Doncaster Racecourse its present location and in 1776 Colonel Anthony St. Leger founded a race in which five horses ran. This race has remained in existence and become the world's oldest classic horse race. During the first world war the racecourse was used for military purposes and substitute races were run at Newmarket from 1915 to 1918. Doncaster has the distinction of both starting and ending the flat season on turf. Every September, Doncaster hosts the prestigious four-day William Hill St. Leger Festival, which is acclaimed as the premier sporting occasion of the Autumn calendar. Doncaster has also taken over events whose
Stratford Edward St Leger his compass and the stars for direction. The party marched only at night, lying up during the day. Eventually they reached safety in the Belgian lines at Oudenarde and returned to England. St. Leger was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and at the end of the war the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, and was posted as Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office. He retired in 1922 and was gazetted full colonel two years later. St. Leger died at Hove in Sussex on 12 October 1935. Stratford Edward St Leger Colonel Stratford Edward St