By Tony Calvin - 6 September 2026
WITH four live days of racing at Doncaster from Thursday to Sunday (they are pushing that particular envelope – in common with most other Flat Festivals, outside of Royal Ascot, it is probably a day too far in terms of the depth of the racing schedule) , I probably won’t bother with ante-post markets and will keep my powder dry, with the columns appearing from Tuesday.
And that means you will have to do your own Saturday double entries, sorry.
They are important though, so do them if you are punting ante-post.
But I’ll have a quick look at the St Leger on Monday afternoon when we get the confirmations.
At the moment (as of Sunday morning), we have 16 in that Classic.
Aidan O’Brien has seven of the 16 – and I hope he parks the pacemaker nonsense here.
With the 116-rated French Derby third Montreal the latest to be ridden sub-optimally from the front in the Prix Niel on Sunday, I sense punters are getting a touch weary of very classy pacemakers being sacrificed for the supposed greater good of the yard.
At best prices, and I appreciate most of you won’t be able to access some of these, Christmas Day is 7/4 favourite, followed by Enceladus at 11/4, Pierre Bonnard at 3s, Del Maro at 10s and the very interesting (if 96-rated) Hatteen and Highwayman at 16s.
It is 40s bar those six.
There are two other early-closers on the Saturday at Doncaster, the Champagne Stakes (29 entries) and Park Stakes (again, 29 entries). Both of those are now down to 13.
There is no ante-post betting on those two contests.
12 of the 16 have confirmed.
The four who didn’t were the 10/1 fourth favourite Del Maro, Montreal, Port Of Spain and Zia Zabel.
A home win gets even more unlikely…
I’ve said it a few times (and so have a few others…) but the top-tier of UK Racing would come crashing down if the Irish couldn’t travel for whatever reason – foot and mouth, Volcanic Ash, boredom and embarrassment of mopping up etc – and Exhibit A is the St Leger.
The O’Briens (Donnacha is letting the side down) are responsible for seven of the 12, and five of the first six in the betting, with only the 96-rated Hatteen getting a small look-in at 14s.
The first three in the betting – Christmas Day, Enceladus and Pierre Bonnard – are effectively taking out about 95pc of the book.
And Godolphin has no interest/representation yet again, with last weekend’s ante-post 10/1 fourth-favourite, Del Maro, declining the offer.
It looks like being good ground, with a touch of ease (see below) – you’ll probably be hearing a lot about “no excuses” ground this week.
I always think we shouldn’t be too blase about horses staying the 1m6f115yd trip.
After all, in most cases, it is 2f+ more than most of these have raced over before.
Don’t assume they will stay (although staying is relative to the opposition).
With Irish Champions Weekend at Leopardstown and the Curragh, who knows who will ride the Aidan horses?
Billy Loughnane has been booked for Joseph’s 11/4 poke Enceladus and Rossa Ryan’s name is alongside Alderman.
No others have been jocked up.
The only qualifier is Joseph’s second string Highwayman , who showed much improved form when winning over 1m6f at Leopardstown last time (Piazza San Marco third).
A couple of others have tried it, but didn’t improve for it, including Amelia Earhart, the only filly in the line-up, who was fifth of six in the Lillie Langtry.
Galiyan finished sixth in the 1m6f Queen’s Vase and second in the 1m5f Bahrain Trophy (Derby fifth Alderman last of 5 in the latter).
Derby sixth Rebel Rocker didn’t pull up any trees when fourth of five over a slightly extended 1m5f in the Geoffrey Freer.
Hatteen and Golden Story have won here; Action finished a 1/2 length second in the Group 1 Futurity here last season; and Amelia Earhart was a runner-up in a maiden here last September.
I would love if if Action was allowed to race on his own merits, either here or in the future.
But I sense he could be a busted flush now.
He split Item and Christmas Day in the Dante in May – form that could not have have worked out much better – but ever since then he has been a sorry sight in four subsequent starts, and he looked a horse in need of a long break at York last time.
He looked a beaten horse in more ways than one.
Other horses who have led include Golden Story, Hatteen and Piazza San Marco.
Even though we have the Derby winner in here, nothing should scare an up-and-comer or low-rated horses in Classic-winning terms.
Christmas Day (top fixed-odds price of 7/4) is only rated 118, 2lb ahead of stablemate Pierre Bonnard, 3s in a place.
That pair were a little underwhelming when placed behind the Arc-bound Maltese Cross in the Voltigeur (even though Christmas Day carried a 5lb penalty there, as did the winner), which is why people have latched on to the Joseph pair of Enceladus, 11/4 in a place, and Highwayman, 16s into 14s today.
They are the pair coming forward at a rate of knots, and it doesn’t take a massive leap of faith to see the former going off favourite.
Highwayman is even more intriguing. He only made his debut in May and showed nothing in his first three starts.
Nada.
If you said he would win a St Leger after his June 10th run, a true price would probably have been a million.
Elsewhere, if you forgave him his Voltigeur run last time, Bahrain Trophy runner-up Galiyan is half-interesting at 40s in a place.
Galiyan’s stablemate Hatteen is only rated 96 but I can see why he is 14s in a place and a general 12s, as that is clearly very strong Goodwood handicap form – and many thought he should have beaten the subsequent Melrose winner Infraad there, or at least got the race in the stewards’ room – and he has won here.
Good: Karl Burke, Andrew Balding, Faye Bramley
Fair: Joseph O’Brien, Richard Hannon (improved in last week if still light on winners – Grade 3 winner in Keeneland last night)
Fair/Moderate: Aidan O’Brien (fair/moderate for him, anyway – recency bias perhaps but had a Longchamp to forget on Sunday)
We only get conformations for Irish Champions Weekend on Tuesday but the below currently have options there.
They are: Action, Enceladus, Highwayman, Piazza San Marco, Pierre Bonnard and Amelia Earhart (also in at Doncaster on Thursday).
We now have the Irish weekend entries and these are still entered elsewhere: just Piazza San Marco.
I don’t see a need to get involved at the moment, at the current prices.
However, I’d maybe have Enceladus as a very narrow favourite (which he is not far off on a very lightly-traded, and incredibly illiquid, exchange market, to be fair).
Enceladus is still 11/4 in a place as at 6.19am on Tuesday morning but that won’t last.
He is now favourite on the exchange.
Christmas Day will drift from the general 7/4 and 13/8.
Pierre Bonnard, 3s fixed odds and a general 11/4, is friendless on Betfair in a somewhat sparce Betfair market (at 5.2).
GOING : Good to soft
GOING STICK : 6.1, Tuesday 7.45am
TUESDAY COURSE UPDATE: 3.6mm rain over the weekend. 1mm rain overnight Today – mainly dry through the day with the chance of showers tonight, 18C Wednesday – dry and bright with some sunny spells 18C Thursday – mainly dry with sunny spells, chance of showers in the evening, 20C Friday – mainly dry with sunny spells, 20C Saturday – mainly dry with sunny spells, chance of showers in the evening, 18C Sunday – mainly dry with some sunny spells, 21C Gentle breeze throughout
Watering: We have not watered the track since the 18th August – this was to aid recovery from our last meeting on the 15th August
Weather (8.23am Tuesday): light showers throughout the week, if anything bar 2.9mm Thursday (from 5pm); Rain on Saturday currently due after racing (3.6mm).
Ground chat It makes sense to work on the basis of borderline heavy at both…
On this week’s Pod: Intro: MGD Betting & Paul Jones’ Book (0-3mins) Weekend Racing Review:…
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