The British Horseracing Authority said on Thursday there was “no immediate danger” to the Group One status of the Ladbrokes St Leger, the world’s oldest Classic, even though it is possible it could fall below the European Pattern Committee’s rating benchmark for top-class races after this year’s renewal at Doncaster on 12 September.
For a race to achieve Group One status, the average end-of-season rating of the first four horses needs to be 115 or more over a three-year period. Between 2012 and 2014, the average rating of the first four finishers in the St Leger was 116.42 but the memorable renewal in 2012, in which the Derby winner Camelot was denied the Triple Crown by Encke, will drop out of the calculation from this season.
Last season’s St Leger was won by Kingston Hill, the Derby runner-up, who achieved a rating of 120 at the end of the year and was a Group One winner at two in the Racing Post Trophy. However, he was followed home by Romsdal (115), Snow Sky (111) and Windshear (110), to give an average mark of 114.5.
Only 12 horses are still entered for the 2015 St Leger after the latest declaration stage, six of which are trained by Aidan O’Brien. The highest-rated entry from a British stable is Storm The Stars (114), who was third in the Derby behind Golden Horn and Jack Hobbs. There are no previous Group One winners in the field, although there is a supplementary entry stage six days before the race, and Storm The Stars and Sumbal, who finished fifth in the French Derby behind New Bay, are the only entries with a Group Two victory on their record.
The Leger is already competing for attention on 12 September with the first card of Ireland’s Champions Weekend fixture at Leopardstown, when Golden Horn, the Derby winner, could line up against Gleneagles, who took the 2,000 Guineas in May. While the final Classic may not be the most anticipated race of the day, however, its Group One status seems secure for the moment.
“There is no imminent danger,” Robin Mounsey, the BHA’s spokesman, said. “This year we will lose that good 2012 renewal and so, in theory, an exceptionally poor year could slip it below the 115 – but it would have to be pretty bad.
“Even if it did, Group One and Classic races for three-year-olds only have specific conditions relating to their being downgraded. If the average race rating slips 2lb below the parameter then all that happens initially is that a warning letter is sent. If it remains 2lb below for two years then the European Pattern Committee takes a majority vote on whether it should be downgraded.”
Tony McCoy, the champion National Hunt jockey for 20 years before his retirement in April, has added to the interest in his one-off return to race-riding in Doncaster’s Leger Legends Classified Stakes race on 9 September by agreeing to autograph and auction the saddle he uses in the race.
The saddle will be offered for auction at a lunch before the charity event, which raises money for the Injured Jockeys Fund’s Jack Berry House and the Northern Racing College, and will be described as “likely to be the last saddle McCoy uses in a race under Rules”.
Arabian Queen, who ended Golden Horn’s unbeaten record when successful in last week’s International Stakes at York at 50-1, could miss the Irish Champion Stakes and instead line up against Treve, the winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for the past two years, in the Prix Vermeille the following day.
David Elsworth, Arabian Queen’s trainer, said on Thursday that the step up to a mile and a half in the Vermeille is being carefully considered.
“Plans are fluid at the moment,” Elsworth said. “She could be supplemented for the Irish Champion Stakes but we will make that decision nearer the time. The decision will be made on what the ground is. A lot of the fancied runners for Ireland prefer faster ground, where we prefer a bit of give.
“We entered her in the Vermeille two days ago. I have not seen the entries in that but I imagine Treve will turn up. She is a hell of a filly but we might chuck her in the ring with her. One of these two options will be her next race.
“The plan will then be to go for the Fillies’ And Mares’ race at Ascot on Champions Day, then we will put her away until next year.”
Dermot Weld’s Tested was a comfortable winner of the Group Three Fairy Bridge Stakes at Tipperary on Thursday evening, although the competitiveness of the race was reduced by three non-runners because of the soft ground, including Ger Lyons’s Ainippe, the possible favourite.
