Doncaster St Leger Festival Day Three Preview

The first race of the day on day three from Doncaster is the Group Three Sceptre Stakes for fillies and mares over seven furlongs and with a decent field of runners we have two selections.

Our first runner is Farzeen for trainer Roger Varian who is going in search of a hat-trick in this contest after two smart performances in Class 5 events.

Even though she is massively stepping up in grade she looks a highly progressive animal and one to be taken seriously costing a lot of money as a yearling.

Roger Varian has another runner in the race we like the look of with Mot Juste who has been slightly suspect in some tough races of late but back in an easier looking Group Three should see her get back in the frame.

A horse we are very fond of is Charles Kingsley for trainer Mark Johnston in the Class 2 Mallard Handicap with the trainer always upping his horses in trip and this time we think it will pay off again.

The four year old colt won a nice Class 3 four starts ago over 1 mile 4 furlongs and ran again credibly at Goodwood over the same distance.

Johnston took him up to 1 mile 6f after that and it looked to be a big stamina test first time out but on the weekend he stayed on really well into fourth at Haydock in the Old Borough Cup and that sets a good standard in this one.

There is only one horse that needs talking about in the Group Two Doncaster Cup and that is Stradivarius with the further he goes the better he becomes.

The five year old is unbeaten in his last nine races and was last seen having a challenger pass him back in October 2017 on British Champions Day but John Gosden's superstar stayer is a surprise call up for this event.

Stradivarius in the last two seasons has scooped the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million twice and was sure not be seen again until Ascot where he would round off his season in style but the horse has come out of the Lonsdale Cup at York in fine fettle and is now looking to extend his unbeaten run to 10.

He has been the leading stayer in the division for close to three years and it would take a really poor performance to see him not notch another win to his tally.

Another Group Two on day three at Town Moor is the Flying Childers Stakes over five furlongs and we have gone with Joseph O'Brien's Irish raider Alligator Alley.

This will be the two year olds toughest test to date but he looks to be a highly progressive colt after showing his true worth on his last three outings.

He won nicely at Navan in a maiden and then headed to Goodwood where he saw plenty of trouble in running but still managed to grab a valuable second in a hot Group Three event.

He then went to the Ebor meeting, stepping up to six furlongs and again met trouble but found a way out and stayed on strongly to grab a Listed win and he has to be taken seriously here.

The Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes over seven furlongs sees five top class two year olds head to post in one of the most competitive races of the festival.

We have sided with Mark Johnston's Visinari having raced three times in his career winning the first at Newmarket on good to firm in good style.

He was third next time out in a Group Two at Newmarket in the same conditions not disgracing himself and then he went to Goodwood.

He finished fourth of seven runners in the Vintage Stakes where the form of that race has took off with Pinatubo, Positive and Lope Y Fernandez all turning out to be remarkable horses.

If living up to that form line he will be very tough to beat.

Coming towards the end of the eight race card and the Class 3 Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs sees only a small field of youngsters go to post and we have gone with Talap.

This Roger Varian trained two year old has only raced once during his short career and finished a decent fifth on debut at Ascot showing plenty of ability.

He will be much better off here for that experience and back in similar conditions he has a live chance and being a son of Kingman means he automatically warrants respect.

The penultimate race of the afternoon is a Class 2 Handicap over 6 1/2 furlongs and another Roger Varian horse on the day that we fancy is Flavius Titus

The four year old has been for the most part of this season very consistent winning on his seasonal debut at Newmarket and following that up two starts later with another nice win at the same track.

Last time out can be overlooked when never running his race in the Stewards Cup but if getting back to his early season form he has a big shout.

Light Up The Stars closes the show for us on the Friday in the Class 3 Classified Stakes and this colt for trainer Richard Hughes is fairly unexposed.

The three year old in his last three races has started to pick things up more with a win three starts ago at Chepstow and then two thirds at Sandown and Salisbury.

Good to firm seems to be his preferred conditions and he should get that in this race and having a classy pedigree out of Rip Van Winkle makes him even more appealing.