Donn McClean

KINGSTON Hill is expected to run in today’s Ladbrokes St Leger, despite the likelihood of fast ground.

If the ball or the weather had hopped a little differently, after finishing second to Australia in the Epsom Derby, the Roger Varian-trained colt could have run in the Irish Derby, the Eclipse and the Great Voltigeur before lining up in the Ladbrokes St Leger this afternoon. As things transpired, he only ran in the Eclipse.

He was actually at the Curragh, all set to roll, on Irish Derby morning before his trainer walked the track and said no. The preamble was similar at Sandown before the Eclipse, but the difference was that the trainer said yes. Interestingly, relative times on respective days suggested that the ground was actually faster at Sandown on Eclipse day than it was at the Curragh on Irish Derby day, but we could all have PhDs in hindsight.

You would have thought, in the middle of September, with a deluge the weekend before, that the Leger ground would have been at least on the easy side. Not so. Good to soft, good in places on the round course yesterday, said the clerk of the course; good, good to firm in places on the straight course.

The times say it might be a little faster than that, however, even on the round course. Silk Sari went just 0.08secs/furlong slower than standard when she won the Park Hill Stakes on Thursday over the St Leger course and distance, and we will have had two days’ drying between then and 3.50 today.

Kingston Hill is, of course, the correct favourite for the final classic today. His run to finish second in the Derby is the best single piece of form on offer, and he was not at all disgraced in the Eclipse in a race that was dominated by the three horses who raced handily. Also, he is a Group 1 winner at today’s track.

You just worry that, even if he does take his chance, the ground will be on the fast side for him, and he is a short price for a horse who has not won since he was two.

Snow Sky is a much more attractive betting proposition at a bigger price. Sir Michael Stoute’s horse won the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood and finished second in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York, and those two races are two of the good pointers to the Leger.

He only got home by a neck from Windshear in the Gordon Stakes, but that does not tell the full story of the race. He was coltish and free in the preliminaries, he was weak in the market, yet he still travelled well through his race and hit the front at the two-furlong pole.

That was early enough for him, and he appeared to idle between then and the winning line, allowing Windshear and Somewhat to get back at him. He probably had a fair bit more in hand than the bare winning margin.

He was beaten in the Great Voltigeur, but he was beaten by Postponed, who could be a top-class middle-distance horse next year. There is no masking the regard in which Luca Cumani holds the winner. He appears to think him a better horse than a horse for the St Leger, a race that Cumani won with subsequent Irish Champion Stakes winner Commanche Run, and he has put him away to be campaigned as a Group 1 horse next year.

Snow Sky was the only horse who could get close to Postponed in the Great Voltigeur. Actually, when he moved up on the run to the three-furlong pole, it looked likely that he would catch and pass the Cumani horse. He didn’t, but, in running him to two lengths, he pulled eight lengths clear of the rest of the field, which included Odeon and Marzocco and Granddukeoftuscany and Hartnell. He has to prove his stamina for today’s trip, but so do most of his rivals. By Nayef out of a mare who won over one mile five and a half furlongs, he races like he will get further than a mile and a half, and he has every chance of staying. If he does, he could go very close.

Kings Fete and Alex My Boy are interesting – although James Doyle has chosen Snow Sky over the former – and Hartnell could bounce back from his poor run at York, a meeting and a track at which his trainer’s horses seem to under-perform, but Snow Sky is the bet.

PORTLAND HANDICAP

In a tremendously competitive Portland Handicap 70 minutes earlier, Out Do looks a little over-priced at 12/1 or 14/1. David O’Meara’s horse had shaped as if he was capable of winning a big sprint handicap for a little while, and he duly did when he landed the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon last month.

He travelled well through that race, and he produced a really nice turn of foot to come through horses and win well. It was his first run in a visor, it probably elicited a little improvement at least, and it is interesting that his trainer keeps the headgear on today.

The handicapper raised him 4lb for that win, but that is not harsh. He is now rated 98, he races off a mark of 97 today, and it is easy to think that he will prove to be better than a 97-rated horse. Baccarat won the Great St Wilfrid last year, Richard Fahey’s horse is now rated 17lb higher than he was then, and he was sent off as short as 9/1 for last weekend’s Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup.

The drop from six to five and a half furlongs should be fine for Out Do, he has lots of pace. He is drawn well in stall 10, Daniel Tudhope should be able to get plenty of cover for him from there, the centre seems to have been the place to be all week, and he has good course form, having finished second and third in two visits there.