Doncaster St Leger 2015: The World's Oldest Classic - Eclipse Magazine
The race is named after a local sportsman, Anthony St Leger, who lived at Park Hill near Doncaster and had the idea of a race for three-year-olds, colts carrying 8st and fillies 7st 12lb, over two miles. A field of six runners lined up for the inaugural St Leger on 24th September 1776, with an unnamed filly by Sampson (later called Allabaculia) owned by the Prime Minister, the Marquess of Rockingham, beating Colonel St Leger's unnamed filly by... The Classic's distance was shortened to one mile, six furlongs and 193 yards in 1813. West Australian, trained in Malton by John Scott, became the first winner of the Triple Crown, encompassing the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger (the three... Source: eclipsemagazine.co.uk
