Doncaster St. Leger meeting: day three

The St. Leger meeting continues today at Doncaster, where the going will be on the fast side; there has been no rain and the track is being watered, but horses that need soft ground will be at a disadvantage. There are 3 Group Two races today, starting with the Flying Childers Stakes for 2yo´s over 5 furlongs which opens the card at 14.35 CET. This should go to Clive Brittain´s filly Misheer (Nail Callan), who is very smart, with Our Jonathan (Kevin Ryan/ Jamie Spencer) and Sand Vixen (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) the main dangers.

The Doncaster Cup over 2 1/4 miles at 15.40 is the last of the big "Cup" races and has only 6 runners, with Geordieland (Jamie Osborne/ Mick Kinane) and Askar Tau (Marcus Tregoning/ Ryan Moore) standing out on form. Geordieland was third in the Gold Cup at Ascot and ought to win, but he can be a bit tricky and is being partnered for the first time by Kinane. The May Hill Stakes for 2yo fillies over the straight mile at 16.15 has one of hottest favourites of the day in th line-up, Luca Cumani´s well-bred Seta (Kieren Fallon), who created a tremendous impression when winning first time out at Newmarket. However this is a big step up and she will not be at an attractive price.

Another hot 2yo to run here is Godolphin´s Al Zir (Dettori) who has only 2 opponents to beat in the 7 furlongs race a 17.25. The best betting race is the 1 3/4 mile handicap at 15.05; several of th 11 runners wre last seen in the Ebor Handicap, where German-bred Waldvogel (Cumani/ Fallon) finished 10th. Although he was behind some of the others, it would not be a great surprise to see him reverse the form today, in view of the excellent form of trainer and jockey.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Misheer - Sand Vixen - Star Rover
2. Race: Manyriverstocross - Nanton - Cosmic Sun
3. Race: Geordieland - Askar Tau - Drill Sergeant
4. Race: Seta - Virginia Hall - Gallic Star
5. Race: Jimmy Styles - Castles In The Air - Lowther
6. Race: Al Zir - Treadwell - Practitioner
7. Race: Prince Of Johanne - Presbyterian Nun - Muraweg