Which was the last filly to win the St. Leger Stakes?

Run annually over 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 115 yards on Town Moor, Doncaster in September, the St. Leger Stakes is the final British Classic of the season. The race is open to three-year-old colts and fillies and, as such, forms the final leg of the Triple Crown and the Fillies' Triple Crown, although the latter has not been won since 1970 and the latter not since 1985.

In the better part of two and a half centuries since the inaugural running of the St. Leger, on Cantley Common, Doncaster on September 24, 1776, a total of 42 fillies have won. However, since the St. Leger returned to Town Moor following World War II, just seven fillies – namely Meld (1955), Cantelo (1959), Dunfermline (1977), Sun Princess (1983), Oh So Sharp (1985), User Friendly (1992) and Simple Verse (2015) – have been victorious. The last named was unusual insofar as she did not contest the Oaks, run over a mile and half at Epsom in late May or early June, whereas the other six fillies all did, and all bar Cantelo won the second fillies' Classic.

Owned by Qatar Racing Limited, trained by Ralph Beckett, in Kimpton, Hampshire and ridden, for most of her three-year-old campaign, by Andrea Atzeni, Simple Verse was unraced as a juvenile, but made the transition from handicaps to Pattern level when winning the Group 3 Lilly Langtry Stakes at Goodwood in July, 2015, on the sixth career start. She did not race again until the St. Leger, for which she was supplemented, at a cost of £50,000.

At Doncaster, she was sent off 8/1 fourth choice of the seven runners and won by a head in a driving finish, only to be disqualified for causing repeated interference to the eventual runner-up Bondi Beach, the 2/1 joint favourite, trained by Aidan O'Brien. However, her connections appealed the decision and, 11 days after the race, Simple Verse was reinstated by a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) panel.

Which came first, the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby or the St. Leger?

The 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the St. Leger are the three British Classic races open to three-year-old horses of both sexes – the other two, the 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks, are restricted to three-year-old fillies – and, as such, constitute the so-called 'Triple Crown'.

The St. Leger, run over an extended mile and three-quarters on Town Moor, Doncaster in September, is the oldest of the trio, having been established, as an unnamed sweepstakes over two miles, on nearby Cantley Common on September 24, 1776. The inaugural winner was an unnnamed filly owned by Charles Watson-Wentworth, Second Marquis of Rockingham, later named Allabaculia. Two years later, the race was transferred to its present location and, at the suggestion of the Second Marquis, named in honour of its founder, Lieutenant General Anthony St. Leger.

The Derby followed four years later, with the inaugural running taking place on May 4, 1780, albeit over the last mile of the old 'orbicular' course at Epsom, rather than the current mile and a half. The race was co-founded by Edward Smith-Stanley, Twelfth Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury and named after the former as the result of a (probably apocryphal) toss of a coin. The inaugural winner was the hitherto unbeaten Florizel colt Diomed, owned by Bunbury.

Last, but by no means least, came the 2,000 Guineas, which was first run over a mile on the Rowley Mile Course at Newmarket on April 18, 1809, and has continued, almost without exception, ever since. The race was established by the Jockey Club, under the auspices of senior steward Sir Charles Bunbury – as was the 1,000 Guineas, five years later – and the inaugural winner was the odds-on favourite, Wizard, trained locally by Thomas Perren.

How many Group 1 races are run over 5 furlongs in Britain?

It may, or may not, come as a surprise to learn that, for five-furlong sprinters, races at the highest, Group 1 level are few and far between in the British Flat racing calendar. As a matter of fact, there just two such contests, but – notwithstanding the fact that the European Pattern race system was not introduced until 1971 – they have histories dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries respectively.

