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St Leger Stakes 2025: Home Team Down to Five

Saturday 13th September sees the South Yorkshire track of Doncaster stage the final Classic of the 2025 flat campaign as the St Leger Stakes rolls onto Town Moor. Held over a stamina-sapping 1m6½f and offering £700,000 in prize money, the St Leger is the oldest Classic in the world and one of the crown jewels on the northern racing scene.

With significant financial rewards and no shortage of prestige on the line, the late summer highlight invariably attracts the cream of the staying talent from both sides of the Irish Sea. It has been honours even between the hosts and the raiding party in recent times, with the British and Irish runners winning five editions each between 2015 and 2024.

With under two weeks to go before the big race, strong contenders remain from both Britain and Ireland. However, following the latest declaration stage, the pendulum is swinging in favour of the Irish in 2025. Of the 15 runners still in contention, only five hail from a British yard.

Lazy Leads British Quintet

Britain’s potential five-strong team is split between four trainers – only one of whom has a St Leger win to his name. In contrast, Aidan O’Brien alone has eight wins on his CV, including the two most recent editions. The odds suggest O’Brien will make it three in a row in 2025, but the following five colts may strive to keep the prize on home soil.

Lazy Griff

  • Trainer – Charlie Johnston
  • Sire – Protectionist
  • General Price – 5/1

With a rating of 114, Lazy Griff is 9lb clear of the other British runners in the field. Having rounded off his juvenile campaign with a win in the Group 3 Prix de Condé, this Middleham Park runner is zero from three in his Classic season. However, he has performed excellently in defeat, finishing second to Lambourn in the Chester Vase and Epsom Derby, and third to that rival in the Irish Derby. Sired by the 2014 Melbourne Cup winner, this step up in trip may inspire further improvement.

Arabian Force

  • Trainer – William Haggas
  • Sire – Lope De Vega
  • General Price – 10/1

Unraced as a juvenile, Arabian Force has improved steadily throughout his three-year-old season. Successful in Novice events at Wetherby and Salisbury, he lost out by just a nose in the Listed Glasgow Stakes before finishing third in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes last time. He will need much more to make his presence felt here, but we may not have seen the best of him yet.

Furthur

  • Trainer – Andrew Balding
  • Sire – Waldgeist
  • General Price – 12/1

With two wins in the 2000 Guineas and one in the Epsom Oaks, Andrew Balding is no stranger to Classic success. Coming closest to St Leger victory when Berkshire Rocco finished a neck second to Galileo Chrome in 2020, Balding is responsible for two of the remaining British entries. Well named for a stayer, Furthur boasts the most compelling claims, having finished a close second in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot and posted an impressive 3l victory in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes last time out.

Tarriance

  • Trainer – Andrew Balding
  • Sire – Frankel
  • General Price – 25/1

Juddmonte mastermind Khalid Abdullah claimed his first St Leger victory with Toulon in 1991 and added a second with the Frankel colt Logician in 2019. Four years after the legendary owner/breeder passed away, Tarriance will carry the famous Juddmonte silks. Also sired by the greatest of all time, Balding’s apparent second string arrives seeking a hat-trick following handicap wins over just short of this trip at Sandown and York. This is a big step up in class, but there may be more to come on only his sixth career start.

Rahiebb

  • Trainer – Roger Varian
  • Sire – Frankel
  • General Price – 40/1

Having saddled Kingston Hill (2014) and Eldar Eldarov (2022) to St Leger glory, Roger Varian knows what it takes to prevail. On what we have seen to date, the Rahiebb’s claims aren’t as compelling as Varian’s previous Doncaster heroes. That said, he finished within a length of Furthur and Carmers when third in the Queen’s Vase and may be a little overpriced on that evidence.

Classic Winners and Goodwood Cup Star Among O’Brien Team

St Leger Stakes 2025 Betting

Paddy Twomey’s Queen’s Vase winner Carmers and Joseph O’Brien’s Derby third Tennessee Stud have sound claims of registering another Irish success. However, as is so often the case in British Classic events, Aidan O’Brien is the trainer they all have to beat.

With eight entries, the Ballydoyle maestro is responsible for over 50% of the remaining runners. Included in that number are a pair of dual Classic winners in Lambourn and Minnie Hauk. English and Irish Derby champ Lambourn needs to bounce back from a disappointing outing in the Great Voltigeur Stakes, but Minnie Hauk has enjoyed a flawless 2025 campaign. An excellent winner of the English and Irish Oaks, she could be tough to beat in receipt of the fillies’ allowance, but seems more likely to head to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe or the Breeders’ Cup Festival.

Not many yards could overlook a pair of Classic winners when picking out their main St Leger challenger. However, the odds strongly suggest that Scandinavia will head to Doncaster as the Ballydoyle number one. Only fifth in the Queen’s Vase, the son of Justify has taken his form to another level in two outings since. Much too good for the field in the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy, his most recent effort saw him master 2024 St Leger runner-up Illinois in the Goodwood Cup.

At a general 5/4, this improving stayer is out on his own at the head of the market.