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Thursday is DFS Ladies Day at Doncaster and offers high-class action on the track with a pair of Group Two contests for fillies and mares plus the highly-lucrative Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 St Leger 2-Y-O Stakes.
DFS Ladies Day is one of South Yorkshire's biggest social occasions and there will be plenty of finely-attired fillies hoping to be crowned the Best Dressed Lady at the 2011 Ladbrokes St Leger Festival, with the star prize being the use of a Mini for a year. The winner will then join the finalists from each of the Yorkshire racecourses to compete for the title of Yorkshire Racing's Best Dressed Lady.
The highlight of a seven-race card is the £80,000 Group Two DFS Park Hill Stakes (3.00pm), run over the same extended mile and six furlongs as the Ladbrokes St Leger 48 hours later.
An entry of 12 for the “Fillies' St Leger” includes the progressive four-year-old Irish raider Sense Of Purpose, who registered a first Pattern success with a game half-length victory in the Group Three Ballyroan Stakes over a mile and six furlongs at Leopardstown on August 4.
The Dermot Weld-trained filly, who was homebred by Moyglare Stud Farm, also displayed her battling qualities to triumph in a Listed contest over the same course and distance on July 14.
Stan Cosgrove, manager of Moyglare Stud Farm, revealed today: “Sense Of Purpose will either head to Doncaster for the DFS Park Hill Stakes or stay in Ireland for the Irish St Leger two days later. She is going to work on Saturday morning and we will have a good look at the entries before but the Irish St Leger can be a tough race.
“We have been delighted with her this season because she is not the biggest. She won the same race as our Irish St Leger runner-up Profound Beauty on her latest start and she is very, very gutsy. She is full of heart and I love the way she puts her head down in a finish.
“Dermot was talking about the Melbourne Cup for her but that might come a year too soon.”
A potentially strong Irish challenge also includes the Aidan O'Brien-trained trio of Spin and Amazing Beauty, who have both been placed in Group contests, plus Make My Heart Sing, while Cheltenham Festival-winning handler John Murphy has entered recent Galway winner Goldplated.
Group Three heroine Meeznah, who was third in the 2010 DFS Park Hill Stakes for trainer David Lanigan and last season's Stobart Doncaster Cup third Motrice, from the stable of Sir Mark Prescott, have both been entered.
The Queen could be represented by the Michael Bell-trained Set To Music, who recorded a fourth consecutive win with a convincing success in the Listed Galtres Stakes at York on August 18.
Consistent mare Polly's Mark, representing Clive Cox, may bid for an elusive first Group success, while John Gosden has given an entry to the lightly-raced Polygon, who was third in a Deauville Group Three on her fourth racecourse appearance last month.
The entry is completed by Dragonera, from the stable of Ed Dunlop, and the Richard Fahey-trained Cracking Lass, who kicked off this season with a half-length success over subsequent Ebor winner Moyenne Corniche in a mile and a half conditions race at Doncaster's Lincoln Meeting.
Fillies and mares also feature in the Japan Racing Association Sceptre Stakes (1.55pm), which is being run as a Group Three race for the first time in 2011. The seven-furlong contest has attracted 24 entries including last year's winner Dever Dream. Sir Henry Cecil could be represented by Chachamaidee, who got the better of Dever Dream when successful in the Group Three Oak Tree Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in July.
There are five Irish-trained entries including the John Oxx-trained Alanza, successful on her last two starts in Listed company, while there is one French entry in Thai Haku, who represents 2,000 Guineas-winning trainer Mikel Delzangles.
The richest race of the day is the Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 St Leger 2-Y-O Stakes (2.25pm) over an extended six furlongs. A bumper 79 entries remain in this extremely valuable race, which was won by subsequent Group One winner Wootton Bassett 12 months ago. Wootton Bassett's trainer Richard Fahey accounts for no less than 22 of the remaining entries, while Charlie Hills, who recently took over the training licence from his father Barry, has five to choose from including Cockney Dancer, who caught the eye when winning a decent maiden at Windsor on August 22.
Action gets underway at 1.25pm with the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Carrie Red Fillies' Nursery over an extended six furlongs which has attracted 31 entries, while the remaining races on the card are the EBF Green Desert crownhotel-bawtry.com Maiden Stakes (3.35pm, 39 entries), the Elements Medispa Handicap (4.10pm, 50 entries) and the concluding DFS Handicap (4.40pm, 20 entries).
