ITV Racing Tips: Saturday Selections on St Leger and Irish Champion Stakes Day

Billy Grimshaw returns with his latest ITV Racing tips on Saturday as the St Leger Festival reaches its climax at Doncaster.

Eight races will be shown live on ITV1 and STV from Doncaster, Chester and Leopardstown, with the St Leger and Group 1 Matron Stakes providing the headline action. Billy has gone through the full televised schedule and picked out his two strongest bets, starting with a previous winner of the Portland Handicap at Town Moor before siding with a proven Group 1 performer at a much bigger price at Leopardstown.

14:20 Doncaster - Betfred Portland Handicap

The Portland is exactly the sort of handicap where I don't particularly want to be taking a short price about anything, with 22 sprinters charging down Doncaster's straight course over the unusual distance of five and a half furlongs.

Getreadytorumble is understandably towards the head of the betting. He has been competing at a higher level for much of the season, is already a course winner and ran another very good race when second at Ascot last time. The problem is that he now has to carry 9st 11lb from a mark of 102 and is around 11/2 in a race where you could make a plausible case for half a dozen horses.

Twilight Calls is arguably even more interesting. He has been completely revitalised since joining Richard Spencer, winning at Sandown and Newmarket before landing a 23-runner handicap at Glorious Goodwood. The eight-year-old once looked good enough to become a genuine Group-class sprinter and he is clearly enjoying himself again, so I can completely understand why the market has latched onto him.

I just think there is a more obvious piece of Portland form staring us in the face.

ETERNAL SUNSHINE won this race 12 months ago at 12/1, beating Apollo One by half a length with Rosario a short head away in third. Jim Goldie's mare raced prominently before taking over inside the final furlong and, crucially, there was nothing remotely fluky about it. She was simply too good for a field containing several of the horses she meets again on Saturday.

Her form this summer suggests she is arriving in at least as good a condition this time around. She was second here at Doncaster in July, was beaten only a short head at Hamilton at the beginning of August and then went back there three weeks later to win over five furlongs on good to soft ground. Lauren Young made plenty of use of her and she kept finding when challenged, which is exactly the sort of attitude I want for the extra 143 yards of the Portland.

There is also a lovely handicapping angle. Eternal Sunshine won last year's renewal from a mark of 84 and races from 88 this time, but Young's five-pound claim effectively takes a chunk back off that rise. She therefore carries just 8st 11lb before the claim compared with the 9st 11lb allotted to Getreadytorumble.

Apollo One has fallen a long way in the weights since chasing her home last year and has to be respected, while Rosario comes here after winning at Sandown and is another with an obvious chance. The fact last year's first three are all back makes this renewal particularly interesting.

At around 7/1 to 8/1, though, I would rather side with a mare whose suitability for this very peculiar test does not have to be imagined. She is in form, handles some cut in the ground, has already run well at Doncaster this season and gets in towards the bottom of the weights with a useful apprentice taking another five pounds off.

In a race where plenty can go wrong, that combination of proven course form and current wellbeing looks worth paying for.

15:55 Leopardstown - Coolmore America 'Justify' Matron Stakes

Blue Bolt has done virtually nothing wrong this season and deserves her place at the head of the market.

Andrew Balding's four-year-old is four from four in 2026, progressing from Listed company to win the Duke of Cambridge Stakes before establishing herself as one of the leading older female milers around with victories in the Falmouth Stakes and Prix Rothschild. On both of those most recent occasions she got the better of Precise, beating her by two lengths at Newmarket before confirming the form again at Deauville.

It is therefore very easy to make the case for her at around 6/4. She has been the most consistent filly in the division this season and comes here at the top of her game.

The issue is simply whether I want to take that price in a nine-runner Group 1 containing several very good fillies and mares. I don't.

Precise is clearly the biggest danger on recent evidence, but we have now watched her try and fail to beat Blue Bolt twice. Aidan O'Brien even suggested following the Falmouth that his filly looked as though she might appreciate going further, so I am not convinced returning to another strongly run mile is suddenly going to reverse their form.

City Of Memphis is much more interesting at around 10/1. Paddy Twomey's filly has won all three starts this season, including a Group 3 here at Leopardstown and the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes over a mile at the Curragh. She could easily have more to offer after just five career starts and would not need to improve dramatically to get involved.

However, there is one horse at a similar sort of price whose claims require far less imagination.

FALLEN ANGEL is around 9/1 despite having won this exact race 12 months ago and subsequently beating Blue Bolt by two and a quarter lengths in the Sun Chariot at Newmarket. That completed a remarkable sequence of three consecutive Group 1 victories last season and took her overall tally at the highest level to five.

Admittedly, we haven't seen that same level of form in 2026. She failed to stay an extended mile and a quarter at York on her reappearance and was then turned over at odds-on when dropped into Listed company at Haydock last month.

I thought the latter run was much more encouraging than it perhaps looked, though.

Fallen Angel finished only a length and a half behind Calendar Girl in third, but the two horses who beat her were three-year-olds receiving seven pounds. She travelled prominently and was still fighting for second close home, so I certainly wouldn't view it as evidence that her ability has disappeared. It was also her first start for nearly three months following that failed experiment over further at York.

Leopardstown is a different proposition altogether. She finished second in this race as a three-year-old before winning it last season, and her record in Ireland is excellent. She clearly enjoys this track and a strongly run mile is exactly what she wants.

There is also an obvious piece of form which makes 9/1 particularly difficult for me to ignore. When Fallen Angel and Blue Bolt met in last year's Sun Chariot, Fallen Angel beat her decisively. Blue Bolt has obviously improved enormously since, whereas Fallen Angel is now five and may not quite be the mare she was 12 months ago, but the market has moved from Fallen Angel being demonstrably superior to her to Blue Bolt being roughly six times shorter in the space of a year.

That feels excessive.

Blue Bolt is the likeliest winner and I would not be remotely surprised to see her justify favouritism. At the prices, though, I'll take the proven course specialist who has already won this race, already beaten the favourite in a Group 1 and showed enough at Haydock last time to suggest the fire is still burning.

At around 9/1, she looks far too big to me.