St Leger Forecast Should See Ground Easing
- By A.J. Ryder on September 6, 2011 16:21 GMT
Doncaster's big moment to shine is drawing nearer by the day and punters will be buoyed by the latest weather forecast – which should ensure big fields and very even going. The big feature kicks off on Saturday with several colts and fillies looking to lay down their claim as the top staying horse in Britain ahead of the Arc Meeting in France next month.
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It appears as though the winner from this one may have a date with Ballydoyle's So You Think who was recently withdrawn from the Cox Plate and pointed firmly towards the Arc and a possible kick at the 2011 Breeders' Cup Classic – where he is still being firmly backed in ante post markets.
Lightly-raced Juddmonte-bred Sea Moon is the big story coming into the 2011 St Leger and after only four career races he is set to go off in the neighborhood of 11/8 and even lower should the going work specifically in his favour.
Sea Moon made a real statement when winning the Group 2 Great Voltigeur at York over 1m4f on good to soft – the type of going we're likely to see if the rain continues without especially high temperatures.
Doncaster's clerk of the course Jon Pullin declared that, while the going wasn't working Sea Moon's favour at the moment, the changing weather conditions were likely to increase his chances. “The going is good to firm. We had a half a millimetre of rain yesterday and there have been showers today, amounting to one and a half millimetres. There is a more significant band of rain forecast for tomorrow, Tuesday, and we could see five to six millimetres then. A few days ago we were forecast over 10 millimetres of rainon Tuesday but that has been revised down.”
Godolphin are anxiously awaiting the draw for the race tomorrow as they will find out what the weight assignments are. The top-class three-year-old filly has shown plenty of acumen this season and would be able to capitalize if she was given an especially favourable weight. Blue Bunting trades around 4/1 as the second choice.
Census emerged onto the scene by capturing a Group 3 contest over Brown Panther and you'll find Census getting the nod ahead of Michael Owen's charge. He trades around 5/1 with Brown Panther available in the region of 8/1 with Kieron Fallon booked for the mount.
