2024 St Leger Tips - O'Brien set for eighth win at Doncaster?

Jon Vine

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Last updated: 12 Sep 2024

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Jon Vine 12 Sep 2024

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Odds and betting predictions for the 2024 St Leger
This Classic takes place at Doncaster on Saturday 14th September
Jan Brueghel is my selection at 4/1

Expired

Doncaster races. (Getty)

The final Classic of the season takes place on the second Saturday in September, as a field of classy three-year-olds do battle in the St Leger. This 14-furlong contest has been won by many top quality three-year-olds and the betting for this year's renewal is looking wide open.

Here's our free guide to the 2024 St Leger, including our best betting tips.

2024 St Leger Odds

Name	Odds
Illinois	7/4
Jan Brueghel	4/1
Grosvenor Square	5/1
You Got To Me	11/2
Sunway	7/1
Bar	20/1

2024 St Leger Runners

While this may not be a vintage renewal of the St Leger, it's a fascinating contest to pick apart. No less because there are three tightly-matched Aidan O'Brien horses at the head of the betting and Ryan Moore won't be partnering with any of them.

The new favourite is Illinois, who won the Queen's Vase over the Leger distance at Royal Ascot and proved he had enough pace to push Irish Derby winner, Los Angeles to the line in the Great Voltigeur Stakes.

Jan Brueghel received an RPR of 116 for winning a messy Gordon Stakes - which is some achievement on just his third lifetime start. Then there's Grosvenor Square, who travels to Doncaster on the back of an incredible 20-length victory in the Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh, setting a fast time in the process.

The only Group One winner in Saturday's field is You Got To Me, who was supplemented into this Classic on Monday. Ralph Beckett's filly was produced perfectly by Hector Crouch when winning the Irish Oaks and comes into the St Leger on the back of a career-best effort in the Yorkshire Oaks.

Sunway was narrowly beaten by Los Angeles in the Irish Derby and David Menuisier's star steps up in trip after a fine fourth in the King George at Ascot. There's then a huge gap in the betting until we reach Deira Mile, who has still only won one novice race in his career, despite a couple of good efforts in Group One company.

Align The Stars has taken the handicap route to the St Leger, and will have to step his game up significantly to get involved. As will 95-rated Wild Waves, who does boast course-and-distance winning form from earlier in the season. The final runner is Euphoric, who has been used as a pacemaker by Aidan O'Brien on his last three starts and will likely be asked to make the running again.

jan brueghel — Jan Brueghel (left) sticks his neck out to beat Bellum Justum in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood. (Getty)

2024 St Leger Tips

With no significant rain forecast during the build-up, we should get perfect ground on St Leger day at Doncaster. Euphoric will go forward. Align The Stars and Deira Mile could be up with the pace, and Grosvenor Square has been electric under front-running tactics on his two most recent starts, so there will be no hiding places as far as stamina is concerned.

You Got To Me's form puts her bang in the picture and Ralph Beckett wouldn't have supplemented if she wasn't working well. However, fillies very rarely enjoy success in the St Leger. You Got To Me looked small compared to many of her rivals in the Yorkshire Oaks, so she'll be dwarfed by the majority of the field on Saturday. Physically, she could get outmuscled.

I'm not convinced that Sunway will see out the distance, given how hard the front-runners will likely go early on. The process of elimination, then, leaves me with the three Ballydoyle runners at the head of the market.

Front-running tactics have brought about a dramatic improvement in Grosvenor Square. Gavin Ryan almost pinched the Curragh Cup from the front in July and Ryan Moore was in the saddle as Aidan O'Brien's colt set a blistering time in the Irish St Leger Trial.

Jan Brueghel has done nothing but improve with each of his three starts. Aidan's colt did well to track down Trustyourinstinct and land the Group Three International Stakes, and fought on gamely to repel Bellum Justum in the Gordon Stakes. The form of both of those races has been boosted and Jan Brueghel is capable of another big step forward.

Then there's Illinois, who has less to prove than his two stablemates. Illinois has already won over this distance in the Queen's Vase and ran a blinder behind Los Angeles in the Great Voltigeur - a race that Aidan O'Brien has described as the best trial for the St Leger.

I'm finding it incredibly hard to split Aidan's three runners. All have their upsides. Wayne Lordan looks likely to remain on the side of Illinois, who he rode at York. Gavin Ryan was aboard Grosvenor Square in the Curragh Cup, so he could be asked to renew that partnership.

If someone like James Doyle, Tom Marquand or Sean Levey was booked to partner with Jan Brueghel, then he would be my final selection. To have reached Classic level after just three starts is a huge achievement and Aidan O'Brien has said that he thinks this monstrous son of Galileo has improved since that victory at Goodwood.

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Verdict

2024 St Leger

Nice ground around a flat, galloping track like Doncaster should be ideal for Jan Brueghel and there is stacks of stamina in his pedigree. Now that multiple Group One winner and Classic-winning jockey, Sean Levey has been confirmed in the saddle, he'll be my selection.

Jan Brueghel

2024 St Leger

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