The older of the pair is the King's Stand Stakes, inaugurated as, the Queen's Stand Plate, in 1860 and renamed in 1901, following the accession of King Edward VII. Indeed, the race is due to be re-titled the King Charles III Stakes from 2024 onwards. Run on the stiff straight course at Ascot, currently on the first day of the Royal Meeting in June, the King's Stand Stakes is open to horses aged three years and upwards and, nowadays, worth £600,000, making it the most valuable race of its kind run in Britain. The King's Stand Stakes was first designated a Group 1 contest in 1973 and, although demoted to Group 2 status 15 years later, was promoted back to the highest level in 2008.

 

The Nunthorpe Stakes, currently scheduled for the third day of the four-day Ebor Festival at York in August, is a more recent addition to the racing programme, having first been run, in its current guise, in 1922. The five-furlong course on the Knavesmire is flat, fair and considerably faster – two and a half seconds faster, according to standard times – than that at Ascot and, as such, plays to the strengths of out-and-out speedsters. By contrast to the King's Stand Stakes, the Nunthorpe Stakes is open to horses aged two years and upwards, including geldings, which makes it unique in the upper echelon of Flat racing in Britain. The race has been a Group 1 contest since 1984 and currently offers £350,000 in total prize money.

Kentucky Derby Festival

A Grade 1 contest, run over 2,000 metres, or approximately a mile and a quarter, on dirt at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky and open to three-year-old colts, fillies and geldings, the Kentucky Derby represents the first leg of the North American Triple Crown. Known colloquially as the 'Run for the Roses' and billed as 'the most exciting two minutes in sport', the Kentucky Derby is run on the first Saturday in May, where it forms the highlight of a 14-race card.

However, the Kentucky Derby Festival stretches far beyond the confines of Churchill Downs into the wider Kentucky community, where it celebrates not only the Kentucky Derby, but also the coming of spring to the 'Bluegrass State'. Indeed, the Festival is the largest single annual event in the Kentucky calendar and, in the two weeks preceding the Kentucky Derby, attracts 1.5 million people to a series of playful, tongue-in-cheek events suitable for the whole family. All told, over 70 special events, many of which are free of charge, are laid on for entertainment purposes and to bolster the local economy.

Highlights include the opening fireworks display, known as 'Thunder Over Louisville', which is one of the largest events of its kind anywhere in the United States, the 'Great Steamboat Race' on the Ohio River, and the founding event, the 'Pegasus Parade'. Sports, including basketball, golf and volleyball, are very much in evidence and so, too, is music, with concerts running almost non-stop throughout the fortnight.

Which horse was beaten favourite in the 2009 World Hurdle?

By way of clarification, the three-mile hurdling championship, previously and subsequently known as the Stayers' Hurdle was, between 2005 and 2016, sponsored by Ladbrokes and Ryanair and renamed the World Hurdle. Nevertheless, the Grade 1 contest was still run over 2 miles, 7 furlongs and 213 yards on the New Course at Cheltenham, where, alongside the Ryanair Chase, it formed one of the feature races on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival, staged annually in March.

The 2009 renewal of the World Hurdle was significant insofar as it featured the first appearance of Big Buck's, trained by Paul Nicholls, who would not only win at the first time of asking, but again in 2010, 2011 and 2012, during a then-record winning streak of 18 races. Originally campaigned over fences, Big Buck's unseated his rider, Sam Thomas, at the final fence in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on his seasonal debut in 2008/09 and the decision to send him on a retrieval mission, back over hurdles, ultimately proved to be a stroke of genius.

Favourite for the 2009 World Hurdle, though, was the Kasbah Bliss, trained by Francois Doumen, who was making his third appearance in the race, having finished fifth behind Inglis Drever in 2007 and second, beaten just a length, behind Iris's Gift in 2008. Fresh from an impressive, 8-length victory in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock Park the previous month, the 7-year-old was sent off at 10/11 to follow up at the Festival.

However, having been held up at the rear of the field, Kasbah Bliss made headway to challenge at the second-last flight, but was outpaced on the run to the last and weakened on the run-in, eventually finishing fourth, 20½ lengths behind Big Buck's. That provded to be his last appearance at the Cheltenham Festival and, indeed, over hurdles anywhere.