Doncaster St Leger Festival Day One Preview

The first horse on our radar to kick off the St Leger festival at Doncaster on Wednesday is the Godolphin Owned Lazuli in the six furlongs Conditions Stakes.

This two year old colt has only raced once like many of the four strong field and showed plenty of ability on his debut at Newmarket when soaring home to land a Class 4.

That was William Buick's first ride back from injury and the rider is on board again today. The youngster should progress for that run and has the same conditions as his debut win.

Embolden for trainer Richard Fahey catches the eye in this contest after putting in some really nice performances during his short career and looks sure to go well in this Class 2 Nursery Handicap.

This youngster has raced three times with two good thirds and an impressive second last time out at Musselburgh in what looked a hot Class 4 contest.

He should come on for that run and looks well treated to make his Nursery debut with added cheekpieces for the first time which should get him focused.

The feature race of day one at Town Moor is the Listed Scarborough Stakes over five furlongs that sees plenty of frequently raced sprinters.

We have sided with the John Quinn trained El Astronaute that is dropping back in grade from his recent exploits and if running to his normal level will be tough to beat.

The six year olds highlights this season were back to back wins in Ireland at Cork and the at the Curragh in the Rockingham Handicap.

He has been outclassed in Group 1 and 2 races recently but back in a Listed contest makes him dangerous.

The Leger Legends Classified Stakes over a mile is quite a quirky affair with ex professional jockeys jumping back in the saddle for one time only.

With such a big field of runners we have two selections and the first is the Tim Easterby trained One To Go who has been ultra consistent this season only finishing outside the top three once in his last six races.

Two starts ago he won nicely at Beverley and then at the same track finished second in a similar event to this on Wednesday which makes him a player.

Our other fancy is The Richard Hannon trained Flying Dragon who has shown when dropped to a mile is highly competitive with two recent seconds on similar ground and should be in the mix.

The Class 2 Fillies Premier Handicap sees just four runners go to post and we like the look of the favourite for trainer John Gosden Litigious.

This three year old filly is the most unexposed horse in the field only racing three times during her career winning her first two in great style.

Last time out when stepping up to her hardest contest at Salisbury she finished a good third behind some smart runners but now on quicker ground it should bring the best out of her.

The final selection of the first day from Doncaster comes in the Class 2 Conditions Stakes over 1 mile 2 furlongs and Loxley for trainer Charlie Appleby looks tough to beat.

This four year old gelding has only raced once this year over in Meydan in the Group One Jebel Hatta contest where he finished a decent fifth and if fresh from the break it looks the best form on offer.

Before that on his last run in 2018 he was second in a Group Two over in France which again reads really well from a form perspective and coming down to to a Class 2 makes him hard to overlook.

NO BET