Watch the St Leger at Doncaster live this weekend and join thousands of racing fans coming together to enjoy the latest running of the world’s oldest classic.

Aidan O’Brien has trained the Betfred St Leger winner for the last three years running, and this year he’s entered four of the 11 runners, including leading contenders Christmas Day and Pierre Bonnard. Could this be a tenth victory in the famous race for the trainer?

At a glance

• St Leger Stakes dates: 12 Septemer 2026
• Watch St Leger on TV: ITV (FREE), Racing TV
• Watch St Leger from anywhere: Use this NordVPN deal – 75% Off

How to watch the St Leger at Doncaster on TV

ITV will screen the feature race, along with four others (schedule below), live and for free on ITV1 and ITVX on day three of the Betfred St Leger Festival, while Racing TV (Sky channel 424/Virgin Media 536) will broadcast all the races via its subscription-based service.

The ITV coverage begins at 1.15pm and will be presented by Francesca Cumani and Ed Chamberlin.

If you’re away from home, you can use NordVPN to secure your stream of the action from anywhere in the world.

How to watch the St Leger at Doncaster from anywhere

If you’re away from home and your normal coverage is geo-blocked, a VPN will get you your usual coverage from anywhere in the world.

There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. We’d suggest using a paid-for service such as NordVPN, where you can get an exclusive 75% off, which offers a 100% risk-free money back guarantee. If you’re not happy with the service any time within the first 30-days, then you can cancel with no penalties at all.

Betfred St Leger Day race times

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Last weekend (11 September), racehorse Hurricane Lane destroyed his rivals to land the final British Classic of the Flat season, the St Leger, at Doncaster racecourse. So, to celebrate his fantastic victory, here are some fast facts you need to know about Hurricane Lane…

1. The chestnut colt was foaled 11 March 2018.

2. He is by the mighty Frankel and is out of Gale Force, who was in training with James Fanshawe and amassed almost £46,000 in prize money during her career.

3. Hurricane Lane is owned by Godolphin, who purchased him as a yearling in 2019 – he was consigned to the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and was bought for 200,000 guineas (£210,000).

4. He is in training with Charlie Appleby in Newmarket and his race jockey is William Buick.

5. Hurricane Lane first took to the racecourse at Newmarket on 21 October 2020, where he duly won his one mile race comfortably by two lengths.

6. He began his three-year-old campaign this year on 16 April, winning at Newbury, and then went on to win the Group Two Dante Stakes at York by over 10-and-a-half lengths.

7. He finished third at this year’s Derby, in an extraordinarily run race, before winning the Irish Derby by a neck.

8. Continuing his staggering run of form, Hurricane Lane destroyed his rivals in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp in France by six lengths.

9. After his most recent St Leger victory, Hurricane Lane has now amassed almost £1.5m in prize money, so he wasn’t a bad investment!

You might also be interested in:

‘End of a wonderful era’: Nicky Henderson pays tribute to Altior as beloved stable star retires

15 of the most famous racehorses of all time

Frankel – an incredible tale of an unbeaten horse and his legendary trainer

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It’s been a week of many mixed emotions. Two of my most favourite horses have returned to my parents – Littlemisssunshine, my first winner, now in foal to Pastoral Pursuits, has been weaned from her Sir Percy filly foal at Kirtlington and gone home.

And Dear Maurice has also gone there for a well-earned break before he returns to me to lead the yearlings and two-year-olds in December and January. Yet another string to his ever-increasing bow.

We had three runners this week, all at the tail end. The first ran a cracker at Wolverhampton on Thursday, over the minimum trip, and was just beaten into second place, first time in blinkers.

The second ran on the Friday, also at Wolverhampton, over a mile and a half – her first appearance in a handicap. She was quite heavily backed but, for some unknown reason she ran no sort of race and was lucky to beat one home.

Now, this is a truly tricky situation. How one does tell an owner that a horse one thought was capable of running a cracker in fact ran a stinker? Not an easy feat and one in which one has to tread rather carefully. Thankfully, I have understanding owners who were probably less upset than I was!

The third was the first horse again! This three-year-old filly was out for the second time in three days, once again over the minimum trip of five furlongs with her now-customary go-faster goggles, this time at Kempton Park. She once again ran a cracker but was beaten into fourth, just less than a head behind the horse which came second. This filly really has deserved to make her unlucky losing line a winning one.

Like the soldiers of the Great War, we will once again rise out of the trenches and fight again, and maybe Lady Luck will shine kindly on us.

We had a new addition to the roster in the form of a two-year-old filly by Red Clubs, the hottest sire of the moment who has unfortunately been lost to the breeding ranks. She has settled in well and, like most hearty Irish girls, has not left a scrap of food!

This week also saw the heart-breaking defeat of Camelot, Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old flying machine, in the St Leger – the third part of what would have been a memorable Triple Crown – by Encke.

There are many theories as to why Camelot was defeated, ranging from “not good enough”, “average ride”, “something wrong” etc. As usual, I have my own view! The race was won, in my opinion, by a superlative ride from a flamboyant French boy barely out of nappies, Mickael Barzalona.

