Dubai: Legendary English handler John Gosden has stressed the importance of winning the Group 1 St. Leger, the oldest and last of Britain’s five Classics, which is the highlight of the four-day St. Leger Festival, which starts at Doncaster on Wednesday.
Gosden, a four-time winner of the 2,937-metre contest, saddles second favourite Muntahaa who races in the colours of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.
“[The] St Leger is so important in our calendar,” Gosden said at the St. Leger lunch on Monday.
“The staying races are so important — with a four or five-year-old stayer, you dream of Ascot Gold Cups, the race on Champions Day, the Doncaster Cup, the Goodwood Cup and starting off in the Sagaro.
“What would you think if you went to Royal Ascot and all you had was a sprint and a few races on the Old Mile? It is the staying races that capture people’s imagination whether it’s the Ascot Stakes, the Gold Cup itself or the Queen Alexandra,” he added.
“What a lot of people don’t realise is how hard and expensive it is to breed the staying horses. Most of them are so slow and not quick enough for the Jumps boys. If this breed dies out, we are in big trouble because we would lose a third of our programme.”
The handler, who has won the season’s last Classic with Lucarno, Arctic Cosmos and Masked Marvel, Muntahaa, believe Muntahaa has genuine claims provided there is cut in the ground.
“He is a real Linamix [his grandsire] stayer and is not like his sire Dansili at all,” Gosden said, “If you organise some rain, so that the ground is the same on the last day as on the first day, I’ll even have a bet with my friend Mr [Mike] Dillon [of Ladbrokes] over there.”
Muntahaa stormed into the St. Leger picture following a hard-fought victory in the 2,400m Chester Stakes last month.
“Chester is turning, turning, turning all the way but funnily enough, you have to stay there,” he said. “It was Ladies Day and there was plenty of noise but he handled it fine.
“He is a grand horse. The race has come quite soon enough but he has had a good preparation. He has only breezed once since he ran at Chester and Paul Hanagan was happy with him. We are off. He is still a frame of a horse and his ears would touch the lights here.
The Festival kicks off tomorrow when retired celebrity jockeys return to action in the Leger Legends charity race, a contest run on the straight mile.
The race helps raise money for the the Northern Racing College and Jack Berry House, a rehabilitation facility for injured jockeys.
Thursday is Ladies day and features two Group 2 races for fillies over a mile, the May Hill Stakes and the Park Hill Stakes.
The penultimate day of the Festival, now known as Gentlemen’s day, is showcased by the Doncaster Cup, celebrating its 250-year anniversary, the oldest race currently run under the Rules of Horse Racing, taking centre-stage.
Saturday, St Leger Day brings the four-day festival to a dramatic climax.
