St Leger 2024 Tips: Betting Preview for Doncaster Classic - Saturday 14th September
The race that the week at Doncaster has been building towards is finally here: The St Leger of 2024! The maestro of Ballydoyle Aidan O'Brien has an incredibly strong hand with three of the top four in the betting coming from his yard, and Billy Grimshaw is with one of the Irish raiders...
Anyone with an inside line at Ballydoyle will be in hot demand one suspects this weekend, with the St Leger looking almost certain to be heading back across the Irish Sea to Aidan O'Brien's yard for an eighth time. O'Brien has favourite Illinois - who seems to be first choice on jockey bookings and the latest market vibes - as well as the second favourite and fourth favourite. The market leader has looked a big boat all season, which would lend itself to him being a Leger winner, however purely on price grounds he has to be taken on now he is around the 2/1 mark.
Ryan Moore is at Irish Champions Festival over in Leopardstown so Wayne Lordan is the man with the choice and he's plumped for Illinois over the other Ballydoyle raiders, but listening to O'Brien he is struggling to split his trio. The horse who could well dictate the finish of the race is O'Brien's apparent least likely winner according to the bookies at the time of writing, Grosvenor Square. He is a known front runner and bolted in on his trial at the Curragh by 20 (yes, twenty) lengths but Doncaster is not a track that tends to favour those who make the running and that must be a concern.
If he does blast off as is expected he will turn this race into a real slog, which will suit Illinois but should also really suit his sablemate and my pick to win this Classic JAN BRUEGHEL. He is double the price of Illinois and I really cannot see why. He is unbeaten in his three starts thus far and while he was workmanlike in winning the Gordon at Goodwood last time out, it was clear he was learning on the job. A tight track like Goodwood was never going to suit this strapping Galileo colt and he actually did well to win all things considered, and is sure to come on leaps and bounds now at his main aim of the season.
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Jan Brueghel has shown himself to be a bit idle but with Grosvenor Square almost sure to make this a test, things should play out perfectly. Sean Levey is a fine rider and a great booking, and although there are others in here with talent I do think Jan Brueghel has the highest ceiling and should be almost tied for favouritism with Illinois.
Outside of the Ballydoyle trio, You Got To Me was supplemented and is now the shortest price non Ballydoyle runner for Ralph Beckett. Stamina looks to be her forte but she is by no means slow and her progression this season has been fantastic to behold. Her Irish Oaks win was a fantastic win on away soil and coming second in the Yorkshire Oaks is a good prep for this. She will also get 3lbs from the colts and looks to be both bred and on the eye test to suit a step up in trip. She could be the biggest danger to Jan Brueghel.
David Menuisier is represented by Sunway and he brings in Irish Derby form, finishing just half a length of Los Angeles who was antepost favourite for this race and beat Illinois a similar distance. I'm not convinced this step up in trip is what Menuisier's raider wants as he hunts a first win since bagging a group 1 to wrap up his two year old campaign, but he is a likeable horse and if the pace is more sedate than expected he could get involved.
I'm also not convinced by the stamina of Deira Mile in here for Owen Burrows given how freely he has been running of late and this marked step up in trip so he was off the shortlist, while Wild Waves is a wild price and could well surprise a few given how well he did to nick fourth in the Melrose last time out. With more luck in running he could well have won there and would be nowhere near 66/1 for this, so if you want a big priced play I won't stop you. It's all aboard the Jan Brueghel express for me though!