This is the very reason Sheikh Mohammed has employed him, along with Frankie Dettori and Silvestre de Sousa – moments of brilliance in high-profile races under immense pressure.

My heart goes out to Camelot and the Ballydoyle team as, for whatever the reason, he did not deserve to be beaten, but well done to the Boys in Blue.

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The odds-on favourite Camelot failed to give racing a first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1971 when he was beaten today in the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster.

The Montjeu colt, who took the 2000 Guineas and Derby earlier this summer for trainer Aidan O’Brien and his jockey son Joseph, went down by three-quarters of a length to 25-1 shot Encke.

Trained in Newmarket for Godolphin by Mahmood Al Zarooni and ridden by the young French jockey Mickael Barzalona, Encke is a son of the top American sire Kingmambo.

Ridden fairly prominently by Barzalona – who took the Derby last year on Pour Moi for Camelot’s owners, the Coolmore syndicate – Encke easily saw off a late challenge from Camelot. The latter was settled in at the back of the field along with Main Sequence, but couldn’t produce the necessary finishing speed inside the last two furlongs.

Third was the John Gosden-trained Michaelangelo at 16-1.

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Sir Michael Stoute celebrated his first ever St Leger winner this Saturday (13 September) as Conduit took the final British Classic of the season.

After 25 previous attempts the Newmarket-based trainer finally captured the elusive race, the only British Classic that he had not won in a career spanning 34 years.

Conduit, owned by Ballymacoll Stud, took the lead over a furlong out and held on to win by three lengths in the largest St Leger field since 1982.

Unsung Heroine came second in only his third career start and Oaks winner Look Here ridden by Eddie Ahern finished third.

The 9-4 favourite, Irish Derby winner Frozen Fire trained by Aidan O’Brien, came seventh.

A crowd of 27,000 watched the 8-1 shot Conduit pass the post first under the hands of Frankie Dettori, who did not disappoint with his crowd-pleasing signature ‘flying dismount’.

It was a fifth St Leger win for the champion Italian jockey who also won in 2006 on Jeremy Noseda’s Sixties Icon, in 2005 on Aidan O’Brien’s Scorpiam, in 1996 on John Gosden’s Shantou and in 1995 on Saeed Bin Suroor’s Classic Cliché.

But it was a disappointing day for Sir Michael’s stable jockey Ryan Moore who picked the wrong horse, opting for the Doctor Freemantle instead, who finished eighth.

Conduit could now be aimed at the major middle distance races next year.

On the opening day of the St Leger meeting (10 September) Galeota won the Scarborough Stakes for the second year running. Ryan Moore was aboard the Richard Hannon-trained six year-old, winning by ¾ length to Andrew Balding’s Loch Verdi.

Meanwhile in-form trainer Aiden O’Brien’s Honolulu (13-8 favourite), ridden by Johnny Murtagh, took the Group Two Doncaster Cup on 12 September by four lengths to Balkan Knight.

And on Ladies Day (11 September) Rainbow View won the Group Two May Hill Stakes. Trained by John Gosden and ridden by Jimmy Fortune the two-year-old filly made her move two furlongs out beating Snoqualmie Girl into second and Lahaleeb into third. She is now aimed at the Group One Fillies Mile at Ascot.

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Top chasers Kicking King and Kingscliff will be entertaining the Boxing Day crowds with what promises to be a great King George VI Chase at Sandown.

Kicking King beat Kingscliff by two-and-a-half lengths in the race 12 months ago, before going to claim the Cheltenham Gold Cup. But Kingscliff turned the tables on his rival last month with a win in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, when Kicking King could only manage third.

Kicking King is currently favourite for the race, but there are many who feel that this could be Kingscliff’s year. Tony Dobbin will be replacing young Robert Walker on board Kingscliff, after Walker injured his collarbone while schooling a horse.

Impek represents the formidable combination of trainer Henrietta Knight and owner Jim Lewis. Knight’s latest stable star will be ridden by 10-times champion jockey AP McCoy.

Sandown is also expected to see Ruby Walsh’s return to the saddle after dislocating his shoulder in a fall at Navan at the end of last month.

New safety guidelines

Racecourses are to introduce stricter guidelines to improve safety in parade rings and winner’s enclosures in the New Year. The maximum numbers of individuals allowed in these areas are to be set by the racecourse following risk assessments to avoid the potential dangers of overcrowding. Assistant trainer Chris Kinane’s parade ring accident in April highlighted the need for improved safety in such enclosures.

St Leger goes to York

The Ladbrokes St Leger meeting will take place at York in 2006, while its traditional Doncaster home undergoes a £55m redevelopment. The four-day meeting will be condensed to just two days, with six Group Two races in addition to the final classic of the season.

Lesters nominations unveiled

AP McCoy heads the nominations for the Jump Jockey of the Year award at racing’s annual awards night, The Lesters. McCoy has won the jump jockey award for the past nine years. This year he is up against Timmy Murphy, Graham Lee and Tony Dobbin. A total of nine awards will be presented at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 14 January.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now