First St Leger Stakes
- When
- 1776–1778
- Where
- Cantley Common, Doncaster; Red Lion Inn, Market Place, Doncaster
- Episodes
- 2
The inaugural running of the race later named the St Leger Stakes took place at Cantley Common near Doncaster on 24 September 1776. Devised by Anthony St Leger, an army officer and politician living near Doncaster, it was won by an unnamed filly owned by the event's organiser, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. The race received its present name only in 1778.
Episodes
- First running at Cantley Common
The race later called the St Leger Stakes was first run at Cantley Common on 24 September 1776, won by an unnamed filly owned by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.
- Naming as the St Leger Stakes
In 1778, at a dinner at the Red Lion Inn in Doncaster's Market Place, the race received the title St Leger Stakes after the Marquess of Rockingham declined the honour.
Background and detail
Background. The event was devised by Anthony St Leger, an army officer and politician who lived near Doncaster. The race that became the St Leger Stakes was established in 1776 and is now recognised as the oldest of Britain's five Classic races, a Group 1 flat race open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies.
Inaugural Running. The first running was held at Cantley Common on 24 September 1776. The winner was an unnamed filly owned by the event's organiser, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. The race was run at Cantley Common only initially; in 1778 the event moved to its present location, Town Moor.
Naming of the Race. At the time of the first running the race had no name. The title St Leger Stakes was decided at a dinner party held in 1778 at the Red Lion Inn in the Market Place, Doncaster, to discuss the coming year's race. A suggestion to call it the Rockingham Stakes in honour of the host, the Marquess of Rockingham, was declined when the Marquess proposed naming it after Anthony St Leger instead.
People involved
- Anthony St Leger · Deviser of the event; army officer and politician living near Doncaster
- 2nd Marquess of Rockingham · Organiser of the event and owner of the winning filly
- Unnamed filly · Winner of the first running; owned by the event's organiser, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Sources
- St Leger Stakes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.