It’s Day 1 of the St Leger Festival on Thursday 10th September at Doncaster. A sparkling day’s racing will take place on Town Moor with a brace of Group 2 contests lighting up the Yorkshire track.
Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews the action and picks out his St Leger Festival Day 1 tips below, as he picks out four selections to make up a Lucky 15 for the day.
Doncaster Racing Tips (Thursday 10th September)
Eight races take place at Doncaster, with the action getting under way at 1.15pm. Here are the best bets across the stellar card.
2.25 Doncaster – Knights Charge (1pt win – 5/1)
A winner at Lingfield and Nottingham in his last two starts, Knights Charge will look to complete the hat-trick at Doncaster on Thursday in the 2.25pm contest. Roger Varian’s progressive son of Lucky Vega will venture into handicap company for the first time and has been given an initial mark of 93. He beat the decent Bay Royale with relative ease on his last start in novice company, and looks capable of building on that again. He’s been off the track a while, so will need to recapture his best form here, but he certainly looks an upwardly mobile performer that can storm to victory in style here.
3.00 Doncaster – Waardah (1pt win – 11/4)
She showed her class when winning the Lillie Langtry Stakes at Goodwood last season, and a repeat of that effort in the Park Hill Stakes at 3.00pm should see Waardah prevail again. The Owen Burrows-trained daughter of Postponed failed to follow up in the Lillie Langtry this year, when finishing third last month. She may have been beaten that day by Goodie Two Shoes, but she was less than half-a-length behind the winner that day, so ran a big race. The hood is fitted for the first time on Thursday, which should help her concentrate. If she can show her best form in this contest then she can simply be a cut above.
3.35 Doncaster – Musical Times (1pt win – 7/4)
Currently around a 25/1 shot for next year’s 1000 Guineas, Musical Times can cement her place as one of the leading juveniles this season with a dominant win in the May Hill Stakes at 3.35pm. Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten daughter of Lope De Vega cruised to victory at Yarmouth last time out, when sent off at prohibitive odds, and she can kick on again here. She will need to step up again, but has looked every bit like a Group winner in the making. She certainly has the most potential in this line-up that lacks strength in depth and the Godolphin raider can make it three from three.
4.45 Doncaster – Storm Blade (1pt win – 7/2)
Andrew Balding’s Storm Blade put up a career best performance when second at Chester on her last outing. Now, moving into nursery company she can record a first win on only her fourth start. Beaten by Velociraptor that day, Storm Blade pulled over three lengths clear of the rest of her rivals that day. With Velociraptor running well in a listed event next time out, then the mark of 81 handed to Storm Blade looks very attractive. With more improvement to come, she can duly land the money with Oisin Murphy in the saddle.
