St Leger Betting Tips

The oldest of the three-year-old Classics is the St Leger, run at Doncaster at the end of every flat season. It was first run way back in 1776, so is closing in on its 250th anniversary. That makes it one of the longest ongoing sporting events in the world, ensuring inaugural winner Allabaculia has a unique place in racing history within this country.

For the 2024 St Leger renewal, yet another brand new crop of three-year-old colts and fillies do battle in the one Classic where the sexes combine year after year. Below are our experts’ tips for the race, run in 2024 on Saturday, 14th September.

2024 St Leger Tip

St Leger Favourites Runners & Form

There’s set to be a hugely competitive renewal of the 2024 St Leger and Aidan O’Brien has a strong team heading to Doncaster and spearheading the Ballydoyle team is likely to be Illinois, who was last seen finishing second to stablemate Los Angeles in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.

Jan Brueghel and Grosvenor Square could add notable depth to the O’Brien clan and have both got some strong staying form in the book. Sunway and Ancient Wisdom could be two of the leading challengers to O’Brien’s crown which he won last year with Continuous.

St Leger Racecourse 

Doncaster has been home to the St Leger for the entirety of the race’s storied existence. For the first 37 runnings of the race though, it was run over a full two miles, ensuring it was even more of a stamina test than it has been since 1813, when the race was reduced to the modern distance of 1m6f, making it the longest English Classic after the 1m4f Oaks and Derby.

The track makes use of a long straight before a gradual, gentle left-handed bend, a brief straightening up down the side, then a sharper turn towards a long home stretch to conclude. It can get incredibly testing when the ground soaks up any wet weather, so this is a true test, especially for younger horses, most of whom will still be at the start of longer careers.

Betting Strategies for the St Leger

The St Leger ensures bettors have numerous ways of playing the race. Here are just some forms of bets you can use if you want to look for a market beyond simply backing the winner.

Each Way

Although it is usually the least subscribed of the Classics, the St Leger has still drawn a field of eight or more runners for every renewal since 2016, ensuring that you will get paid out to three places or more for each-way purposes. This means that you always have a chance of finding an outsider to return a profit at a price.

Non Runner No Bet

You can start to place your bets now for the 2024 St Leger and punters can be more encouraged to do so due to Non Runner No Bet rules. This ensures that even if your horse does not get to the race, your bet will not settled as a loser, so you will get your stake back for free.

Without the Favourite

There have been two odds-on favourites who have won the St Leger since 2019, which does not always appeal to many punters. As such, you can look at “without the favourite” markets to boost your coffers instead, as though the price of your less obvious selection will be significantly shortened with the leading fancy taken out, you also have two chances of landing that winning bet.

Are There Any Specific St Leger Betting Offers?

The St Leger’s Classic status means lots of attention will be drawn to the race when it is run on Saturday, 14th September 2024. There will not be many betting offers attributed to the race ahead of time, but by the off, many bookmakers will be offering out free bets on the contest.

St Leger Trends & Historic Data

Despite nearly 250 years worth of history, the chances of anyone surpassing the leading trainer in the St Leger feels unlikely in the short term. Victorian era handler John Scott managed to send out the winner on no fewer than 16 occasions between 1827-1862, a truly staggering number.

For more recent betting related purposes, it has paid to remain towards the head of the market, as only Harbour Law at 22/1 in 2016 has gone off at a double-figure price among the winners in the last decade. Four favourites, including two at odds-on, have gone in in this period too.

St Leger Past Winners

Year	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Odds
2014	Kingston Hill	Roger Varian	Andrea Atzeni	9/4F
2015	Simple Verse	Ralph Beckett	Andrea Atzeni	8/1
2016	Harbour Law	Laura Mongan	George Baker	22/1
2017	Capri	Aidan O’Brien	Ryan Moore	3/1F
2018	Kew Gardens	Aidan O’Brien	Ryan Moore	3/1
2019	Logician	John Gosden	Frankie Dettori	5/6F
2020	Galileo Chrome	Joseph O’Brien	Tom Marquand	4/1
2021	Hurricane Lane	Charlie Appleby	William Buick	8/11F
2022	Eldar Eldarov	Roger Varian	David Egan	9/2
2023	Continuous	Aidan O’Brien	Ryan Moore	3/1