement into the St Leger? The answer would be fourth-favourite and probably no bigger than 8-1, I’d say, and it’s a pertinent question because, in a tangential way, we’ve got Infraad by proxy in the shape of Andrew Balding’s HATTEEN, who was a head behind in a handicap at Goodwood, on the back of winning none other than the “St Leger Trial” at Doncaster, which took the rather less grandiose form of a novice event. But Hatteen is developing by the run and has already outstayed his pedigree.