St Leger Winner Lays Down The Law

3 minute read

Lawman colt Harbour Law won a dramatic renewal of the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster to provide his sire with his 20th stakes winner and fifth G1 winner.

Harbour Law (Lawman x Abunai by Pivotal) recorded an upset win at odds of 22/1 after the Aiden O’Brien-trained odds-on favourite Idaho stumbled and unseated his rider Seamie Heffernan with just over three furlongs to run.

Harbour Law’s trainer Laura Mongan became the first woman to train a winner of the St Leger and only the third UK-based woman trainer to win a classic, joining Pam Sly (Speciosa/2006 1000 Guineas) and Helen Johnson Houghton(Giles De Retx/1956 2000 Guineas).

Gilles De Retz ran in the name of Johnson Houghton's assistant trainer Charles Jardine due to women being unable to hold a training licence at the time.

French trainer Criquette Head-Maarek has also won the 1000 Guineas four times.

Harbour Law is the first classic winner trained at Epsom since Right Tack in the 1969 2000 Guineas and the first classic winner for his jockey George Baker

Lawman, a Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Jean Prat winner, is also the sire of G1 winners Just The Judge, Law Enforcement, Marcel and Most Improved.

Harbour Law is out of Abunai, a 2YO winning daughter of Pivotal and dam of the G3-placed Moheet Harbour Law who sold for 800,000 guineas as Tattersalls Breeze-Ups.

By comparison Harbour Law has twice been through the sales ring, failing to sell at 24,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearlings Sale and later at the Goffs London Sale where he was picked up by Kiltown Bloodstock for £30,000 on behalf of owners Nick and Jackie Cornwell

Abunai is a half-sister to G1 winner Miss Keller out of a Listed-winning half-sister to multiple Group winner and sire Inchinor. In February John and Jake Warren paid 40,000gns to secure Abunai from Overbury Stud at the Tattersalls February Sale.

Cornwell said offers from Australia for Harbour Law had been rejected.

“They were people looking for a Cup horse, a Melbourne horse of the future,” said Cornwell, who runs a family breeding, racing and pre-training operation.